Summer basketball camps around The Bahamas are tipping off, and the country's only camp dedicated solely to female players, opened its doors on Monday for its highly anticipated sixth edition.

The Ballin' By Da Beach Girls Basketball Camp, hosted by Jurelle Nairn and facilitated by Charisse Mapp, the head varsity girls coach at Charlotte Latin School in Charlotte, North Carolina, is scheduled to continue through Friday at Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium. The camp is open to girls ages five to 18, and runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

Nairn, who served as team manager of the senior women's national basketball team this year, has seen her camp grow in popularity and stature with each edition.
The one-time head coach of the Queen's College senior girls basketball team said that she likes the way this year's camp has progressed up to this point, and that the motivation behind the camp is still about improving play among the young female basketball players in The Bahamas.

"I would say the turnout this year was pretty good, as expected. We have over 80 girls registered, so clearly there is a real interest in basketball among the young women in the country," she said. "This is a small part of what needs to be done to get women's basketball back to the point where it was some time ago. We need to have more camps teaching the fundamentals, but more importantly, the girls need a place where they can play. That's the only way they're going to get better. You can do work individually, but you have to play other people. In our high school system, these girls play maybe seven or eight games for the year, as opposed to the 30 that their international competitors play."

A total of 15 of the camp's former participants have received scholarships to U.S. high schools and colleges.

"The numbers continue to increase every year and it continues to take me by surprise," Nairn said. "This is a week-long program and as much good as it does, this program can only put a dent in what needs to be done, but we are looking forward to its continued growth."

Next on the camp's vision timeline is to introduce a boys segment of Ballin' By Da Beach next summer, along with staging a coach's clinic.

Interested persons can register at www.ballinbydabeach.com, with further information via Twitter - @Ballinbydabeach, Facebook - www.facebook.com/ballinbydabeach or e-mail - ballinbydabeach@gmail.com.

 

 

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