Tens of talented youngsters have been learning new skills at the annual Ipswich Basketball Academy Summer Camp this week.

Held at Copleston Sports Centre, the camp sees players of all ages enjoy five days coaching, for six hours a day.

Led by Ipswich Basketball Club and Academy head coach Nick Drane, it has a coaching staff of club coaches and senior players from the programme that is something of a ‘who’s who’ of the production line of stars to come out of the Ipswich-based club.

This year, professional player Leigh Greenan has been headlining a coaching staff that includes American college basketball star Ben Mead, Ipswich Senior Women’s head coach Arron MacDonald, captain Amy Linton, and GB International and US College-bound high-flyer Luke Mascall-Wright.

Drane said yesterday: “With players and staff included, over 100 people participate in the IBA Summer Camp, something that again highlights the town’s desperate need for a bigger, and better facility.

“It’s not only for the club’s ever growing senior men’s team, that has been known to draw crowds of nearly 400 spectators, but perhaps more importantly to accommodate the fastest growing team sport in the country, and the hottest sport in Ipswich.”

This year’s summer camp has an additional theme to it.

Yesterday, parents from the club and academy held a ‘Pink Picnic’ to raise funds for Cancer Research UK.

Drane added: “Like so many others, Ipswich Basketball has tragically lost too many good people to this awful disease and the club has come together, as a family, to show its support and raise as much money as possible.

“There has been a ‘pink theme’ all week with the coaching staff and players have been wearing pink uniforms all week and there have been various other pink themed competitions happening.

“Summer Camp brings together Ipswich Basketball in so many ways and demonstrates the size of the programme, the brilliant, talented people involved, the desperate need for a new, bigger facility and more importantly than anything else, the phenomenal difference basketball, or any team sport for that matter, can make in a young person’s life.”