VERSAILLES – Walsh University assistant men’s basketball coach Jeremy Shardo led more than 70 boys and girls in a three-day basketball camp this week in Versailles.
Shardo, a 2007 Versailles High School graduate, had 72 boys and girls from Darke, Auglaize, Mercer, Miami, Montgomery and Shelby counties attend his second annual Ohio Prep Skills Camp in Versailles.
“I love it,” Shardo said of coming home to lead the camp. “It’s always great to come back here and work with kids in general. But I don’t get to come back here very much. I enjoy the people around here, I enjoy the area, so any time I can get back I really enjoy it.”
Helping Shardo lead the three-day camp was Mike Shardo, his cousin who has coached college basketball; Josh Brown, an assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of Northwestern Ohio; and Austin Gardner, a senior point guard for the University of Findlay men’s basketball team.
“The kids have been working hard,” Shardo said. “I’ve got a great coaching staff this year.”
Each day the camp was split into three sessions that lasted two hours each. The first group included kids in the third through fifth grades, the second group included sixth to eighth grade students, and the final group was comprised of high school students.
The focus throughout the three days of camp was fundamentals such as ball handling, proper finishing footwork and shooting. Shardo and his instructors also spent a lot of time talking about intangibles.
“We’re also talking to them about the little intangibles of the game as far as attitude and hustle and being competitive and most importantly being coachable as they move forward in their careers,” Shardo said.
From the beginning of the camp on Monday to its conclusion on Wednesday, Shardo said, he saw significant progress from the campers.
“A lot of the kids have taken their information and practiced at home,” he said. “I’ve had several kids come up to me and tell me that after camp they’ve went home and worked on certain drills that we did during the camp. To me that’s what’s about – taking these drills they learn and going home and practicing.”
Shardo already is making plans to return to Versailles in 2018 to lead the camp again.
