Published: June 12, 2009 10:48 pm      

Small talk turned into area camp

What started as small talk between a pair of former collegiate basketball players turned brothers-in-law is now entering its third year as the Complete Player Basketball Camp that begins Monday at Meridian High School.

The week-long camp is put on by Meridian businessman Percy Bland and his brother-in-law Dwayne Killings, who is the Assistant Director of Men’s Basketball Operations at Temple University.

“We didn’t have a whole lot to talk about when we first met, but we had basketball,” Killings said. “We always kind of talked about doing this camp and when we first started it two years ago, the success of it was great.”

The camp, which has become the biggest of its kind in the area, is open to boys and girls ages 7-17 and has featured current and former NBA players as guest instructors in previous years. Other camp instructors have included Dannton Jackson, who was the college roommate of Bland at Xavier University of Louisiana and is currently the head coach at his alma mater.

In addition to trying to improve the basketball skills of the campers, the basketball camp also features daily speakers during the lunch break.

“The speakers that come in try to make an impact on these kids’ lives,” Bland said. “Basketball taught me a lot of the skills that I use in everyday life and that’s what we want to do for these kids.

“This camp is awesome to me because they get skill development, games and get to listen to the speakers. You have kids from all walks of life — from housing units to private schools — and they get a good chance to compete against other kids that they wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to.”

Each day of the camp, which runs Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, will begin with stretching and conditioning before the campers take part in skill stations and then game competition before lunch. More games will follow the lunch break before team and camp contests close out the afternoon.

Registration is still open for the camp, which costs $115 per child. Killings said there are also discounts available for campers who are in financial need. For more information on the camp, or to register, call 601-880-3803.