The Jalen Moore Camp coming to Cloverdale July 23-24; school supply giveaway August 9

For a second year running, basketball players looking to hone their craft will get the chance to learn from one of the best in the collegiate ranks at Cloverdale High School in July.

Oakland University point guard and Clover graduate Jalen Moore will be returning to host The Jalen Moore Camp July 23-24 with both days running from noon-4 p.m. The camp is free and open to kids between the ages of 7-18.

Those that register by July 8 will receive a free camp T-shirt.

Campers will work on ball handling and skill work with an emphasis on point guard play, as well as be able to participate in one-on-one, three-on-three and shooting competitions. Winners of the competitions will receive prizes.

Moore, who held the camp last year, said the experience was important not only for the kids but for everyone involved to make the 2022 edition bigger and better.

“We had a pretty good turnout,” Moore said. “Around 40 kids showed up last year but this year will be so much better as we have a year of experience under our belts.

“We know what it takes to run the camp successfully, know what the kids like and don’t like and will make this year’s camp as fun as we can while still being competitive.”

As much teaching as Moore did last year, it was also a learning experience for the Grizzly senior, who said those lessons will be needed with already double the turnout expected from last year.

“Last year, I was a little bit shy but was still able to talk to the kids and be myself,” Moore said. “I’m a goofy person that likes to have fun and I want to interact with the kids more this year.

“I know they like to play one-on-one, three-on-three and so on and we’ll try to do more of that. We are a bit limited on baskets and we already have 85-90 kids already signed up.

“We know there will be a few that miss out as things come up or maybe family events happen but we are still expecting a big turnout,” Moore added.

With numbers up and both gyms at the high school to be in use, Moore said there would be plenty of great teachers available during the two-day camp.

“We’ll have assistance from the Cloverdale coaching staff as well as some of my teammates from Oakland University coming down to help,” Moore said. “It should be a pretty good turnout with a lot of helpers.

“I have a trainer in Indianapolis, Zach Sigmund, who has helped set everything up. We’ll meet next week to go over things and, as we’ll definitely use the auxiliary gym, we want to make sure it’s fair for everyone in each gym.”

The camp won’t be the only time Moore returns to the place where he was part of four sectional titles and joined the pantheon of the state’s all-time leading scorers, currently sitting 13th in IHSAA history with 2,440 points.

In addition to the camp, Moore will also be supplying every Clover high school student with free supplies for the 2022-23 school year, including a backpack, notebooks, folders, pencils, highlighters and pens.

“This was something I thought of,” Moore said about the idea. “I wanted to do more than a basketball camp for the kids.

“As a student, I struggled a little bit in the classroom, not qualifying for the NCAA standards at first. I want to try to instill into the kids now to take things seriously in order to get to the next level.”

Given the organization and cost of such a considerable undertaking, Moore said he had help in being able to provide aid to the Clover students.

“I have a good friend of mine, John Leigh of KL&A, who is helping to fund the school supplies,” Moore said. “Rob Murphy, the general manager of the Detroit Pistons G-League affiliate team and who runs the Rob Murphy Foundation is funding the backpacks through the Rob Murphy Foundation.”

Moore will be there in person on Aug. 9, the first day of school, to help hand out the supplies, which will begin at 7:45 a.m. with remaining supplies being handed out in other ways.

“I’ll be passing out supplies to every student who comes in the building,” Moore said. “There will be a line to hand out supplies to the kids as they come in the building.

“There are around 305 students at Cloverdale, so we’ll have some extras, a few that will be made available to those who move in as I want to make sure they get supplies. For the rest, we’ll go down to the elementary school and hand out the rest to those who need it.”

The plan is an ambitious one but Moore said he was proud of being able to do it for the Cloverdale kids and community, saying there was more to come in the future as well.

“It means a lot to me to be able to do this,” Moore said. “I was thinking about it the other day and had some cold chills, knowing I could do something like this, especially still being in college.

“A lot of NBA players have the money and connections to be able to do something like this but don’t give back, so it means a lot to be able to do it at this age. This is just the beginning for giveaways and will only get bigger and expand more as I plan on doing more for kids in the future.”