North Point hosts boys basketball camp
Weeklong event has more than 100 children participating
Inside the spacious gymnasium at North Point High School throughout the last two weeks and then into the next one, more than 120 youngsters participated in the Eagles Basketball Camp where head coach Jimmy Ball is supported by past, present and future players.
Ball, now in his 13th year of overseeing the camp at North Point after spending nine years in a similar role at Westlake High School, enjoys seeing the young players, primarily sixth- to eighth-graders with several much younger, interact with his group of coaches through all three weeks.
“We started the camp a little later than usual because we wanted to give the girls the first two weeks in June right after school let out,” Ball said. “But the support that I’ve gotten has been tremendous. We probably had close to 130 kids sign up. It’s amazing to see their growth from week to week. They’ll probably end up spending 105 hours in the gym.”
In addition to his son, Satchel Ball, a recent North Point graduate and rising freshman at Gannon University (Pa.), coaches at the camp also included rising sophomore Jace Anderson and one of his former Westlake players, Doug Cornwell. What impressed Jimmy Ball the most about his coaching staff is their ability to run practices and games.
“It’s great having those guys come here and help out,” Ball said. “Doug was one of my former players at Westlake and now he has three kids at the
camp. Satchel and Jace can run things like I would. It shows me that they were paying attention. I won’t have Satchel back this winter, but Jace is one of our upand-coming players.”
Cornwell, a 2001 Thomas Stone High School graduate and current St. Mary’s County resident, participated as a coach for the first time this summer and has three sons, Colin Cornwell, 10, Parker Cornwell, 6, and Jackson Cornwell, 4, who were also part of the three-week endeavor.
Cornwell played for three seasons under Ball at Westlake but transferred to Thomas Stone for his senior year after a “misunderstanding” between him and Ball.
“When I was younger I guess I didn’t understand a lot of things and me and coach Ball had a little misunderstanding, so I transferred to Stone for my senior year,” Cornwell said. “We probably didn’t speak for 10 years, but then I finally went to him one day and admitted I was wrong and told him I wanted to help out with the camp. He taught me a lot — it just took me a while.”
Cornwell’s three sons were among the 100 or so kids who participated in a bevy of concurrent full-court games over the last hour of camp on Tuesday. The gathering was expected back for another full day of workouts on Wednesday capped by games and frozen
treats, ushering in the Fourth of July holiday. But everyone was expected back for today’s session and next week as well.
“It’s great watching all of these kids interact with one another,” Cornwell said. “They learn about basketball and they learn life skills. It’s been rewarding for me to help out coach Ball this summer. He’s taught me and so many of his players so much, now it’s up to me to help him to keep teaching the younger kids.”
Soon after the final games of the camp concluded, Ball commended his youngsters on hand and took a moment to single out a pair of them, Charles County residents Khani Davis and Alan Johnson, for their hard work and sportsmanship on the floor.
“Those two kids love to play and get after it, but they also want to make each other get better,” Ball said. “They don’t talk bad to anyone. They make plays and help their teammates get better. They play hard against one another on the court, but when the game’s over, it’s over and they understand that.”