SMC Student Athlete to Run Summer Youth Basketball Camp

With the summer sun starting to rise and most of us getting ready for long vacations and spending days at the beach, there's one Santa Monica College student who has a lot more on his plate.

Freshman basketball player Justin McCurdy is doing big things this summer.

With help from his former coaches, friends and other athletes, he has created South Bay Future Athletes.

From the week of August 3rd to the 7th, the SBFA camp will take place in Redondo Beach, McCurdy's local city. This camp will be for boys and girls ages 8 to 12.

"I have been working camps for years, and I love the atmosphere. I love the kids and the game of basketball, so I decided to try my own," says McCurdy.

McCurdy has been playing basketball for 12 years now, and just finished his first season playing here at SMC. In hopes to become a sports agent in his future, McCurdy is taking the first step to starting a successful career.

It seems like McCurdy has a hard task at hand. Starting a running a camp from scratch takes a lot of seemingly impossible work. As he continues to network himself and his camp, it is being more reasonable for this camp to come alive. After working on opening South Bay Future Athletes for a year now, McCurdy is finally ready to open doors.

"This camp is a long process that never really ends. You have to register your business with the government as a privately owned business, you have to open an account at the bank, you have to advertise every way possible, you have to shop around for the best deals on equipment. The process is long and hard but I'm hoping it will all pay off," says Justin.

"We will teach the fundamentals of basketball through drills, we will have camp games and scrimmages, we will have an hour a day of non-basketball related activity so that the kids don't get bored. We will have guest speakers (I am working on NBA players), we will have an award ceremony where trophies will be given out for not only skill but for sportsmanship and attitude, and most importantly we will encourage the kids to make friendships with the other kids in the area," says McCurdy.

Justin has also recruited the help for SMC head basketball coach Jerome Jenkins, who has years of experience coaching as well as playing basketball.

He has also recruited the help of his high school coach, Tom Maier. Maier and has his own very prestigious camp in Palos Verdes called the Peninsula Sports Camps, and knows what it takes to make a camp successful.

McCurdy is opening doors for kids to live their dream of basketball. Taking the talents and skills that he has, he can surely encourage and lead these kids to their own success in basketball.

"I think I have a lot to offer to these kids as their coach. I have hired very knowledgeable coaches who have played at high levels of basketball. They are all willing to share their knowledge with the kids and that itself is going to help the kids /If the kids walk away with new friends and a little more basketball knowledge I personally think I helped them and I'd consider it a successful camp," says McCurdy.

With only a few months before his camp opens, McCurdy and his team are looking to create a safe, fun, and educational basketball camp for these kids. He is setting up a place for kids to have fun this summer and not be cooped up at home.

You can learn more about South Bay Future Athletes by visiting Justin's website: www.sbfa2009.webs.com