Ganon Baker Basketball Camp Inspires Scottish Players

After a very successful camp last week, Ross Hutton (UK Manager for Ganon Baker Basketball) has written this report.

“There are players and coaches in Scotland who are exceptional. No question. They work hard and are motivated to get to the next level and some have proven to reach heights some can only dream of (Robert Archibald and Kieran Achara). However, there aren’t too many. Attitude, dedication, desire, know how, will power and passion are all things I know young players today have missing from their mind set. It’s far too easy to pick up the play station consol than go outside for a blasting 3 mile run or 30 minutes skipping etc etc.

Ganon Baker is the epitome of hard work and devotion to a purpose. His purpose is to lead by example as he teaches players of all ages and abilities how to improve their game as well as their attitude towards hard work from the top NBA players to elementary school kids. And he does this by working out while he demonstrates and runs the camp to the point where his shirt is soaked through as he tells stories of the adversity he faced growing up as the ONLY white kid in his school.

The Ganon Baker Skill Development Camp took place at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow last week and attracted players from all over Scotland (as far afield as the Shetlands) as well as some parts of England. Ganon quickly recognised that the attitude and spirit of the camp wasn’t where it should have been and sought out to get the players fired up.

The campers witnessed Ganon doing moves and performing skills that they will only have ever seen on film, the internet or heard about. He would tell stories of working with NBA players and the work rate they have in order to be the best. He mentioned working with Kobe Bryant and how he would work himself into blacking out as he pushed himself so hard. “Everyone wants to be the champion but no-one wants his pain”, was a quote he used to demonstrate that success does not come served up on a silver platter.

Assisted by his wife MJ (Head Coach of Bluefield College Women’s team) and a host of top Scottish Coaches, the players were challenged on day 1 with Ganon’s tennis ball work outs, dribbling drills, and ways to finish at the hoop. The main concern as highlighted by MJ was the attention to the ‘details’ which mainly focussed on the poor footwork on display.

On day 2 the players began with games then Ganon began his warm-up routine of ambidextrous shooting, 2 ball dribbling drills and move after move after move. This brought all the players to a standstill as they watched in amazement at Ganon’s repertoire of moves. The players definitely worked harder and it was noted that their work rate and enthusiasm had improved.

One of the highlights of the camp (from my point of view) was the 6 minute work out to an instrumental ‘Dr Dre’ track where Ganon had all the players copy actions he did to the beat of the track. It highlighted some really bad ‘dancing’ by some which I found quite amusing but on the whole it was awesome to see the 120 strong do moves in time together.

I would like to thank the following people for the help in bringing Ganon to Glasgow:

Harvey Blom: Provided me with the opportunity to get on board as the UK Manager for Ganon Baker Basketball and a brilliant friend.

Chris Cleary : Brilliant support from the moment I told him about the possibility of Ganon coming to Glasgow.

Sarah Hutton: Dealt with all registrations and administration

To the coaching staff: Toni Carvill, Paul Boath, Natalie Ghazi, Ela Obla, Craig Nicol, Derek Miller, Natalie Chaloner, Alex Nelson, Dieter Dillen, Erwin Heskamp, Grant Wilson, Frazer Grant, Ali Vannet.

Ahid Ojhagi: Filmed the camp.

Melissa Baker (MJ): A brilliant role model for any player to follow and a very genuine person.

And finally, thank you so much to Ganon Baker. You have inspired and motivated so many players to step up their game, attitude and improve their approach to hard work. On behalf of the players of Scotland thank you and we look forward to seeing you back here next year.”

basketballscotland would also personally like to thank Ross Hutton for making the camp possible!

Keep checking back to this article, as there are more pictures and video still to come!