SALYERSVILLE – Youth of Magoffin County will have double the fun at free Operation UNITE events to be held Thursday, June 21.
From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. the Kentucky Army National Guard’s Civil Operations Unit from London will set up their popular inflatable obstacle course in the gym at South Magoffin Elementary School, 171 Half Mountain Road, in Saylersville.
Then, from 4 p.m. to about 7 p.m., a free regional Shoot Hoops Not Drugs basketball camp will be conducted by former University of Kentucky basketball standout Jeff Sheppard.
Youth can participate in either or both events.
This is the 7th year for Shoot Hoops Not Drugs camps, which provide basketball skills instruction in conjunction with anti-drug and self-esteem messages. In addition, parents and guardians have an opportunity to attend an education program on how to talk to their children about drugs.
All youth participants receive a free event T-shirt, regulation basketball, food and water, and be entered into a drawing for two portable basketball goals given away at the conclusion of each camp (must be present to win).
Participants are asked not to wear open-toe shoes or sandals and to arrive about 15 minute early for registration.
Presented by Phoenix Products, Shoot Hoops Not Drugs camps are fun, interactive, and provide a safe, drug-free activity where children have an opportunity to interact with positive role models while learning fundamental basketball skills.
As a senior at the University of Kentucky, Sheppard was named the NCAA’s Final Four Most Valuable Player in the Wildcats’ 1997-98 National Championship season. He would later go on to play one season with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and 3 years in Italy.
Major sponsors include Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Kentucky, Codell Construction, Lightyear Network Solutions, Senture, State Senator Robert Stivers, Walmart of Eastern Kentucky and WestCare. Silver sponsors are Dollar Mania (Manchester), First National Bank of Manchester, and J. Shelby Inc. (Clay Circuit Court Clerk James Phillips). Teddy G. Woods, CPA, of Manchester is a Bronze sponsor.
Since 2006, UNITE has conducted 38 regional camps with 5,055 youth participants representing 53 Kentucky counties, 11 other states and one other country.