SAN ANTONIO – Nevil Shed has seen and done almost everything.
Years after helping the West Texas men’s basketball team win the 1966 NCAA championship in a historic showdown with Kentucky, the basketball icon has put down roots in San Antonio where he works as a camp director for Spurs’ youth basketball camps. These programs have hosted hundreds of kids from San Antonio and around the world ages 6-18 throughout the summer, and the past two weeks have featured workouts at UIW and Mission Concepcion. Sports Park.
Shed was on the court Tuesday afternoon. He is currently in the middle of his 36th year working in the camps and he thinks the No 4 decade is just as fun and exciting as the first three.
“It’s scary sometimes because someone walks up to me and says, ‘Do you remember me?’ I say, ‘Keep talking,’ and they say, ‘I was in a camp in 1980, and now I’m bringing my kids to you,” Shed explained. “It’s not just from the great state of Texas. come from all over the United States and other countries, from Mexico to Colombia to China. That’s the kind of brand that Spurs have, and we continue to try to make our camp even better every year.
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“Coach Shed has a saying: We never say goodbye, we always say ‘To be continued. “,” said David Smith, head coach of Our Lady of the Lake. “We watch these kids grow, try to nurture them, raise them, and give them everything they need to be bigger people, not just basketball players. Basketball is just the tool we use. It’s a much bigger picture.
This marks Smith’s 7th season as the camp’s assistant coach, and OLLU is one of several local colleges represented on the coaching staff. Current Trinity and St. Mary’s athletes and coaches also dedicate their time and energy to helping camp participants develop throughout a five-day, overnight program.
“It’s like stepping back in time,” said OLLU second-year goaltender Xavier Purnell. “When I was a kid, I went to camps like this and had a lot of fun. We did exercises for a few hours, we played games… This experience helped me on both sides. There are things we teach these kids that I still go through.
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“I remember when I was a kid, and I remember the names of all the coaches who helped me at youth camps,” Trinity senior guard Ben Hanley said. “They really impacted me and my love of the game, so to be able to come back here and hopefully have the same impact on these kids that these coaches had on me is a super cool experience.”
The camp will end this Friday. For more information on available camps, click here.
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