Chicago Bulls Camp Rolls Into Darien

Growing up, current basketball player Aaron Tiknis remembers being a camper in the Chicago Bulls Basketball School’s summer camp.

“I was actually a camper, which is the coolest part,” Tiknis said. “This is my first summer working for them. I remember being so excited. Me and my buddy went and it was so much fun. It’s surreal because now I’m 21, working this camp. I was these kids. It’s pretty cool.”

Tiknis, a Chicago native, was one of the instructors for the Bulls’ camp during last week’s five-day stay at the . There were camps for ‘rookies,’ ages 5 to 8, and for ‘veterans,’ ages 9 to 12, that ran for three hours per day from Monday through Friday.

The camps focus on all of the fundamentals of basketball, including ball handling, passing, shooting, rebounding, footwork and more, and give kids a chance to work on the skills of the game they love. The other instructors were former player Kelly Guess and current North Central College and former player Kaelyn Witkowski.

“(My favorite part) are the games and the learning,” said ‘rookie’ camper Julio Rivera III. “We learned the jump-stop, dribbling. It’s fun.”

The ‘rookie’ camp focuses more on the basics of getting kids started in the game, while the ‘veteran’ camp then focuses on refining skills and teaching more of the nuances of the game.

Rivera was one of the more animated players of the class of 10 ‘rookies’ at the camp. It is that kind of enthusiasm that leaves a bigger impression on Tiknis than actual basketball skills.

“I love little kids, man,” Tiknis said. “It’s more just the enthusiasm for the game, making them appreciate it and wanting to get better. Once you start explaining that they need to stop messing around because this is where they start honing their skills, you’ll catch a kid in a zone where he’s just trying as hard as he can, when nobody’s watching. That’s pretty sweet.”

Every camper was evaluated on how his or her skills developed throughout the week and were given graduation certificates and evaluation forms at the end of the week. Each camper also received a Bulls Basketball Schools duffel bag, a Bulls indoor/outdoor basketball and a T-shirt.

Also each camper received an invitation to the United Center in Chicago for a Q&A session with a former Bulls player. Due to the current NBA lockout, current players are unable to be affiliated with the camps.