ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Eagle River junior Shaquan Rhoades hopes to play basketball for Kansas someday, the same university Mario Chalmers played for, so when Rhoades heard Chalmers was hosting a camp this week at Bartlett High, he was quick to sign up.
"I love it," Rhoades said. "This is one of the best camps I've been to."
Rhoades said the best thing he learned about basketball Wednesday at Chalmers' Miracle Shot Basketball Camp was how to play better defense. But the best part of camp's first day was meeting Chalmers, the former Bartlett star who helped Kansas win the 2008 NCAA title and played in the NBA Finals last season with the Miami Heat.
"That's the first time I met an NBA player," said Rhoades. "Cool guy."
Rhoades said Chalmers made his day when he told him how much he reminded him of himself. Chalmers said he hopes his camp will help good, young players like Rhoades improve their game and gain exposure, something that isn't always easy to do in Alaska.
"I know these kids are experiencing the same thing I experienced," he said.
Because Chalmers faced his share of naysayers while pursuing his dream of playing in the NBA, he likes to remind kids never to give up and never to let others tell them they can't do something.
His long-term ambition is to establish a camp that will help elevate the level of basketball in Alaska and assist in creating a competitive travel team.
"That's the ultimate goal," he said. "Maybe a basketball academy."
About 50 kids attended the camp Wednesday, with younger kids attending in the morning and older ones in the afternoon.
The majority of the campers were boys, but several girls participated in the same drills and scrimmages. South freshman Emma Andersen said she likes playing against the boys, because she thinks it will make her a better player. She also hopes to gain a few tips from Chalmers before the camp ends Saturday.
"I definitely want to meet him," she said. "I love the Heat."
Chalmers' mother, Almarie Chalmers, who also coaches at the camp, said she's amazed at how many fans her son has and how much they love to watch him play.
Chalmers is perhaps most famous for draining a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of regulation in the 2008 NCAA championship game against Memphis. The "miracle shot" sent the game into overtime, where the Jayhawks defeated the Tigers. Almarie said she once heard a fan tell her son, "When you made that shot, you added years to my life."
Kids are usually a little nervous around Chalmers the first day of his camps.
"They look at him in awe. They are almost kind of speechless," his mom said.
That seemed to be the case Wednesday.
"When I walk past, I hear a lot of whispers," Chalmers said. "They've been pretty shy."
During a rebounding drill, Chalmers fired shots intending to miss so the kids could practice blocking out their opponent. Only one problem: Chalmers made most of the shots, even the left-handed ones.
Mario's father, Ronnie Chalmers, a former head coach at Bartlett and a former assistant coach at Kansas, said he thinks basketball in the United States lacks a foundation in fundamentals.
"We need to get back to basics," he said. "We want this to be more of a teaching and fundamental camp, (rather) than just roll the balls out and let them play."
Both of Chalmers' parents coached for more than 20 years and both played a big part in their son's development. Almarie has written a book called "The Ball is in Your Court: Embracing Your Child's Dreams."
"It's been a real blessing to see our son go from kindergarten to the NBA," she said.
Chalmers will be in town long enough to see Bartlett retire his jersey — No. 15 — at a school assembly Aug. 16. He no longer makes his home in Alaska, but he has returned each summer since graduating from Bartlett in 2005.
"Alaska is kind of different. They just treat me like a regular person," he said. "That's the best thing about coming home for me."
Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com