Northland's basketball players and coaches have the chance to learn from the best when Pero Cameron comes to town this weekend. Photo / File
Northland's basketball players and coaches have the chance to learn from the best when Pero Cameron comes to town this weekend. Photo / File
One of Northland's favourite sporting sons, Pero Cameron, is making a brief visit to the region this weekend to help grow basketball.
Cameron, who currently resides on Australia's Gold Coast, will be running a number of clinics in Whangārei for players and coaches in a collaborative initiative between Cameron Basketball Academy and Northland Basketball.
The aim of the clinics is for Northland's basketballers to learn more about how to develop their game and how to compete against bigger regions like Auckland and North Harbour.
A session for coaches will be held tomorrow at ASB Stadium which will be focused on defensive structures, zone principles and priorities, and video analysis.
On Saturday also at ASB Stadium, two separate session will be held for two different age-groups which will focus on appropriate skills and drills as well as a game. A session for players aged between 12 and 18 years old will be held from 10am-11:30am, while a session for players between six and 11 years old will be held from 12.30pm-2pm.
Cameron's reputation precedes him with a 17-year national representative career, including NZ Breakers honours, two Olympic Games for the New Zealand Tall Blacks and three FIBA world championships.
The 45-year-old sporting icon is also among an elite few to be inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame, standing among the likes of NBA greats Yao Ming, Shaquille O'Neil and Michael Jordan. This year, Cameron was inducted as the 31st Northland Legend of Sport for his impressive basketball career as a player and a coach at the Northland Sports Awards.
The Northland basketball icon was inducted as the 31st Northland Legend of Sport at the Northland Sports Awards earlier this year, Cameron seen here next to fellow legend Sid Going. Photo / File
Cameron, who is the current New Zealand under-15 girls' basketball coach, will be a invaluable resource to the growing number of young players taking up the sport. His visit also coincides with a purple patch in Northland's age-group basketball programme where three of the region's young sides have qualified for their respective national tournaments.
The under-19 boys', under-17 boys' and under-15 girls' Northland teams will all attend national tournaments in June and July after performing well at regional qualifying tournaments in April and May.
Despite great showings from all three teams, the under-15 girls' group take the cake after finishing first at their qualifying competition in May, going up against strong sides from Auckland, North Harbour and Waitakere.
The squad will go to the national competition in Tauranga on July 17-20 as the first seed, and will have a great opportunity to topple 2018's national champions, Waikato.
Northland Basketball general manager Josh Port said it was great to see local players and coaches interested in the opportunity to learn from someone with priceless experience as both a player and coach.
"Pero is known to be a great developer of talent, so this opportunity for our coaches and players is massive. It's the first of a few opportunities that we have lined up or are in the midst of planning, that previously have been unavailable to Northland," he said.
Port said Pero's visit was just another indication of basketball's growth in Northland and represented a big step for technical development in the region.
"It's a great time to be in basketball with the sport exploding in numbers and interest, and it makes it extra special when we are able to secure the services of personalities like Pero to come and invest in our people."
For those interested in attending these clinics, email nbballcomp@gmail.com with your name, date of birth and the session you would like to attend.
