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Basketball Camp aims to produce future hoops stars

The 5th annual Rimbey Summer Basketball Camp has once again come and gone and in its wake has left a legacy of continuing to produce top calibre players who in many cases, go on to play college or university hoops.
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Participants at the recent Rimbey Summer Basketball Camp brought new meaning to the phrase: ‘double-dribble’

The 5th annual Rimbey Summer Basketball Camp has once again come and gone and in its wake has left a legacy of continuing to produce top calibre players who in many cases, go on to play college or university hoops.

The camp, which is broken into two age groups including 11-14 year olds and 15-18 year old players, is organized and run by former Rimbey basketball star Adam Troitsky.

“It’s about the same – a little bit lower than we’ve had in the past but it’s about average with 30 kids between the two camps,” Troisky said of this year’s attendance.

A recent graduate of university himself, Troitsky received his education degree last December and in addition to running the camp, he also spent a good part of the summer working in the construction industry in Edmonton, but that could soon end as he is hoping to turn over the reigns of the camp to a someone else who is willing to run with the ball for a while.

“My dream when I started was to start and run it and with such a good group of young coaches coming up I was hoping that eventually we would get it to the point where it was self-sustaining so every time a new person comes along that is willing to do it and has the expertise that they’ll step up,” he said adding that he may have found the right person in former Rimbey High School player Erika Bergum however he added that it isn’t official just yet. Either way, Troitsky said he’d like to see the camp continue on for many more years.

“We’re hoping that it will continue on but I don’t know what my role will be in that,” he said. “It’s getting a lot more difficult for me to come and do it, but hopefully it will carry on. I’ll do whatever I can to help it along.”

Over his five years running the camp Troitsky said he’s seen many young individuals develop their skills rapidly from one year to the next and credited the outstanding coaching offered during the regular academic year at the local high school.

“Absolutely. A lot of that is giving them a level of confidence and knowing what they can do within the game and then hopefully they can come out and make the team in Rimbey,” he said. “That’s where the real development happens too. With the great coaches here at the school players develop over the year and they come back and learn a few new things at the camp that they can work on and get themselves ready to play at a higher level.”

While the five-year run of the camp has been a success, Troitsky was quick to point to principal and basketball coach Tim Lekas as the critical element in the success of the camp.

“We wouldn’t be able to the camp with out Tim and all the things he does here and all the involvement he has in basketball,” he said. “He was unbelievable coaching two or three teams every year and all the things he does for the summer league. He’s a basketball lover and he does whatever he can at all times to make basketball better here in Rimbey.”

Troitsky said he played for Lekas for a number of years while attending the high school and added that his former coach took every available opportunity to ensure that his teams received as much experience on the basketball floor as possible.

“A lot of it has to do with the level of competition that they’re getting all year around,” Troitsky said. “Tim does such a good job at providing the kids with an opportunity at playing at a higher level. If you just stayed and played 2A high school basketball against other 2A players, you’ll never play college. But Tim takes the kids out he gets them involved in the biggest and best tournaments he can get into and the players get that exposure and the level of play that they need to see.”