Former Notre Dame Star Jerian Grant Hosts Camp In South Bend
The Kroc Center in South Bend was a popular place to be over the June 4 weekend.
Over 150 kids spent hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Jerian Grant Basketball Camp to interact with and learn from the former Notre Dame star, currently in his offseason following his rookie year with the NBA's New York Knicks.
Other counselors on Sunday included former Indiana star and current Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo, Philadelphia 76ers guard Jerami Grant and former Notre Dame standout Eric Atkins among others.
A primary mission of the camp for Grant and his team was to give back to the South Bend community, who he felt strongly supported him during and following his college tenure at Notre Dame from 2011-2015.
Aaron Perry, one of the camp’s organizers, has known the Grant family since their days as kids.
“Our brothers played basketball when they were eight and we were six, and we became best friends since that age,” Perry said. “Jerian gave me a call and said ‘You know what Aaron? You’re a guy that I can trust, and I know you can run this camp.’
“We’ve been in so many camps when we were younger, and he really wanted to give back to the South Bend area. We’re real pleased with the turnout. We’ve given a lot of donations to the kids who were less fortunate, and kids from different areas too.
“This is the first year for it, and I think this is the first of many.”
Jeff Nitz, a resident of South Bend and father of one of the camp’s participants, signed his son up so that he could enjoy the experience with both the NBA players and former Notre Dame greats.
Nitz and his son, Brady, are both huge Irish fans. They regularly attend Notre Dame football and basketball games, and even traveled to Cleveland for the 2014-15 team’s Elite Eight matchup against Kentucky.
“It’s been everything we could ask for,” Jeff Nitz said. “We saw it online and said ‘We have to do this.’
“Jerian is his favorite player out here today [Sunday]. [Former Irish forward] Pat Connaughton was here yesterday. He’s having so much fun.
“It’s unbelievable for the whole [Grant] family to come back and do this. I know a lot of his friends are helping him run it too. It’s great, and I hope they do it next year because I know we’ll be back again.”
The campers participated in different activities each session Friday through Sunday.
On the final afternoon, they went through drills and also played some 5-on-5 with both Jerian and Jerami Grant, while Oladipo delivered a motivational speech and dissected film with campers in a separate room.
Part of that film session was a review looking at some highlights of Jerian’s plays while being quizzed by Oladipo on what the youngsters had learned over the weekend.
“Does anybody know what that is that just happened?” asked Oladipo, as one of Grant’s plays was shown on the projector.
The former Indiana star nodded his head at a camper to answer.
“He curled off a screen,” the youngster said.
“Guys, this is why we do curls," Oladipo responded. "So y’all can get better. Do y’all want to get more buckets, or less buckets?
“Watch Jerian set up his man so he has to hit the screen. Because he sets it up so well, he ends up getting a layup in a halfcourt set. There’s no one there to block it.”
“It’s great,” said Jerian Grant, of putting on the camp. “This community took me in and helped me call this place home.
“To be able to give back, it’s great. I’m just really excited to be here. I love basketball. I love to teach the game and I want to be a coach when I’m done. To be able to come out here and teach these kids some things is exciting.”
Grant said his favorite part of the experience was understanding just how much the kids looked up to him.
“They say they’ve been watching me in New York and watched me all my years at Notre Dame,” he said. “So just to be able to hear that and let them be able to learn from me was really fun.”
For more information about the camp, click here for the official site and photos.