NCO teaches youth basketball skills Published Dec. 14, 2008 501 CSW Public Affairs RAF Croughton, United Kingdom -- As it became evident there would not be enough players to have a full youth basketball league in 2008, Tech Sgt. Veronica Murphy didn't want to let the season go by without doing something for the youth that wanted to play so she approached the Youth Programs Director about holding a three weekend basketball camp to fill the void. With Murphy volunteering to organize and run the weekly sessions, Latoya Marble, Youth Programs Director took the steps to get registration started and get the basketball camp on its way. Camp was broken into separate sessions with one for 5 to 8-year-olds and another for 9 to 18-year-olds. Murphy, who played college basketball at Kean University in New Jersey and then later played for the Air Force Women's Basketball Team, said that basketball is her passion and passing her skills and knowledge to these young players is something she loves to do. As the Dec 6 session moved along it was obvious that some participants needed more one-on-one training than the others. Mike Bennett a parent of two participants stepped in to assist Murphy with the remainder of the camp, by taking the more experienced players to do drills, while Murphy helped strengthen the fundamentals of the less experienced. So far it's been very successful Marble said, all of the participants are enjoying themselves and showed improvement after only half of the first session was ended. For some of those participants it was their first time ever shooting a basketball on a real court. Murphy said it was a challenge keeping the younger ones involved for two straight hours, but it was well worth the time and effort. The camps next session will be Dec 23 at the Croughton Fitness Center. Ages 5 to 8 years will be from 9 to 11 a.m. and ages 9 to 18 will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.