First Annual Basketball Camp Comes to a Close

Situated on University Park's westernmost edge, Prince George's Plaza Community Center played host to its final session of two months' worth of summer basketball camps this week. It is the first basketball-focused camp to ever be put on in the community center, according to Camp Director Troy Hailey.

Hailey, a Prince George's County native, was a heavy contributor on several nationally ranked Montrose Christian School basketball teams from 1999 to 2003. He then became a four-year letter winner at Binghamton University in New York. Now the proud holder of degrees in human development and education, Hailey has long aspired to give back to the community that nurtured his own athletic accomplishments.

As a college senior in 2007, Hailey was asked what his dream job would be, other than playing professional basketball, of course.

"Becoming an urban planner," he said. "Working with those who cannot help themselves, building affordable housing, schools and community centers for the youth in my hometown."

Hailey has now worked with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission for three years, and with the newly born Prince George's Plaza Basketball Camp, he is certainly taking steps toward accomplishing his goals.

The camp was open to both boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 12, and was geared heavily toward helping the participants acquire basic basketball skills.

"We're very instructional," Hailey said. "We teach kids the rules first and foremost because the majority of the campers are new athletes. By the end of the two-week session though, they get so much better. There are kids that couldn't make a layup when they got here. Today, they're making jump shots."

Just as Hailey praises his campers, their approval is readily reciprocated.

"I like my coach because he makes a lot of threes," said 8-year-old camper Miles Brodie of University Park. "He also taught me a lot of stuff I really didn't know and helped me be a better basketball player."

This summer's camp, which convened for the last time Friday, had a steady daily schedule over the last two months. Generally, campers arrived by 9:30 a.m., followed by stretching exercises, passing drills, ball handling activities, layup lines and finally shooting practice.

"We save the shooting for last, because that's what they really want to do all day," Hailey said.

Lastly, afternoons were reserved for actual game play. Scrimmages of five-on-five or three-on-three often brought the day to a close.

Although Hailey is cleaning up shop for now, he said not to expect the gym to remain empty for long. He will hold basketball classes at the community center on Tuesday and Thursday nights this fall for 4- to 8-year-olds and already has plans for the summer camp's second go-around next June.

"This is natural for me," Hailey said. "I've been working with kids since I was in the ninth grade. Everybody has the right to learn these skills, no matter who they are. I grew up here, playing at this community center, so it's great for me to come back and be able to teach the next generation."