{"id":414066,"date":"2024-09-02T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=414066"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Youth-participate-in-2-day-Grind-hoops-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Youth-participate-in-2-day-Grind-hoops-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth participate in 2-day Grind hoops camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

The youth took the opportunity to participate in the first Grind Basketball Camp on Saipan, which was run by former Japanese-American professional basketball player from Guam, Morgan Hikaru Aiken, over the weekend at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.<\/p>\n

Last Saturday, the first session featured eight high school boy cagers, while the second session was a mix of young girls and boys.<\/p>\n

The drills that Aiken implemented in the camp were dribbling, ball handling, a read-and -eact offensive\/defensive drill, layups, and a mini halfcourt game with no dribbling.<\/p>\n

He shared in an interview after the first session that the boys that came out were \u201creally talented and you could see that they really love basketball. I can see the passion is there and I feel that\u2019s where it starts, versus having parents just push or force the sport on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that in his years of coaching and training kids, the No. 1 thing for him is to find passionate kids. \u201cYou see that here because they love the game. They want to be here, they want to learn, they want to improve. And I feel like that\u2019s a stepping stone to improving and maximizing potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aiken, who is the first Guam high school graduate to sign a professional contract to play basketball overseas in the Japan Basketball League and later in the B.League, had a talk with the participants during the camp in which he told them that yes, it\u2019s practice and as much as he doesn\u2019t want unforced errors, they\u2019re there to improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to make mistakes, but mistakes are things that we\u2019re going to learn from. So, be comfortable making mistakes, you just have to be able to adjust,\u201d he told the boys. \u201cThe last thing I told them was to ask questions. If I\u2019m explaining a drill and they don\u2019t understand it, I don\u2019t want them to go through the motions just because I\u2019m coaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old added that if there was one thing he wanted participants to take away from his camp, it\u2019s that the little details matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cFocusing on the little details every day kind of adds up to the big picture, as in, you\u2019ll get to a place where all these little habits that you\u2019re fine tuning and fixing leads you to become the best middle school, high school or college player,\u201d said Aiken. \u201cIt\u2019s not one major thing where it\u2019s like, oh, you could do this really well\u2014but it\u2019s a lot of little things. Especially with basketball, there\u2019s so many aspects to work on, from defense to offense to awareness to cardio, to movement. But it\u2019s the little things that really matter that start separating yourself from another athlete. And then now, when you combine those and you look back, you\u2019ll say \u2018I came a long way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He then said that he might come down to Saipan for more camps about every three months, but that, \u201cI feel like I could definitely do maybe three or four two-day camps within the year. That\u2019s definitely something I would want to do in the near future. So, I definitely want to continue this. I feel like as a trainer, I\u2019m able to learn too, because every athlete, every player, is different. And as a trainer, it helps me grow seeing how each and every athlete acts and responds. Even if it\u2019s similar drills, everybody\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Azzy Fatialofa, NMI women\u2019s national team pool player, joined the second session and said that it was a good experience for her. \u201cIt was an honor to be learning from a professional player. The drills he had for us were fun and a way to keep us on our feet. Through each break he gave us advice as players to take with us through our journeys as basketball players. This opportunity was something I wouldn\u2019t forget and I\u2019m going to use it to my advantage,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As for Enzo Sasamoto from Mount Carmel School, he said the camp \u201cwas very tough, but it means that we\u2019re going to improve. If it was easy, we\u2019re not going anywhere. We learned a lot of new things and it really helped us with our IQ of the game and our conditioning.\u201d The 14-year-old said that his favorite part of the camp was the last 4v4 no dribble game. \u201cIt really helped us with our offball movement, off ball screens, and passing,\u201d said the MCS boys varsity basketball team hopeful.<\/p>\n

Participants of the camp with Fatialofa and Sasamoto included Jay Pineda, Peyton Basa, David Apatang, James Matsumoto, Kian Helgen, Jared Villagomez, Niko Paul, Lance Lerio, Mike Mercado Jr., Patricia Matsumoto, Liam Sablan-Wilson, Jener Pineda, and Aaleyah Fatialofa.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Youth participants of the first Grind Basketball Camp on Saipan pose for a group photo with coach Morgan Hikaru Aiken, far right, on the first day of camp last Saturday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Grind Basketball Camp coach Morgan Hikaru Aiken, far left, speaks to the second session participants on the first day of his camp last Saturday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Grind Basketball Camp coach Morgan Hikaru Aiken points during a drill demonstration as a Peyton Basa looks on during the first day of camp last Saturday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Grind Basketball Camp coach Morgan Hikaru Aiken demonstrates a drill with a basketball and cone during the first day of camp last Saturday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.<\/p>\n

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<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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