Schreiber varsity basketball players gave back to the community at Weber Middle School this week, working with future varsity athletes on their basketball skills.

Close to 40 kids, ranging from elementary school to eighth-grade, learned fundamental basketball skills from current boys and girls varsity basketball players while having fun with friends and meeting new ones at the annual PYA basketball clinic.

"It's good for the kids on our team to work with the younger kids to kind of see what it's like to give back to the community," said boys varsity coach Sean Dooley.

After the boys playoff loss to Herricks on Saturday, Dooley sat his players down and asked them to come out and volunteer for the clinic, but said that it was not mandatory. Between six and 10 players volunteered each day, including junior K.C. Ozcayir.

"We just want to help the community out as basketball players," Ozcayir said. "It's a great learning experience for the kids. They're going to come to Weber, and maybe they're going to play basketball for Schreiber one day, so I think it's great for them to come here and get the early experience."

The kids were split up into groups based on their grade. Each group ran numerous drills to concentrate on fundamentals, such as dribbling, passing and shooting, followed by scrimmages.

"We try to teach them how to play and develop their skills," sophomore Mahlik Merriweather said. "But sportsmanship as well, which is also very important."

The cost for the clinic was just $25 a day with all money raised going toward the varsity program's funding for next year.

"We had Mr. Dooley and he taught us a lot," said eighth-grader Meaghan Murphy, who said she hopes to play on girls varsity team next season. "Everything he teaches you can be put into game situations, and we played three-on-three, which was fun."

Fifth-grader John Finkbeiner added, "I learned to play better defense, how to slide across the floor, like the older kids do. And I had a lot of fun."