GREAT FALLS — Each summer, former NBA player and Great Falls CMR alumnus Josh Huestis holds an annual basketball camp for kids, and the event is currently ongoing at Rustler Fieldhouse until Thursday.
"I see myself in these kids — like, I remember coming to camps like this when I was a little kid," Huestis said at Tuesday's morning session. "It feels like so long ago but yesterday at the exact same time. So, just being able to come back here and see their growth and development, see them do things they couldn't do the year before, it's fun. I really look forward to that."
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Huestis said it's always a full-circle moment to be running the camp in his hometown.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to it," Huestis said. "I've been able to play on the biggest stages in the world, but still coming back in this gym, there's something special about it, just because this is the place that I really fell in love with the game, and this is the place and the town that gave me so much in life."
For participants Lane Vinson and Teagan Keaster — both incoming sixth-graders — they said the camp has helped them learn basketball better.
"I've been seeing improvement on myself, and I feel like I'm going to be way better after this," Vinson said.
"It is really fun, and a lot more people should come," Keaster said.
Vinson and Keaster both have things they want to really work on at the camp.
"I do want to really get a good fadeaway by the end of this," Vinson said. "And I want to learn how to do the spider dribbling drill."
"Get better at shooting, and knowing where to throw the ball," Keaster said. "If I see someone open, I can learn how to pass it to them."
Huestis gets very involved in the camp, even jumping into drills at times.
"I can't help myself. Oh my gosh, I swear ... I still feel like I'm in college," Huestis said. "The body doesn't keep up as well as it used to anymore, but I just genuinely enjoy teaching.
"I have a very hard time stopping myself from hopping in and trying to teach, because honestly I was blessed to be able to play for a long time and I learned a ton. And now it's my job and my responsibility to teach as much as I can while I'm here."
At the end of the day, Huestis said this camp is about one key thing.
"More important than their awards, their accolades, anything like that, is the friends they're going to make at things like this, the memories," Huestis said. "I still have memories from my time doing it, so trying to help them with that and try to take pressure off of it, and just help them enjoy their week."
