HALFWAY — The gym is a blur of red shirts and swinging ponytails, the room echoing with the loud encouragement of coaches as athletes practice essential skills of handling a basketball.

This year, 150 girls in Grades 5 to 12 participated in the 40th-annual Pine-Eagle Girls Basketball Camp June 13-17 in Halfway.

Chuck Peterson started the camp in 1976, and ran it every year until he retired. His daughter, Molly Smith, and her husband, Tim, have organized it for the past 13 years.

“Now we have daughters of players who went through when Dad was here,” Molly said.

The camp offers a full five days of basketball clinics and games, with activities from 8:30 a.m. until at least 6:30 p.m.

“It’s really good, but you get really tired,” Keanna Bingham, 12, of North Powder said during the lunch break on Wednesday.

Everyone — players, coaches and parents — stays for the week, and most camp at Pine-Eagle School in campers and tents. The school stays open for access to showers and bathrooms.

The basketball camp is nonprofit. Registration is $80 per camper and proceeds left over after costs are donated to the school, Molly said.

Numbers have fluctuated through the years — the lowest attendance was 130 and the highest was 211. Campers are divided by age and clinics utilize the high school and elementary school gymnasiums, as well as the newly resurfaced outdoor tennis courts.

“When we’ve had really big numbers, we’ve used the track and parking lot too,” Molly said.

Renovating the tennis courts was a community project, she said, and the basketball camp contributed by raising the registration price to $90 for several years. The extra $10 was set aside to help resurface the courts, which will also be outfitted with permanent basketball hoops around the perimeter and removable tennis nets.

Former campers become coaches

Alumni of the basketball camp often come back to help coach — especially those who have experience playing college basketball.

Maria Begay, who attended the camp as a high school junior and senior in 1991 and 1992 with her Jordan Valley team, has returned every summer since graduating. She played basketball at Eastern Oregon University and now lives in Sparks, Nevada.

“I enjoy the kids — it’s all about the kids,” Begay said during a quick break in a clinic with the younger athletes. “Look how many are here — that’s awesome.”

Jenny Mowe-Joseph did not attend camp as a high schooler in Powers, but she’s been a camp counselor for the last eight years after moving to Baker City.

Mowe-Joseph played for the University of Oregon and in the WNBA.

Mike Crawford, who is in his 28th year of coaching at Enterprise, has brought basketball players to the camp for 27 years. He said it provides high-quality instruction for a reasonable price.

“It’s a quality camp — you kind of don’t want to tell people about it, but want them to come,” he said.

This year, Crawford brought 42 basketball players to the camp ranging from grades 5 to 12.

“This is the single most important week of my off season,” he said.

And that’s not just because of the basketball skills and games.

“All of that’s bonus in that we bond, our team gets to be together,” he said. “We meet as a team and have team discussions every day — we are one team, we support each other.”

Most participants come from across Eastern Oregon, although a few travel from Idaho and Washington. Many come as teams, but individuals are welcome, too.

“We find a team for them,” Mowe-Joseph said.

See more in the June 20, 2016, issue of the Baker City Herald.