rooks' camp this week

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Sean Rooks To Host Camp This
Week At San Clemente HS--(May 22, 2000)

sean_rooks.jpg (1942 bytes) Sean Rooks of the NBA Dallas Mavericks, who also happens to live in Coto de Caza in Orange County has picked a pretty unconventional time to be running a camp, but then he's a pretty unconventional guy. We came across an announcement for Rooks' camp last week while reading the LA Times (the internet version of the OC paper): Rooks will host the "Future Stars Basketball Camp" at San Celemente High School. Now there's nothing unusual about a pro player holding a camp, lots of them do it, but in this case the timing is kind of oddball. The camp, which costs $235.00, will run apparently from May 22-26 (that's today, Monday through Friday) in the evenings from 5:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. and then there will be a final session from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. on Saturday May 27, which we suppose is a schedule dictated by the fact that (a) the target audience of high school boys' players is all still in school during the daytime (with many of them getting ready for finals), and (b) a lot of people will be leaving town for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, and rather than compete with other camps during the summer, Rooks must have figured, "hey, why not do it at night?" Not a bad thought, especially if you are a player in Orange County looking for something to do in your off hours. And notwithstanding any scheduling peculiarities, this looks like it will be an impressive camp.

According to the Times' story, Rooks, who trains in the off-season in Foothill Ranch and lives in the area, has invited current and former NBA players to teach and speak at the camp, including former Final Four most valuable player Miles Simon, UC Irvine alum Bob Thornton, who played for nine years with the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz, and Paul Mokeski, a 13-year NBA veteran and former All-American at the University of Kansas who is now an assistant coach at USC under Henry Bibby. NBA training coach Joedy Gardner will coordinate camp operations with San Clemente High Coach Brad Davis. The six-day camp, which is open to boys in eighth through 12th grades, will provide more than 20 hours of personal instruction in the fundamentals and skills development. Each participant will receive a T-shirt and pair of Reebok shoes. There also will be a personal written evaluation of each participant's performance and skills. The camp will be from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. May 22-26, with games from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 27. Space is limited to the first 150 applicants. The cost is $235. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the San Clemente High boys' basketball department. There's still time to make the camp, which starts this evening. For further information call (949) 929-8326 or (949) 492-4165, Ext. 2244