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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Forest Meadow Baptist Church Hosts 5-Day Youth Basketball Camp

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
      There's no separation of church and hoops at Forest Meadow Baptist Church.
    Sixty-one boys and girls showed up Monday for the first day of a five-day youth basketball camp at the church located on N.M. 217 in the East Mountains community of Yrisarri. Seven baskets were set up in the house of worship's parking lot and on its permanent court in the back.
    A cloudy sky and a brief dust storm, accompanied by a few sprinkles, briefly sent some of the younger kids indoors. However, they soon returned outdoors.
    “I have about eight coaches helping me now,” said Tom Lambert, the church's pastor and the event coordinator. “That first year (2006), I was the coach, and I had a couple of helpers. On Friday, we'll play the games, and mom and dad can watch their kids play. We had 61 (Monday), but we'll get more. We had a high of 77 last year.”
    Eight-year-old Paige Limabarger is a second-year camper.
    “I think playing the games on the last day is the most fun,” said the home-schooled third-grader. “I like defense the best. You've got to look down, look at their stomachs, not at their face on defense.”
    The camp staff concentrated on teaching the game.
    “We teach them basic skills, ball handling, passing, the bounce and chest pass, how to rebound, play defense,” said Lambert, who was the chief of security inspectors for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency at Kirtland Air Force Base before retiring from the military as a lieutenant colonel in 2005. “It's for first- through eighth-graders so there's a wide range of skill levels. When we play the games on Friday, they play against kids at their level.”
    Aaron Peace isn't looking to be the next Michael Jordan.
    “I did it last year and this year,” said the Edgewood Middle School seventh-grader-to-be. “I learned about dribbling, shooting and passing. It was real general. But I don't play on a team. I do it for fun.”
    Lambert — his son, Jonathan, is a former East Mountain High basketball player — is straightforward about the camp's other motive.
    “We provide instruction and snacks and drinks, and they get a T-shirt,” Tom Lambert said. “But our camp is free. I don't think it's right for us to charge. If you want to try to do something, He'll provide the money.”
    The minister then grinned.
    “We do talk about God,” he said. “There is some propaganda that comes with the instruction. Some people are surprised when I say that. But we are a Christian church. The basketball camp is an extension of who we are as a church.”
    On Monday, the light proselytizing lasted about 15 minutes during the so-called halftime break. The camp ran from 6 to 8 p.m.
    “We just want to teach the kids that they can have good, clean fun,” Lambert said. “We're a family-oriented country church, and we want to stay that way.”
    For information about participating in next year's camp, call Lambert at 281-0569.
    Harold Smith can be reached by phone at 823-7104 or by e-mail at hsmith@mvtelegraph.com
   

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