New WCHS hoops coach to hold evaluation this week
The future of Warren County’s basketball program will get the chance to showcase their skills, and have their talents evaluated, this week at WCHS.
New Pioneer head coach Chris Turner will hold the inaugural Pioneer Pride Basketball Evaluation Camp this Monday through Wednesday, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. each day, at the Charlie Dalton Gym. The camp, for boys who will be entering grades 4-9, hopes to provide a foundation for young players to develop and improve, while stressing offensive fundamentals.
“It’s not like any other camp they’ve been to,” Turner said of the camp, an evaluation system he used while at Cedar Shoals High School in Georgia that was rated the top evaluation camp in the south.
“We’re trying to make these kids better players by evaluating what they do well, and what they need to work on. We want to see if they’re ahead of the competition in their age group, or behind them, and figure out what they need to be doing to be the best player they can be.”
Each player will receive a complete individual evaluation form of his abilities and needs, consisting of their scores from each of the camp’s shooting and ball-handling drills, as well as the top score from their respective age group. Several awards will also be given out, including a Coaches award, One-on-one champs, 3-on-3 champs, free-throw champ and Top Gun in each age division.
“It’s a lot of paperwork on my part, but I’m going to do it for each kid,” Turner said. “It’s not a camp where we take their money, give them a T-shirt and tell them ‘you’re the greatest.’
“At this camp they’re going to be grouped up and evaluated, so we want to get them into groups as soon as we can.”
The current Pioneer roster has already experienced what their young counterparts will be going through, as they recently participated in a week-long evaluation of their own. Turner noted this week’s camp will put the younger players through the same drills, and said he hopes to have as many athletes from the county’s elementary schools as possible participate.
“We want as many possible, because it’s only going to help the program,” he said. “If we want to get over that hump, we’ll have to do everything we can to improve as basketball players.
Cost for this week’s camp will be $50 per player. Players who have not already registered may do so on Monday, between 8 and 9 a.m.
For more information, contact Turner at (931) 863-3644.