Basketball Clinic to Feature Fundamentals, NCAA Players

A two-day basketball clinic coming to Red Bank for a second year will teach children and teenagers the fundamentals of basketball. Better yet, the clinic will feature players from college teams and will offer scholarships to some high school students.

The Red Bank Parks and Recreation Department sponsored the first basketball clinic held last year and has approved plans for the second clinic to be held Saturday and Sunday in either late May or early June.

At its recent meeting, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee listened to a presentation from Rick Brandt, head of the Jersey Shore Elite Basketball Clinic on plans for the second clinic.

A location for the clinic is still to be determined, however the most likely site will be Red Bank Regional High School in Little Silver, according to Brandt. Brandt, 22, a graduate of the same high school organized and ran the clinic last year and will do the same for this year.

During his presentation, Brandt said basketball players from Princeton, Florida, Duke, and Harvard will participate in the clinic. These schools have student athletes who hail from Red Bank, Shrewsbury, and Little Silver, he said.

These student athletes are excellent role models for children and teenaged participants in the clinic, he added.

"It will give the student athletes the opportunity to share their experiences in college both on and off the court," Brandt said.

He said that 25 scholarships would be awarded to Red Bank Regional High School students who participate.

A $150 registration fee accompanies the clinic, and will be used to offset the cost of the scholarship, he said. The clinic is available to children and teens in grades two through 12.

"This will be a wonderful learning experience for the participants from local basketball players who are now playing at some of the top colleges and universities in the country," Brandt said.

Brandt added that he plans to contact the two basketball coaches for both the mens and women's varsity basketball teams at RBR to see if they would be interested in being involved in the clinic.

"I want to work with the current RBR basketball coaches in helping to promote their own basketball camps to be held this summer," Brandt said.

Last year, Brandt said, there were 103 participants -- both boys and girls and he said he hopes the number of participants will increase for this year's clinic.

He explained that last year besides the sponsorship of the Parks and Recreation Department there were 13 local business owners who were co-sponsors of the clinic.