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Another player's injury may pave the way for Adam Schabe to be a starting guard for Galveston Ball next year.
But the junior-to-be would rather build his merits off rigorous summer work.
Having attended camps earlier this week at Texas A&M and Texas State, Schabe was one of more than 100 campers in attendance Saturday at former Rice men's basketball coach Willis Wilson's Guard and Big Man camps Saturday at First Presbyterian Church in the Museum District.
Schabe was chosen shortly before lunch to participate in a drill featuring V-cuts and L-cuts, moves shooters make in an attempt to shake off defenders at the offensive end.
"I'm not that good a shooter right now. I'm all right but I came for the experience," said Schabe, who started junior varsity in 2007-08. "This is something different than you get at your home (school). I never would have thought of being a triple threat and just playing. I'm usually just there with the ball. But a lot of stuff is more natural to me now."
Youths ranging in age from third-grade through high school from across the area were present. Campers were from such varied locales as New Caney, Sugar Land, Katy, Friendswood, Galveston and Spring.
"It's pretty much a skill camp, getting them to work on ball-handling, passing skills and fundamentals," Wilson said. "Then in the afternoon we'll have a mini-lectures on direct drives. We build that into a one-on-one, then into a three-on-three or a four-on-four; we build that into competition when they're ready."
Wilson was let go March 14 after the Owls went 3-27 overall last season and 0-16 in Conference USA. He went 219-246 at Rice and is both the winningest and losingest coach in school history.
"I still have a lot of irons in the fire deciding what I'm going to do next," Wilson said. "I've been involved in the past but not to the extent I am now just because of summer recruiting. ... So it's been good for me to be there and enjoy being around the kids."
Gwen Seale, an incoming senior at St. Thomas Episcopal, was especially hopeful Saturday would be good for her. One of the area's top private-school players last year — she averaged 16 points and 14 rebounds a game — Seale sustained torn ligaments in her right ankle and heel during an otherwise-friendly dodgeball game in April.
"I have to work more on power game and asserting myself in the post," said the 6-foot-1 Seale, who is in contact with Houston Baptist among other colleges. "Last year I was more of a shooter ... but now we have a new coach and they want me to focus more on my power under the basket. I was a strong shooter and a good rebounder but when I'd get down in the post I'd always get tangled up. Now I'm learning to push and shove more and use the post moves I have to my advantage."
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