Northern Stars basketball camp returns to Fort St. John this August

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The Northern Stars Sports Basketball Camp (NSSC) will tip off in August with some special guests.

Spencer McKay and Dale Olson will be featured at the camp, which will take place at North Peace Secondary School.

The camp will be the second basketball camp hosted in Fort St. John after the NBC Camp wraps up in July. 

NSSC director and founder Megan Bell has been involved with basketball from a young age, playing from elementary school through grade 12 in Vernon. 

Currently the athletic director at Bert Bowes Middle School, Bell says the opportunities weren’t in Fort St. John when she founded NSSC in 2014.

“I just wanted to bring something that taught kids the fundamentals and just allowed them to try the sport out with emphasis on the ‘fun’ part,” said Bell. “I was trying something different to give kids something fun to do in the summer while trying to keep it affordable for families.”

“It also provided leadership opportunities for older players, so they could come and coach alongside me.” 

Bell notes that the local basketball community has grown significantly in the past decade, thanks to spring-time leagues and the efforts of the local FSJ Flight program organizers.

She will be coaching alongside McKay and Olson, two coaches with extensive game experience.

According to SideArm Sports, Olson played at the University of Victoria (UVic) from 1987 to 1990 under legendary coach Ken Shields, averaging 23.4 points over 22 games. 

He later became the head coach of Clarence Fulton Secondary School and founded the “Hoops and Hustle” camp in Vernon. 

A biography from Lake City basketball says McKay spent 16 years as a professional player, following a standout career at UVic, playing in Europe, Puerto Rico, and Australia. 

McKay later coached as an assistant with the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds and served as a head coach in Belgium.

“[Olson] was retiring, so he approached me to run a camp up here,” said Bell. “It’s just a great opportunity to have people with that much knowledge and experience behind them come up and work with our kids.”

The camp, for children aged 9 to 18, will run from August 13th to 16th at North Peace Secondary School.

More details can be found on NSSC’s Facebook page.