Slam Magazine – July 2019

F

IVE-STAR is back. The iconic

basketball boot camp that has

produced over 500 NBA players

is relaunching this summer in

tandem with the National Bas-

ketball Players Association (NBPA), the

official union for current NBA players.

The collaboration will take shape July

15-18 at the inaugural NBPA x Five-Star

Camp at Basketball City in NYC and will

provide boys and girls ages 9-17 with a

structured basketball learning experience

emphasizing fundamental skill develop-

ment and quality competition.

“We are excited about this collabo-

ration and the impact it will have on the

next generation of youth basketball,”

Dan Gladstone, the NBPA’s Senior Vice

President of Grassroots Basketball and

Business Development, tells us. “Combin-

ing our passion for grassroots basketball

with such a historic camp in Five-Star, we

are confident that this partnership will

build a unique experience for campers and

leave a legacy that will help to continue to

grow the game we all know and love.”

Five-Star traces its roots back to the

summer of 1966, when two founders—

Howard Garfinkel and Will Klein—six

counselors and 62 campers converged on

an outdoor campground in upstate New

York to feast on the finer fundamentals of

basketball.

Future Hall of Famers Hubie Brown

and Chuck Daly taught and lectured at

that very first session in ’66. Bob Knight

invented the concept of “teaching sta-

tions” as the camp’s lead instructor two

years later. And hundreds of future NBA

and college coaches, including Rick Pitino,

John Calipari and Brad Stevens would all

launch their careers on Five-Star’s courts.

More than a cradle for coaches,

Five-Star has been a proving ground for

every-day blue-collar players and blue

chips alike. Michael Jordan, LeBron

James, Chris Paul (current NBPA

President), Kevin Durant, Stephen

Curry, Kemba Walker and Kyrie Irving

have all worn the iconic orange and white

camp t-shirt.

Over 50 years and 250,000 campers

later, Five-Star remains a rite of passage

for young basketball players—and who

better to partner with than the NBPA,

which runs successful camps of their

own and whose cadre of players are the

game’s most globally recognized.

For more info on how to attend, go to

fivestarbasketball.com

In collaboration with the National Basketball Players Association,

the iconic Five-Star basketball camp is returning this summer to once

again LIFT up the next generation of high-level hoopers.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++WORDS PETER ROBERT CASEY

SUMMER

SCHOOL

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

THE

FUTURE

ISSUE

COURTESY OF FIVE-STAR BASKETBALL

LeBron James and

Tom Konchalski

22 SLAMONLINE.COM