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Tri-City Junior Phenom Camp (Co-Ed, Grade 4-10) - Summer, 2019!

Tri-City Junior Phenom Camp (Co-Ed, Grade 4-10) - Summer, 2019!
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Saturday, May 04, 2019

Day 2 Recap: Junior Boys' Tri-City Top 40 Camp Presented By Adidas Brands

The real "meat", if you will, of the Tri-City Top 40 Junior Boys' Camp takes place on Day 2.

Whereas Day 1 is an introductory day of getting to know one's teammates, playing in scrimmage games and the like, the gears change on Day 2.

The camp's coaching staff pushes players to continually improve and seek out that "next level" of their game -- providing them with a wealth of knowledge and information and challenging them to incorporate the lessons learned into the games for the rest of camp (as well as to take back to their club and high school teams, as the case may be).

Before the drill sessions began, opening remarks centered around the importance of taking every opportunity to get better.  In essence, Carleton Assistant Coach Jamie Campbell told the players that they can't be satisfied about being selected for this invite-only camp, but rather to look at the bigger picture and to see where their overall game needs to grow:


Camp Director Imad Qahwash echoed the comments of his coaching staff, pulling the campers aside between drills to talk about challenging oneself in the drills and finding comfort in being uncomfortable:

Qahwash told me that the educational and teaching component of his camps has been something that is more important to him than getting the top players in the region together to compete against one another.

"I didn't have access to these sort of coaches until I was at the latter stages of my high-school career and into university," Qahwash noted.  "We want to give these kids exposure to high-calibre coaches, who can give them knowledge and skills they can take back with them as they progress in their future basketball careers," he said.

Saturday was no different.  With Carleton Assistant Coach Jamie Campbell in the building, it was a natural fit to have him lead the way on the camp's defensive drills --- especially with what the Ravens have become known for not only in Canada, but beyond.


They have a reputation for "locking up" top opposing players; just ask NCAA teams that come up here.  Current NBAer Collin Sexton went 4/13 in a 2017 exhibition game; while this past year, Summit League player of the year Mike Daum (South Dakota State, averaged 25pts & 11reb) was held to just 8 points and 2 rebounds.

Campers quickly took the knowledge provided -- particularly the key points about positioning, hand placement, and communication, and incorporated that into the drills:

After lunch, each team played their second game of the camp -- perhaps with a bit more tenacity, and certainly at a higher level (incorporating some of the key teaching points) than the night before.

Nipissing Head Coach Chris Cheng also popped in during the afternoon session, and his tweet from later in the day was certainly in line with the camp's message on Saturday:

Notable Players - Day 2
No "Top 5" today, as I had a family commitment during part of the day, but there were certainly a couple of players that stood out.

That said, the Coaching Staff will certainly have a tough job on day three trying to determine the camp's MVP and all-star team, which will be awarded at the conclusion of play.

Jahsemar Olembe - 6'4" G, Grade 9
Olembe was one of the campers that took what Coach Nathan Johnson said about leadership and accountability to heart -- during the drill sessions, he challenged his team (in a good way), getting them organized and set up to execute.

Olembe had a bit of a target placed on his back by Coach Johnson, who mentioned during his remarks that he "is the best player right now out there on the floor", but he responded during the afternoon games and is certainly among the players in the awards discussion:

Marcus Barnes
After being more of a distributor on the first day while some of his teammates (such as Dan Allen) shouldered the load, Barnes asserted himself on the offensive end as he does best on Day 2 -- going off for 30+ points in his game.

He's seeking some rarefied air at this year's camp as I can't recall too many players (if any) that have won an all-star award in back-to-back Tri-City Top 40 Camp events.
Stock Risers
Aside from Olembe & Barnes, here's a couple players from each team that are deserving of a "shout-out" on Saturday.  These may not be the "top 3" players on each team, but rather showcased something notable.  This may have included something from running things properly during the drills, to showing excellent skills (and utilizing the concepts taught), to leadership and encouraging teammates.  In other words, all of these players showed me something "extra" on Saturday:

Wiggins:  David Bain (Vincent Massey/Windsor); Diego Ramos (Holy Rosary/Kitchener); Ozay Davis (St. Mary's/Kitchener).

Lillard:  Jackson Wallace (Centennial/Guelph); Chris Hager (North Park/Brantford); Tariq Hamed (North Park/Brantford).

Harden: Maximus Doris (North Park/Brantford); Richard Spencer-Raymond (Brantford CI/Brantford); Will Glaspell (Bishop Mac/Guelph).

Murray: Daniel Allen (Bluevale/Waterloo); Robert Vosper (JF Ross/Guelph); Daniel Wang (JF Ross/Guelph).

Up Next
The camp concludes with another full day of action tomorrow at RIM Park.  The morning will see more teaching and skills development, while the final games take place tomorrow afternoon -- followed by the camp awards.  Stay tuned for a final recap after tomorrow's action!
Posted by Mark Yolkowski at Saturday, May 04, 2019

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