The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG -- It was Friday night and Zach Bartlow was having trouble sleeping.

He wasn't reflecting on that night's WP basketball game, he was thinking about how he was going to pull off Saturday morning's youth basketball camp.

"I was a little nervous about today," said Zach. "I wasn't expecting to get these turnout numbers, so I was a little worried about how it was going to turn out."

Bartlow is heading a three-week youth basketball camp as part of his senior project. The camp began last Saturday and will run for the next two consecutive Saturdays from 9 to11 a.m.

"Coaching is definitely something that I could see myself doing down the road," said Bartlow.

And it's no wonder, it's in his blood.

His father is none other than WP head football coach Jeff Bartlow, so Zach is no stranger to what makes a coach tick.

"We're going to mainly focus on the fundamentals that everyone should know about the game, but also incorporate games and drills that will make it fun for the kids," said Bartlow. "It's been about five years since something like this has been done, so I thought it was time."

Waitsburg fourth grader Gavin Gould agrees. He was one of the last ones standing in the first game of sharks and minnows.

"The games are my favorite part of the day," said Gould.

Alongside Gould in the final three contenders, was 11-year-old Korbin Duffy, who used as much of the court as he could and eluded the sharks with his stealthy dribbling.

Although fourth grader Braden Kitselman plans to follow in his older brother Trenton's footsteps and have a high school wrestling career, he was excited about the camp.

"Learning about screens has been my favorite part about the camp," said Kitselman. "I just wanted to come and do this with my friends and have some fun."

There were 51 Waitsburg youths who showed up for the camp last Saturday and all were excited about getting the chance to interact with the high school athletes who they watch run the floor every weekend.

"I really wasn't expecting these numbers," said Bartlow. "I was thinking maybe about 20 kids would show, so I'm really glad that my fellow athletes were here to help with running the drills. The only issue we've had is that with this many kids they are overlapping each other on the court when we play games. We may change it up the last week and divide the kids into different time slots so that everyone will have plenty of room on the last day to get the most out of the camp that they can."

Bartlow plans on giving out awards at the end of the camp, but is still undecided on what the criteria for those awards will be. Whether it is for the most improved, the best dribbler, etc., he will determine that after another day of camp.

For now, the youths have two more weekends to learn some new moves and enjoy the attention of the athletes that they look up to and admire.