Sports
Learning to Dribble, Pass, Layup: Sikh Basketball Camp
NEWS REPORTS
Pacoima, California, U.S.A.
On Saturday March 13, 2010, over 100 children from Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego gathered to participate in a semi-annual Sikh basketball camp.
The camp was held at Khalsa Care Foundation, at the Pacoima Middle School facilities.
Registration began at 9 am at Khalsa Care Foundation, and by 10 am, over 100 participants of age 8-18 were stretching and preparing to run basketball drills in the Pacoima Middle School gym. The kids spent the first half of the day running basic drills that taught them fundamental basketball skills such as dribbling, passing, and layups.
The participants were then split up into age groups and each group was monitored by volunteers from Singh Sensations, an all-Sikh local basketball team.
The participants and
volunteers took a break for a nutritional lunch of Subway sandwiches, and
then came back together for a discussion on healthy living,
sportsmanship and how to play sports while keeping the Sikh identity.
Members of the Singh Sensations basketball team spoke about
sportsmanship and teamwork, and how kids should be behaving on the court. They also spoke about how sports can be used as a metaphor for how to
live as a Sikh. The volunteers shared some of the problems that they
faced when playing sports in high school and how they got through those
problems.
By then, the participants were re-energized, inspired and ready to start playing some scrimmages. The participants were again split up by age and ran scrimmages within their groups.
By the end of the camp, at 4 PM, kids who had never played basketball
before in their lives were familiar with the fundamentals and had a
chance to play in games. Kids who had been playing basketball for
years, had relearned some of the basic that they may have forgotten and
improved their games through practice. The participants all left happy
and energized with t-shirts and souvenir steel water bottles.
This camp was the first ever basketball camp and definitely not the
last. Another camp will be held in about six months and in the future,
there will also be other sports camps including soccer, football and
softball.
The camp was held by the Singh Sensations, which competes in the City of Burbank's Adult Basketball league. The
team is comprised of a group of young Sikhs ranging from university
students to professionals in various workplaces. These individuals are
also active member of the surrounding Sikh community.
For more information on the Singh Sensations or to find out when their games are, please visit www.singhsensations.com.
March 20, 2010