Basketball camp comes to Aspen High this weekend, powered by New Balance

Halloween weekend, Aspen High School will play host to a New Balance “powered” basketball camp for third graders through high school. The two-day affair is being put on by Kevin Washington, a national trainer and skills developer who is the director of Dribble Drive Basketball.

The camp starts Saturday, Oct. 30, with the primary skill development workshop, while Sunday, Oct. 31, will be a series of 3 versus 3 “turbo” basketball tournaments, akin to what is now found in the Summer Olympics.

“We are trying to implement a combine training clinic where we are really doing advanced drills with players and taking them through a Saturday clinic,” Washington said.

Helping run the camp with Washington is Korleone Young, a former high school phenom out of Wichita, Kansas, who was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the second round of the 1998 NBA draft. Young is now the director of One-N-Done Hoops.

Saturday’s combine-style camp will be divided into four, two-hour sessions by age group, beginning with the third- and fourth-graders. There will also be sessions for fifth and sixth grade, seventh and eighth grade, and then high school. The camp is open to boys and girls and will be limited to 32 players per age division, per gender.

Washington said he would like to have around 100 players over the weekend and is targeting not just Aspen, but the entire Roaring Fork Valley and nearby communities.

“We really want to get the kids in the surrounding areas and make it a good event,” he said.

All participants will receive New Balance swag and there will be medals and other gear — not to mention possible Denver Nuggets tickets — up for grabs during tournament play on Sunday.

While Washington has been coaching camps for years — he even mentored Young back when he was in high school — the Aspen event this weekend will be the first of its kind. Washington picked Aspen to jumpstart what he hopes will be many similar events nationwide.

“We wanted Aspen to be a spot that we could kind of take pictures and take some video and send it to New Balance and see what they thought about the event,” Washington said. “We are going to try and do about 20 of these throughout the country. So Aspen is our first spot of getting this off the ground. The more kids the merrier.”

Cost is $150 per player for both days. Washington said once players pay, they will be automatically signed up and then sent more registration details. Payments can be made through Venmo (@Kevin-Washington-44), among other options. Cash and check also is accepted.

For more information, prospective players can contact Washington at kwbball2@yahoo.com and via phone at either 405-492-5957 or 918-986-2255.

acolbert@aspentimes.com