Dale Olson still has the basketball hustle in him.
The longtime Fulton Maroons senior boys high school coach is retiring from teaching after 30 years at the Vernon school at the end of the semester, but still wants to impart his knowledge and love of the game to area kids.
Olson returns as camp director for the Hoops and Hustle Basketball Camp at Clarence Fulton Secondary July 2-5. The camp is open to boys and girls currently in Grades 3-10, or who will be in Grades 4-11 at the beginning of the 2024 school year (starting in September).
鈥滺oops and Hustle is a camp that teaches basketball fundamentals and therefore could be better described as 鈥楤asketball School,鈥欌�� said Olson. Hoops and Hustle has been offered for 38 summers. Olson has been involved for all of them.
鈥淭he importance of going to basketball camp in the summer is enormous,鈥� said Olson, who played collegiately at the University of Victoria under legendary coach Ken Shields. 鈥淏asketball players are made in the off-season.鈥�
Hoops and Hustle is a basketball camp dedicated to teaching the fundamentals of the game. Participants receive two clinics and one game per day.
The College Camp (Grades 4-7 in Sept. 2024) will start at 8:30 a.m., wrapping up at 12 p.m. each day.
The Pro Camp (Grades 8-11 in Sept. 2023) will start at 1 p.m., and run until 5 p.m. daily.
鈥淭his is the best fundamentals camp in British Columbia,鈥� said Olson. 鈥淗oops and Hustle is known for making its participants better players by developing a solid base of fundamentals from our outstanding coaching staff.鈥�
Hoops and Hustle staff is composed of local high school coaches in conjunction with guest coach Spencer McKay, from Oliver, a former pro and national team member with an impressive resum茅.
McKay was inducted into the Basketball BC Hall of Fame in 2014, and in 2017, he was inducted into the University of Victoria Sports Hall of Fame. He is the co-founder and head coach of Nothin鈥� But Net (NBN), a youth basketball development academy in the Okanagan Valley founded in 2001.
McKay graduated in 1986 from Southern Okanagan Secondary School in Oliver. He led his undefeated high school basketball team to the 1986 B.C provincial championship, earning MVP honours in every tournament his team played McKay became the first athlete in his school鈥檚 history to have his number (15) retired. From
鈥淥ver the years we have attempted to bring in the best master teachers available and as a result our camp has been instructed by head coaches from Gonzaga, UBC, SFU, UVIC, Eastern Washington, Whitworth, and Seattle Pacific University,鈥� said Olson.
鈥淭he results have been phenomenal as many provincial-level players have emerged from this camp. We are very fortunate to have basketball coaches of such high calibre who are willing to come to our community and help build our basketball program.鈥�
Registration is limited so sign up early. Registration fee is $175 which includes four days of instruction, and prizes.
To reserve your spot in the camp, complete a registration form which is available for pick-up at Fulton Secondary School, or email or call Olson at dolson@sd22.bc.ca or
