Basketball Clinic Bonds Central Players to Youngsters, Each Other

Irelynn Eisenhower dashed toward the door, telling her father, “I have to go say goodbye to my friend.”

Then the little girl returned, smiling shyly.

“She thinks she has a friend now,” her father, Jay Eisenhower, said.

And every Saturday for 10 weeks, Irelynn has a friend who she can look up to – in more ways than one. After all, her friend is Ashley Bernath, a member of Central Regional High School’s girls basketball team. Irelynn participates in a weekly basketball clinic for kindergartners through the Berkeley Basketball Association that is run by Central Regional girls basketball coach John Truhan.

Every Saturday at 8:30 a.m. Bernath and her teammates are in the Central Regional Middle School gym with more than 50 boys and girls, helping to teach them the fundamentals of playing basketball – with heavy emphasis on the “fun” part.

“Irelynn wanted to quit after the first week,” Jay Eisenhower said, “but I asked one of the girls (Ashley) to talk to her. Since then she loves it. And she thinks they’re friends,” he said, shaking his head.

The clinic has several purposes, said Truhan, who’s been the coach at Central since the fall of 2009, after building championship programs at Toms River South and Colts Neck. The Golden Eagles, who won the Shore Conference Class B South title last season, face Lacey today at 5 p.m. in a game that will decide the division this season. Lacey beat Central 44-42 earlier this month, the Eagles’ only loss in the division. Central is 8-4, with three losses to teams outside the Shore area.

“Often parents end up coaching their kids and they don’t get much of an opportunity to just watch them play,” Truhan said. “This allows parent to watch so they at least have this year without the stress of coaching other kids.”

Involving his high school players in the clinic also gives the children – like Irelynn – instant role models, Truhan said.

It also helps his players bond as a group.

“In order for each station (of the basketball clinic) to work, they have to work together and communicate,” he said, and that prevents the internal splintering that can undermine what happens in the gym.

“There are no cliques on our team,” said Truhan, who notched his 250^th career victory in December, not long after the season started. “Cliques will destroy any team, regardless of how much talent you have.”

“I think it’s a lot of fun,” Bernath said after she “ran” a gauntlet of young players taking aim at her with basketballs. “I’d definitely rather coach kids than big girls like us.”

“It brings us all together,” said Michelle Iozzia. “It helps our team bond and build friendships.”

It also gives them a slightly different view of their coach – a softer side, if you will, of the man who doesn’t hesitate to hold his players accountable for mistakes or demand better play – often loudly and instantly.

“It’s snowing outside, so we’re freezing,” Truhan tells the children, as they start dribbling in all directions during a game of freeze tag. He is constantly on the move, encouraging the campers, gently correcting them when they’re dribbling with the wrong hand, slapping high fives in recognition of good efforts.

The middle school gym echoes with laughter and the sounds of dozens of balls bouncing on the floor.

And for those children, like Irelynn, getting to play basketball with the big girls is exactly what it’s intended to be: fun.

“I like when we go to the groups,” she said shyly, when asked for her favorite part of the clinic. The groups – stations teaching the players different skills – are where the youngsters get to interact the most with the Golden Eagles.

Jay Eisenhower is glad his daughter loves the clinic, he said, but there’s been one unintended consequence:

“Now she wants to go to all her (Bernath’s) games,” Eisenhower said.

Just another way to build a fan base, you might say.