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Welcome to Philly Point Guard Camp, a basketball camp that will turn campers into basketball players.  Our main focus will be on making your elementary school, middle school or junior high school-aged son or daughter a smarter basketball player on Friday than he or she was on Monday. We will teach your young athletes all about fundamentals, teamwork and sportmanship during each of our eight one-week sessions. We will be at eight different sites throughout the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, making it convenient for everyone in the area to attend. We will be holding camp Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and we will be offering the best group of guest speakers in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Please check our speaker list for updates to see when one of your favorite basketball personalities will be appearing at our camp.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call the camp office at 215-806-7757 or email us at campinfo@phillypointguardcamp.com.

Hope to see you soon.

News

Congratulations to Coach Rap Curry on being inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame.

By Dick Jerardi

Of the Philadelphia Daily News

WATCH MORE THAN two decades of Big 5 basketball and there are bound to be a few "what-if" players.

For me, Rap Curry was always a "what-if" player. Just elected into the Big 5 Hall of Fame with La Salle's very deserving Donnie Carr (one of his school's amazing six 2,000-point scorers) and Penn's James Salters (a junior on the 1979 Final Four team), Curry was a big point guard with every skill and leadership ability that could not be taught.

His college numbers were very good - 1,372 points, 580 assists and 195 steals. Curry was much more than numbers. He was a great leader for teams that had almost no luck. Key player after key player kept getting injured. That whole St. Joe's era was "what if."

It was all so promising after Curry and Bernard Blunt's freshman season (1990-91). The Hawks finished strong, getting to the Atlantic 10 semifinals after upsetting Rutgers in the quarters.

Then in the final seconds of the seventh game of the next season, with the Hawks about to be 5-2, Curry tore an anterior cruciate ligament as he came to a stop just over! halfcourt at Fordham.

He came back later that season, but physically was never the same. He never took a redshirt season. He played with great will and had moments, including a huge role in a memorable upset of then-No. 10 Massachusetts on Hawk Hill late in his senior season.

If Rap ever felt sorry for himself, I never saw it or heard it. He just dealt with it. If he doesn't get hurt, I have to believe he would have played in the NBA. Thus, the "what if."

Rap was always open and honest. He was there in good times and bad, willing to ponder every question and formulate articulate, thoughtful answers.

I have covered hundreds of players in this city. One of the neat things about college sports is that you can really get to know people as more than only players wearing a number and accumulating statistics.

You can always tell a lot about people by how they react in situations that could be uncomfortable. And how much they are willing to let you kn! ow who they really are.

By that measure, my personal top three o f players I have covered would be, in no particular order, Doug Overton (La Salle), Malik Allen (Villanova) and Curry. Hall of Fame players and people.

Coach Jones has Penn Wood High off and running

By Keith Pompey

Philadelphia  Inquirer Staff Writer

Few people wondered whether Clyde Jones, an accomplished coach, would have success at Penn Wood.

But most did not expect him to have success in just his second season with an inexperienced team.

Let's just say the Patriots are ahead of schedule.

The team with just two seniors on its roster is 12-4 overall and 3-1 against Del-Val American Division opponents.

The Patriots have tied last season's overall win total. They also are technically still in contention for the division title.

That's not bad, considering that Penn Wood starts mistake-prone sophomores Tyree Johnson and Dequan Pelzer in the backcourt.

Johnson, a point guard, averages 11.5 points, 4.3 assists and 4.3 steals. Pelzer averages 4.7 points, 2.6 assists and 2.0 steals.

"I can't get upset with them," Jones said, "because I know they haven't been in these experiences before. So they are struggling with decision-making. But they're gamers, man. Both of them are gamers."

So is junior Duane Johnson.

When on his game, the 6-foot-5 swingman is one of Southeaste! rn Pennsylvania's most exciting players. Johnson averages 17.9 points, 9.8 rebounds 2.1 steals and 1.3 assists.

"Duane has been there for us all year," Jones said of last season's role player. "This is new for him. He's our leading scorer and leading rebounder. I've called on him to do a lot more than he has done before. . . . It's really great to see how he is growing."

With those kinds of players, Jones may be able to duplicate the success he had at Harriton.

After two seasons as the Rams' junior-varsity coach, he took over the varsity in 2000 and soon brought respect to a team that had long struggled in the Del-Val.

That first season under Jones, Harriton went 20-5. At the time, the Rams set a single-season school victory record. In his six seasons as the varsity coach, he compiled a 111-56 record and won a district title.