Calexico’s recreational basketball continues to raise athletes in community
CALEXICO — The city Recreational Department’s youth basketball clinic held at Tessada Gym here continues to raise the community’s next generation of basketball players and instructors alike.
The clinic’s fifth session of the summer was held Saturday and Sunday morning, with a 9 a.m. session for kids ages 4 to 10, and a 10 a.m. session for youths ages 11 to 17.
Clinic sessions for this summer begun in May and will run until the first weekend of August. The cost per player is $20 per four sessions.
The clinic has been held seasonally year-round by the city for more than 20 years.
Teaching and perfecting fundamental skills used in the sport, such as dribbling and performing layups, has been the main focus of the clinic, Jaime Ann Chew, the city’s Recreational Department sports coordinator, said.
“Basically they’re here working on their individual skills, more on fundamentals, and hopefully one day they’ll get to play on teams and use everything that they’ve learned at these clinics,” Chew said.
Throughout her 20-plus-year career as the department’s sports coordinator, Chew has had the pleasure of witnessing the strong bond the clinic creates between its instructors and players.
“My current helpers are now adults, but they were once in my clinic,” Chew said. “Normally, I get people who have already been in the program, and then they come back and they help out the younger kids.”
As a participant in the clinic throughout her childhood, Kayla Rubio, 19, felt a warm sense of nostalgia after stepping onto the court Saturday to begin her first day on the job as a rec leader and instructor in the clinic.
“It’s definitely crazy because it makes me feel old in a way — but not too old,” Rubio said. “When I was a kid, I remember coming here because I would learn something new every weekend. I enjoyed the coaches who used to coach me, so I just want to give those kids that fun experience I had when I was a kid so that they can enjoy their time here.”
Rubio first participated in the clinic when she was 8 years old, then began volunteering as an instructor once she became a freshmen at Calexico High School.
“It’s fun to help the kids and see them learn because there’s some kids who just come in one day new and they don’t even know how to dribble a ball, and couple weeks later, they already know how to shoot the ball,” Rubio said.
Inspired to follow in the athletic footsteps of Rubio, Rubio’s sister, Evalyn, 10, entered her second year participating in the clinic this year.
“It’s helped me on my dribbling and my shooting,” the Evalyn said. “I also like how sometimes I meet new friends.”
Like many other players in the clinic, Evalyn does not play on an organized team. She simply attends the clinic to improve her skills.
“I just want to be good for when I actually go on a team,” she said.
Already Chew was impressed enough with Evalyn’s skills to place her in the older group session.
“Evalyn was normally in the 9 a.m. session, but she’s more advanced than the kids who are in the 9 a.m., so she jumped up to the 10 o’clock,” Chew said. “It was too slow for her, so we needed to push her a little more with some of the activities that we do here. She kind of struggles, but I told her that’s what you need. You need to be challenged, so that you can get better instead of being with the little ones.”
Evalyn is the younger member of the clinic’s 11-to-17-year-old group, which usually has about 15 participants.
“She actually said she want to go back with the little ones,” Chew said. “But she’s going to stay here. I’m not going to let her go back to the younger group.”
Chew has noticed that in recent years the clinic has seen a steadily increasing number of female participants such as Evalyn.
“Actually in my first class, I have more girls than boys,” the sports coordinator said. “Where maybe earlier in my years, it was more male dominant. So there’s definitely more girls interested in basketball now.”
Evalyn said she enjoyed being one of the many female players in the clinic.
“I feel like it’s good how girls can also improve like boys,” she said.