Dan Clark Becomes Latest GB Player to Give Back with Announcement of First Camp

Great Britain forward Dan Clark has become the latest international to give back to the game after announcing the first annual Dan Clark Basketball Camp.

Clark follows in the footstep of Luol Deng and Drew Sullivan, who have both been doing work at the grass roots to ensure basketball continues to grow in the UK.

The Dan Clark Basketball Camp, which will take place the 4th-8th August at UEL Sports Dock, features a calibre of coaches not seen too often in the UK, including the likes of Alberto Lorenzo, lead assistant coach from Dan’s former ACB side, Estudiantes, Spanish national team player German Gabriel, as well as GB U20 assistant James Vear and GB Senior Women’s player Stef Collins.

“It’s to give these kids exposure to a level of coaching they won’t have seen before or won’t be used to,” Clark said. “The level of coaching kids in Europe are getting day in and day out.”

For one of the first times in his career the 6’11” stretch forward has has had a prolonged stint away from the game due to injury and has used the time wisely, rehabbing in his home town East London whilst organising his first camp.

He is from about as much of a basketball family as you could be, with a mother, Claire Clark, who used to play for the national team, a father, Mark Clark, who runs the GB Regional Institute, Barking Abbey and is a former Head Coach of the GB Senior Women’s team, and a sister, Ella Clark, who is currently in her junior year at NCAA Division 1 school, Long Beach State. Ella will also be coaching at the camp.

“Giving back to the game is important,” Dan Clark continued. “Obviously you’ve always got to find the right time and the right way to do it. With this injury I think I’ve made the most of it by organising this camp here at the University of East London.

“The goal is to grow it every summer, and hopefully next year making it a residential camp so kids from all over the UK and Europe can come to the camp and learn from these coaches.”

The camp is being backed by Barclays, UEL, as well as protein ice cream brand WheyHey.

The camp, which will be for boys and girls aged 11-18 years old, will feature technical and tactical sessions in the morning, before turning into team practice and games in the afternoon.

“We intend to attract as many good, national team players as possible, which will increase the level of the camp and the level of play. And from there we’ll have to see how it goes…and hopefully we’ll make it into one of the best camps in the UK.”

The Londoner represented GB at Eurobasket in Slovenia in the summer of 2013, as he averaged a team high 12.6 points and 6.4 rebounds, and was last with Laboral Kutxa at the start of the season before being released due to his knee injury.

For more information on the camp, visit the official Dan Clark Basketball Camp website.