Showtime at SKC

PABLO — Michael Cooper teaches five “Ds” for success: determination, dedication, desire, discipline and decision-making.

The 74 attendees at his camp at Salish Kootenai College last week learned about basketball and much more through Cooper’s 5 Ds over the three-day camp.

“Those five Ds, they helped me be a pretty good basketball player, but the message for the kids is they can help you with your everyday life, your academic life, your religious life, any kind of situation,” the former Los Angeles Lakers star said.

Cooper used basketball to teach the children about the importance of blending a good life with a good basketball career.

“When you’ve got an opportunity to get a kid’s attention…you are able to pass along your message,” he said of his philosophy. “You got their attention by them being basketball players. Now you try to pass it along.”

The five-time NBA champion used individual attention as a way to teach the group Thursday afternoon, as he had campers shoot free throws in front of the group and then had the campers workshop them.

“What did she do right?” he asked the camp after Hot Springs’ Rosa Dolson nailed a free throw under that pressure. “What could she do better?”

The children, seated on the gym floor around the 3-point line, would raise their hands and offer observations and critiques.

“Women are better free throw shooters,” Cooper told the group. Snickers from many of the boys followed the comment, but the former USC women’s basketball coach was quite serious.

“Women truly play the game below the rim so they have to use the fundamental aspects that [basketball inventor] Dr. [James] Naismith meant for it to be about; they have to play as a team,” Cooper explained. “They have to set good picks. They have to move the basketball. … Teams that win championships are teams that play as a team.

“Guys have a tendency, they want that fashion play. That’s not what basketball is about. You have to tell the kids that it’s not about that individual experience, it’s about the team.”

Cooper did single out individuals for awards, however. Kail Pope of Charlo was selected as the camp’s most valuable player. Arlee’s Aaron Fisher was named best defensive player.

Cooper’s all-star team was Steffan Walks Over Ice (Billings), Zonan LaFrombois (St. Ignatius), Nathan Dennis (Ronan), Jaden Dillon (Bigfork), Dolson, Reese Nissen (Bigfork), Siliyi Pete (Ronan), and Maggie Todd (Polson).

The camp was organized by Polson resident Monty Marengo, who befriended Cooper during his days as a sports photographer in Los Angeles.

“This is just for the kids, the community, and the school [SKC],” Marengo said.

Cooper’s role was philanthropic as well. He gave camp scholarships to 15 children who would not have otherwise been able to afford to attend.

It was Cooper’s first camp in the region since he held them at SKC in the summers of 1983 and 1984. He hopes to make it an annual event now.

Marengo said the dates for next year’s camp are already set: June 24-27. He said the camp will be split between high school and smaller children. The younger group will be instructed in the Two Eagle River School gymnasium.

They hope to have the budget to bring in a guest instructor to help with the split squads, Marengo said, but it is too early to tell.