The Class of 2009. (Photo courtesy of Hawaii Island Hoops)

Special to Hawaii247.com by Andy Smith

The 2009 Hawaii Island Hoops College Prep Basketball Camp was a huge success for the local talent in Hawaii. 

With the top prep basketball players, great talent, top-notch coaching staff and a camp schedule that had all the trimmings of competition, instruction, college prep seminars, excitement and fun!

The week-long college prep camp started out with some competitive full court fundamental training that set the tone for the rest of the week. The kids were all ready to get after it and impress some of the college coaches in attendance.

The prep athletes work out in the gym. (Photo courtesy of Hawaii Island Hoops)

The fundamental instruction was key to early success with a 7-1 player coach ratio, which made for a solid understanding of all shooting, ball handling, passing, defensive and offensive instruction. We even had a special visit from Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona, and UH Hilo Coach Jeff Law.

Our evening College Prep Seminar provided student-athlete handbooks on academic requirements on NCAA, NAIA and Junior College. 

Next evening was financial aid that is available, and the Thursday evening seminar, Coach Aukai Wong told his story of travels from the JUCO ranks of Carl Albert State College in Oklahoma, to NAIA Warner Pacific College in Portland, Ore. What a true local underdog story!! 

Our coaching staff came together to provide a balanced roster of teams through our team selection. The team names were: Kentucky, Arizona, Louisville, Syracuse, North Carolina and Florida, which made for some excitement in our 5 on 5 competitions.

The camp also included instruction on how to be a successful college athlete. (Photo courtesy of Hawaii Island Hoops)

Each team played each other once during our “regular season” and that decided our seeding for our camp tournament.

Thursday evening provided ever more excitement with our Slam Dunk contest with Ikaika Kahoopia, CJ Jones, Aaron Fernandez and John Craig. This set the tone and some brought the house down with a few alley-oops and wind-mill jams. 

The College Prep Camp All-Star Game followed with a double over-time win by the East squad.

I can’t forget how amazing the food was this year! From breakfast, lunch and dinner … chocolate cake!! Ono kine grindz! 

Also, we had an amazing time at Hapuna Beach on Wednesday afternoon for some fun-in-the-sun!! And mahalo to Bonnie Jones for providing massage for the boys at the beach pavilion massage table! 

Can’t forget that tour bus ride up and back thanks to Roberts Hawaii and Tropical Smoothie Café for providing the smoothies!!

Friday, the camp finished with all the finals of individual skills competition which crowned the 3-Point Champion (Aaron Fernandez) Free-Throw Champion (Sol DeSagun) and 1-on-1 Champion (Keala Freitas). Followed by the 5-on-5 Championship game, which went into overtime and won by Louisville!

The week ended with the awards ceremony and certificate presentation. Final words from the coaches, and another breakdown on PMA! PMA! PMA! (Positive Mental Attitude).

I want to thank everyone who contributed in making our Hawaii Island Hoops College Prep Basketball Camp the best basketball camp in the state.

Mahalo Nui Loa,

Coach Andy Smith

— Find out more:

www.hawaiiislandhoops.com