Eagles court the future

It doesn’t matter if you’re big or small.

“Everybody rebounds,” Eastern Washington University basketball player Khary Nicholas told a group of kids huddled around him Sunday afternoon.

Nicholas, a 6-foot-7 forward from Tacoma, towered over the kids as they watched him demonstrate a rebound in Reese Court on the Cheney campus.

“He doesn’t even have to try, he’s so tall,” one of the kids said.

Nicholas bounced the ball against the glass backboard and jumped in the air to retrieve it. Then he encouraged the future ballplayers – who currently stand between 4 and 5 feet tall – to give it a try.

Nicholas and other Eastern Eagles men’s basketball players were helping out with the Eager Eagles, a basketball club for students in grades one through eight sponsored by the university’s basketball programs.

Students, mostly from Cheney schools, will spend the next four Sundays on the court with players from the men’s and women’s basketball teams.

On Sunday, about 50 children took to the court to learn the fundamentals of basketball from the experts.

They took turns at dribbling, rebounding, shooting and passing drills with the players.

“This is always fun,” Nicholas said. “They see us out there, and they see what we do, so it’s fun to be able to teach them and see them have a good time.”

The clinic ends Nov. 14, but the participants get to perform at halftime during the men’s home game against Cal State Fullerton Dec. 10.

The club members also get tickets to all the men’s and women’s basketball games this upcoming season, which begins Nov. 20 when the Eagles play Wichita State.

“It’s an opportunity for us to get some of the kids from the community to come out and play with us,” said head coach Mike Burns. “I know in some programs the players may dread things like this, but our guys really look forward to it.”

So do the kids.

Eleven-year-old Jason Williams returned for his second year as an Eager Eagle. Last year Williams also was able to be a ball boy for the women’s team.

“It’s fun,” Williams said. “It helps me get better.”

“He really loves this,” said his mother, Kimberlee Williams. “It keeps the kids active.”

Like many parents, Williams is thrilled her son has the chance to participate in the basketball program.

In 2003, sports programs were eliminated at Cheney’s Parks and Recreation Department when voters turned down a natural gas and electricity utility tax increase.

Later that year residents approved a smaller tax increase that brought back some recreation programs, but not all.

“This is really the only basketball activity the kids in this area can do,” said Dave Cook, EWU sports information director, whose two children, in the first and fifth grades, participate in the basketball club. “We wish we could do it more. It’s really great for the kids.”