LYNN — Local athletes will get a chance to learn from a staff of Division 1 state championship coaches this weekend. English boys basketball coach Antonio Anderson and his coaching staff are holding their first annual basketball clinic at Marshall Middle School Friday and Saturday.
For Anderson, getting to give back to the community with this clinic is something he’s had his eye on since he first started coaching the Bulldogs.
“I wanted to do this since I first got the job three years ago,” Anderson said. “But we had to go through the proper channels to get it set up. The people in downtown Lynn are very welcoming and I think we’re going to have a lot of kids getting themselves involved.”
The two-day clinic will run from 9 a.m. to noon each day and costs $50 per player. Anderson is also making the clinic more affordable for local football players, cheerleaders and athletes who excel in the classroom.
“Any kid who played football or was a cheerleader for the Lynn Chargers or for East and West Lynn Pop Warner this fall will only have to pay $25 at registration,” Anderson said. “They can be from any city really. Anyone who has good grades and has made honor roll can bring a report card and also pay $25. It’s really important to me and we want to make this as affordable as possible for everyone.”
Growing up in Lynn, Anderson, an English graduate, spent time playing for both Lynn Pop Warner programs and sees this clinic as a perfect chance to give back to the community.
“Being from Lynn this is a great chance to give back to the city,” Anderson said. “Playing and now coaching basketball for so long it’s about sharing that knowledge with the kids in the community at every level. When I was a kid I grew up playing pop warner for both East and West Lynn. You want to be able to come back and give back to those kids however possible.”
Anderson and his staff stress the importance of success in the classroom with their own players at English.
“The grades are a big deal for us,” Anderson said. “We want to reward anyone who’s is getting good grades in school and make it affordable for them. It’s something I preach at the high school level too, being successful in the classroom as well as on the court.”
The clinic will focus on a little bit of everything throughout a handful of drills and is open for girls and boys in elementary school all the way through high school. Players should bring their own basketball.
“It’s three hours both days and it’s going to be a lot of everything,” Anderson said. “Ball handling, shooting, passing and defense. A lot of drills and most importantly showing them how to do things the right way.”
Overall, Anderson is hoping for a big turnout this weekend where kids will get a chance to work with each other in a way they usually don’t get during the rest of the basketball season.
“The biggest thing for me is working with younger kids who played all kinds of youth sports like football and miss out on clinics like this,” Anderson said. “We want to really give them a chance to get in on this.
“I’m hoping every kid who can comes out. A lot of these kids are usually rivals during football season or other sports. This is a chance to come together and work on basketball in a way they might haven’t done before.”
