It’s a chance to be coached by some great local all star players who are now giving back to their community.
The Centre Wellington Celtics Basketball Club is hosting their annual summer camp this July at Centre Wellington District High School.
Each year many of the community’s young athletes attend a fun filled week of basketball skill development and competition.
This year’s camp promises to be bigger and better than ever with the return of some of our experienced local coaches and the addition of some great local talent. Returning camp coach, Jim Newton, is a teacher at JD Hogarth and has been involved with the Centre Wellington Celtics and JD Hogarth Public School for several years as a coach.
Newton has been a key part of developing the young basketball players in our community, helping them to become winners both on and off the court. Newton started his basketball career in the Kitchener area and attended the University of Waterloo where he was a key player on their varsity basketball team.
Koven Padayachee has joined the coaching team as the camp coordinator.
Koven comes from a very diverse background in basketball starting with a successful club and high school career in Guelph.
Recruited out of high school, Koven excelled on the court at the University of Guelph and continued to compete internationally in Sydney, Australia, where he was selected to the Green and Gold All-Australian Team.
Over the past few years he has been a member of the Guelph Men’s Phoenix Basketball Team, travelling and competing against CIS and NCAA competition.
Currently a high school Physical Education teacher, he devotes much of his extra time to developing inspiring basketball players.
He has coached at a variety of different basketball camps and clinics including Summit basketball camp in New York and Vince Carters Basketball Academy.
At the VCYBA, he had the opportunity to train with New Jersey Nets players such as Vince Carter and Julius Hodge.
He has worked with many high school basketball players in the local area and helped them earn spots on some prestigious CIS and NCAA teams.
With a good understanding of the game, he brings a strong presence to our program to assist in basketball development.
Nick Pankerichan has joined the coaching team.
Nick started his basketball career in Hamilton, Ontario where he was part of the Sherwood Secondary School team that won OFSAA Bronze in 2003.
As a member of team Ontario Provincial team from 2001-2003 and Captain of 2003 team Nick won back to back national championships (02-03).
Nick went on to be an alternate for Young Men’s Canadian National team in 2004 which qualified for world championships.
From 2004 to 2009 Nick attended the University of Guelph where he was All Rookie Team in 04/05, Team Captain for 4 of the years, OUA 1st Team All Star in 07/08, OUA 2nd Team All Star in 08/09 and graduated as the second All-Time leading Scorer for the Gryphs.
He is now entering his third year as an assistant coach for the University of Guelph Gyphons.
Lucas Nevar is the thrd new coach joining the team this year.
Lucas grew up and started playing basketball in Port Colborne Ontario at the age of four, playing at varying levels of competition in the Ontario Basketball Association for Port Colborne, Niagara Regional teams, and for the Hamilton Wildcats.
In 2002 he was part of the National Champion U-16 Ontario Provincial team that competed in Lethbridge, Alberta. Lucas attended the University of Guelph where he played for three years under Coach Chris O’Rourke before finishing his degree in business.
Now at age 24 years Lucas is at a point in his life where he feels it is now time to take all he has learned and pass it on to the upcoming talent in Ontario.
The Camp will run from July 11 to 14 at Centre Wellington District High School.
To register call Jim Newton at 519-787-1582 or go to the Celtics website at www.cwceltics.ca for registration form.
Along with the Camp, the Centre Wellington Celtics run a Friday Night development program for boys and girls in Grades 2 to 9 and a full rep program for boys and girls age 10 to 18.
These programs begin in September of each year.
