After a long few months with the gyms closed, Powell boys’ basketball will host its annual Panther Boys’ Basketball Camp from Monday, July 27 to Thursday, July 30.

The camp is for anyone between 10 years old and their senior year in high school. It lasts from approximately 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and costs $170 for the week.

Mike Heny, the boys’ basketball head coach at Powell High School, is excited to give the students a chance to play in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting time lost.

“The pandemic has taken a lot away from these kids, and any chance we can give them to be active and improve their skills within a sports environment is essential,” Heny said. “I think kids are chomping at the bit to get back to participating in these types of activities.”

This season, Heny will begin his second stint as PHS’ head coach. He previously served the same role from 2006 to 2013.

Alongside Heny, Northwest College head coach Jay Collins will also work the event. Collins enters his second season as the head coach of the Trappers’ men’s basketball team. He arrived in Powell late last summer and didn’t have much time to connect with locals before the season.

Collins hopes working at the camp changes that.

“I’m looking forward to doing something for the community,” he said. “When I came here last August, I didn’t have as much time to immerse myself in the community, so I wasn’t really as visible. Hopefully this helps me build a relationship with the high school and the town.”

Basketball is becoming more competitive than ever. To succeed, one has to know the game forward and backward. So, Heny hopes to take some of the sport’s key principles and morph them into game-like settings.

“The main goals for the camp are to teach and improve on the fundamentals of the game,” he said. “We will try to cover as many offensive and defensive fundamentals as possible within the week and tailor those skills to meet the individual needs of each athlete. We will also incorporate team concepts and competition at the end of each day to bring everything together in a game-like environment.”