This Sunday, around 80 basketball players, grades 5-12, will be participating in Eastern’s Guard/Forward Camp.

Although Eastern offers a basketball team camp, which begins June 30, camps like the guard/forward camp are garnering more attention.

“Individuals are tending to be more interested in specialty-type camps and we’ll run the guard/forward camp a lot like the individual skills we run with the team [at Eastern],” said Mike Miller, head men’s basketball coach and one of the coaches at the camp.

Miller has said the guards and forwards will get a chance to practice their fundamentals, work on breaking things down, basic footwork, creating habits, different kinds of footwork and the fundamental skills of ball handling and passing.

The camp will work on skills specific to either the guard or forward position, and will feature a daily skills competition, 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 games and optional swimming in Eastern’s swimming pool.

Along with the basketball coaching staff, high school coaches also come to help out at the camp along with some of Eastern’s basketball players.

“We split them [5-12 graders] into age groups; a lot if it is just developing skills and habits, teaching guidance,” Miller said.

The big thing about the team camps is “Team Play.” Teams come to register as a group from their school and then are guaranteed to play eight games in the camp. Then the top four teams from each division are able to compete in the ‘Final Four’ for camp champions.

“Team camps come in with high school teams and they just play games, whereas the guard/forward camp is more of a breakdown with skill work,” Miller said. “We have some schools from Indiana coming, so it gives them a chance to play with people from all over.”

Originally, there were supposed to be two team camps: one this Friday and one on the June 30, but that was changed to form one large camp.

“It makes more sense to do it all at once,” said Chad Altadonna, assistant men’s basketball coach and one of the coaches at the camp. “It makes the competition better, plus the officials could only do the second one.”

Unlike the track and field camps, Miller has said no one has really been recruited to the basketball team as a result of the camps, but has said that if there’s a student athlete out there interested in Eastern, it’s better to go through the camps.

“I hope they have a good experience,” Miller said. “It gives them a chance to meet different people and see the campus as well. It’s a great thing.”

In addition to the guard/forward and team camps, there is also a basketball day camp for K-eighth graders from July 17-20 that focuses on basic dribbling, passing, shooting, rebounding, footwork and defense fundamentals. For more information, contact Eastern’s assistant men’s basketball coach Chad Altadonna at (217) 581-2511.