Jeff Boschee is bringing KU basketball to Emporia.
The former University of Kansas guard will be joined by KU sophomores-to-be Markieff Morris and Travis Releford for a two-day youth camp on Tuesday and Wednesday at Emporia High School, the eighth and final stop for the Jeff Boschee Basketball Academy.
“We go to smaller cities. We try to bring KU basketball to a smaller community and to some of the kids who don’t get to see the KU players in person, get to interact with them,” Boschee said.
Boschee has been running his youth camp for three years, expanding to more locations across the state each year. This will be the first year in Emporia.
The camp gives Boschee the chance to teach the game during the offseason. During the school year, Boschee is the varsity coach at Barstow High School, a small private school in Kansas City, Mo.
Boschee believes in teaching the fundamentals of the game, which will be a big focus this week. Campers will work on ball handling, passing and shooting drills.
“I always wanted to be a coach growing up and that’s what I’m doing right now,” he said. “I enjoy giving information to kids who may not be fortunate enough to receive the right fundamentals of the game of basketball.”
Boschee has brought different KU players to every camp session. He even mixed in some University of Missouri players earlier this summer in Pittsburg.
“It went real well,” Boschee said. “I was kind of nervous at first, not knowing how they would take it, not knowing how kids, KU fans, would take it. We did our autograph session at the end of camp and everybody was lined up to get their autograph. It was kind of funny seeing their autograph on KU things.”
The Tigers will not be making the trip to Emporia, but they might be more involved next year when Boschee hopes to expand his camp into Missouri.
Since his playing career ended, Boschee has become a big name in the coaching scene in the Kansas City area and across the state. Along with his camp and his coaching responsibilities at Barstow, he also has five youth teams.
After his four-year collegiate career ended at Kansas in 2002, Boschee played professionally overseas and in the States. Once his playing career finished, he moved to Kansas City to begin his coaching career.
Boschee started out as the junior varsity coach at Blue Valley Northwest, then got the job at Barstow, a school that had not experienced a lot of success in basketball.
In three seasons at Barstow, Boschee’s teams have gone 42-9, and Barstow has become a destination for some of the top players in the Kansas City area. Lawrence Brown, who is going to be a sophomore at Barstow, is being recruited by KU.
“It’s been perfect for me,” Boschee said. “I think I walked into a situation where I had kids who were eager to work, eager to learn. They had a lot of varsity experience, but I don’t think they had the person to push them. I think I provided the intensity that they needed, provided the toughness and discipline that they needed to win. When you have kids that are eager to do that and you’ve got kids that buy into what you’re trying to do, it makes life a lot easier.”
Spots are still available this week at Boschee’s camp. Campers can sign up the day of camp. A coed camp for players in grades 3-6 will run from 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesday and Wednesday. Camp for boys in grades 7-9 will go from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information, contact clinic director David Devaney at (816) 941-2623.