Mullen’s Emerald Ridge Jaguar kids basketball camp connects generations

The Emerald Ridge High boys basketball team came out in force to support the sixth annual Emerald Ridge Jaguar kids basketball camp last week.

Coach Pat Mullen set out in 2010 with a hope to create a fever amongst Emerald Ridge and the South Hill community when he started the camp. With each passing year, Mullen has seen that commitment between the team and the community grow.

“It’s the high school kids. They’re what makes the camp go,” Mullen said. “I just want them to have fun here. They allow the kids to enjoy basketball, and I think it’s good they get to make a connection these kids, too.”

And if there’s a lifelong fan created, more power to Emerald Ridge and Jaguar basketball.

But a Mullen-run camp generally has discipline, much in the tradition of his father Mike, who ran camps while coaching at Bethel High. Mullen continued that tradition when he created the Jaguars camp six years ago, helping the love of sport and community trickle down from players to the kids they hope to be their biggest supporters.

“You try to teach them something,” Daniel Gregory said, cracking a smile as kids went through free-throw drills in front of him. “You hope that translates in them coming out to support us (during the season).”

Maybe Gregory can’t help the kids perfect that 3-point shot over one week, but there’s hoping more than a few future Jags are on their way to reaching his level.

Teaching the fundamentals of the game was the focus at Emerald Ridge as one-on-one competitions gave way to a more competitive nature at camp.

“Skills and fundamentals are taught more at Emerald Ride’s camps compared to Puyallup’s,” said Jason Cassens, who went to many of Puyallup coach Scott Campbell’s camps growing up.

“(At Puyallup’s), they tend to run more games, where we are splitting them up and taking them through drills. It’s the same goal,” Cassen said.

And then there are some lessons that translate beyond the court, one seen on the top court of Emerald Ridge gym with point guard Tevin McClain.

There, McClain stood in his usual spot — the top of the key —barking orders as well as encouragement at a group of girls between sixth and seventh grade. Each one-on-one drill saw the grit, the aggression and the never-back-down attitude displayed by Emerald Ridge’s 6-foot-2 guard.

“It’s teaching them Jaguar basketball,” McClain said with a smile while watching one girl first back down her opponent, then beat her with a spin move for a layup. That brought out a big howl from McClain.

“You want to see them first enjoy basketball — enjoy playing the game and being out here with your friends and team,” he added. “And from basketball, you can learn so much about life in how to push forward when things are tough.”

What demonstrates success?

For Mullen, these camps were never about bringing in talent, creating a future Emerald Ridge athlete.

No, it was always about that same goal he shared with his father years ago. One about connecting with a community and cementing a relationship that last generations.

“I’m here because I just want to learn what it takes to run a camp, and there’s no person better to learn that from coach Mullen,” Emerald Ridge girls coach Roland Sydney said. “I’ve learned a lot just watching him. It’s an incredible amount of passion he has teach kids (and) that’s the reason we choose to coach.”

This story was originally published July 6, 2016 at 10:50 AM with the headline "Mullen’s Emerald Ridge Jaguar kids basketball camp connects generations."