All smiles at Smiley’s CV camp

LA CRESCENTA — As they sat in neat rows on the floor of the Crescenta Valley High gymnasium during Friday morning’s wrap-up session, the pint-sized attendants of Jim Smiley’s Basketball Camp were awarded trophies one by one for their understanding and application of the week’s lessons.

While those lessons of course included a primer in the fundamentals of basketball, there was also a focus on character elements such as sportsmanship, responsibility, teamwork and leadership included in the five-day camp that Smiley hopes will resonate just as well.

“We want to teach skills here that are transferable, not just in other sports, but in other aspects of life,” said Smiley, 40, who has run Coach Smiley’s Camp at Crescenta Valley for the last 16 of his 18 years of involvement with the high school’s boys’ basketball program. “We want these kids to leave and be better students, better sons and daughters and eventually be good citizens.

“We talk about character a lot in camp, and using basketball as a vehicle for that is a great way to do it because it’s fun for everybody.”

Having fun was an important requisite for engaging the campers, who ranged primarily from ages 6 to 10 with a sprinkling of slightly older players.

During the camp’s four-hour-a-day sessions, campers broke into smaller groups by age for a rotating circuit of skill clinics highlighting the fundamentals of shooting, passing and footwork. Each camper also got to play in three competitive scrimmages per day.

“More than anything, you want to break down the camp into age-appropriate skill sets and maturity so that the campers can grow, learn basketball and leave having profited from their time here,” said Smiley, whose 1997-2005 tenure as head boys’ basketball coach included the only outright Pacific League boys’ basketball title in Crescenta Valley history.

In Friday’s wrap-up session at the conclusion of camp, coaches for each of the six age groups presented Coaches’ and Most Valuable Player Awards. A Camper of the Week Award was also given for participants who best exemplified hard work and a good attitude and who made a positive contribution to the overall camp experience.

The opportunities to learn new skills and play with their peers were the highlights of the week for many campers across all age groups.

“I learned defense and how to dribble,” said 8-year-old Trey Ballard of La Crescenta. “The games and the competitions were the most fun.”

There was a mix of campers familiar with Coach Smiley’s Camp from previous years — such as 9-year-old Chris Reik, who called this year’s event the most fun out of the four he has attended — and some players trying the camp for the first time, like 13-year-old T.J. Alfano.

Alfano cited the coach-to-camper ratio, seven coaches to about 50 total campers, as a definite plus for the camp.

“There were enough coaches to help everybody and you could ask them all questions,” he said of Smiley’s staff, which included present and former Falcons basketball players.

One such coach, first-year Crescenta Valley basketball player Eric Yoo, returned to the camp for a second year because of his good experience last summer.

“Working with the kids is cool,” said Yoo, who worked on defensive stance and pick-and-roll technique with the 10-year old group that included his brother, Kevin Yoo. “They look up to you, they work hard and it’s fun to watch them grow and become better.”