Home court advantage

Published 9:59 pm Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Coach Roger Dutremble speaks to 8-year-old Kohle Harigel during a dribbling drill Monday morning in the gym at Bratt First Baptist Church. Children, below, dribble around cones as part of a refresher drill Tuesday morning.

Coach Roger Dutremble speaks to 8-year-old Kohle Harigel during a dribbling drill Monday morning in the gym at Bratt First Baptist Church. Children, below, dribble around cones as part of a refresher drill Tuesday morning.

Twenty-five local kids are learning how to better shoot, pass and dribble a basketball from a former National Basketball Association coach this week at Bratt First Baptist Church.

Roger Dutremble, of Global Sports Outreach is conducting the week-long camp, which started Monday and mixes Biblical lessons with basketball fundamentals.

“We teach them how to play the game properly,” Dutremble said. “We talk about life, diet and Christianity all through basketball.”

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On Monday, the former NBA and college coach, had participants exercising dribbling drills in the church gym.

The kids dribbled around orange cones before he broke them off in groups of two for a drill called “chase the rabbit,” in which two participants run after a basketball that is rolled down the court. The possessor then attempts to drive to the hoop and put up a shot.

Dutremble said the group would start each day with a review of the previous day’s lesson before moving on to a new skill. The participants will cover passing and shooting as well as dribbling.

“As the week progresses the drills get better,” Dutremble said. “By Friday these kids will be dribbling two basketballs at the same time.”

He conducts the drills more like a coach getting a team ready for a game, than an instructor at camp.

“I’m a teacher first, but I’m coaching,” Dutremble said. “I’ve coached for 42 years and I’ve never used my whistle, but I use my whistle for these camps.”

The Pensacola resident said the camp in Bratt this week runs on the small side, but he still enjoys it for the possibility to reach every child possible with a positive message.

“For me it makes no difference whether it’s 25 kids or 125,” Dutremble said. “I’m reaching out to everybody.”

Proceeds from the camp fee will be used to buy shoes and basketballs for camps held in poorer countries, Dutremble said.

Pastor of Students the Rev. Tim Hawsey said the camp acts as a ministry for the church, while helping a good cause at the same time.

“We do it for the community,” he said. “We just want to reach out to the community.

We are so very blessed that someone of (Dutremble’s) coaching abilities would come here.”

This is the second year the church has hosted the camp for kids ages 8 to 14.