Coach John Goffredo and son running cager camp

Veteran basketball coach John Goffredo is scheduled to conclude his 26th annual summer Basketball Camp today (Friday).

There are now a number of basketball, soccer and baseball camps that are offered every summer, but Goffredo’s camp was the first of its kind when he started it in the late 1970s. It was Prop 13 that brought it about and necessity that kept it going, at least for the first few years.

Goffredo was the head basketball coach at Crescenta Valley High when Prop 13 wiped out sports programs at the elementary and junior high level. “I started my camp because if you don’t have any feeder programs (to the high school level), you aren’t going to be very good. If they learn fundamentals by the time I get them, then there’s a chance. The camp was also a summer job for some adults,” Goffredo said.

Through the years, the camp, which is open to both boys and girls ages 7 to 15, has continued to remain popular. “It’s been complete sold out the past seven or eight years. This year, we turned away quite a few, actually,” the coach said.

The camp has an added feature this year in the form of Goffredo’s son, Jimmy, an all-star guard in all four years at CV High who just finished his freshman year at Harvard and played on the men’s basketball team.

Jimmy, who scored nearly 2,000 points in his high school career and was the first player in school history to be selected all-league all four years, is co-directing the camp with his dad. “Jimmy first started taking my camp when he was 5-years-old. It was fun having him in the camp with me,” the coach said.

Although Jimmy is home for the summer, he is taking a week off from his internship at the Glendale office of Smith, Barney in Glendale to work with his dad.

“It is great fun to come back and help my dad with the camp. Although I haven’t attended the camp since I was 8-years-old. I would come back to lecture to the kids on some aspect of basketball. Last summer, I came back to help my dad because it was the first summer that I didn’t have summer high school practice. I love working with the kids. I love passing on knowledge to them that I learned from my dad,” the younger Goffredo said.

Although he was 3,000 miles away from home, Jimmy said he was able to make the adjustment both mentally and physically. “People don’t realize just how big a jump it is from high school to college basketball.

“The game is a lot more physical. (Lifting) Weights becomes a part of your training. Fundamentals are important, but if a guy pushes you during the game, you have to able to push back,” the younger Goffredo said.

Jimmy was one of three freshmen on the Harvard team, but the only one who played. “We didn’t win too many games this year. We had no seniors on the team and our center broke his foot. But, next year we should be 10 times better,” he said.

Considered small even in high school, Jimmy, who plays the point guard position, said he makes up for his lack of height in other ways. “I wind up guarding the other point guard who is probably close to my size. All in all, I think I did well in my first season,” Jimmy said.

Coach Goffredo said his camp is different from other camps in that instead of using high school athletes to assist him teaching the youths, he uses adults, frequently people who have played for him in the past.

“I think the big difference between my camp and other camps is that we totally break down fundaments. We spend a good deal of time teaching things like pivoting and other ball handling skills,” the coach said.

The coach uses a 12-point station system at his camp. At each station, the youths will work on one particular skill like dribbling, rebounding, passing or one-on-one drills.

“We have guest speakers who will come in and teach us a specific thing and then we will work on it. The camp runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, but the kids really only get to play basketball for about an hour each day.

“My hope is that if I can give them enough drills that they can do on their own, then they can take them home and practice them themselves,” the coach said.

Goffredo said there is even a lecture given about youth balancing their athletics with their academics so that neither suffers. “My son Jimmy would be the perfect one to give that lecture. He never had a ‘B’ in his life. He had a 4.6 grade point average at CV High. Now, he’s not only going to Harvard, but playing on the basketball team as well,” the coach said.

Although coach Goffredo, who was six times voted the Pacific League’s Coach of the Year, has an impressive winning record in high school basketball of 656-285. it isn’t the victory that drives him, but his family. He retired from coaching high school basketball in 1993, one year after his first wife died. His son Jimmy was only 9-years-old at the time, but was already showing talent with the basketball.

“I was coaching all day at school, so I couldn’t give him any time. But, once I wasn’t coaching basketball anymore, I could work out with him every day. I got to travel with him all over the country when he started to play in various tournaments,” he said.

When Jimmy made the Harvard varsity team in his freshman year last fall, the coach, who still teaches at CV High and is chairman of the health department, got to travel some more.

“I went back to Boston six times to see him play. The thrill for me is to watch my son play. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I had been coaching. I am going to teach at least two more years, but I would like to retire to see my son play his senior season at Harvard.

“I still can’t believe it. When he was a kid, we talked about him playing in college. I didn’t think it would happen. Not many kids play Division I basketball,” the coach said.

Not many fathers and sons get to see their shared hopes come true. The Goffredos are among the lucky few.