An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Air Force Basketball Camp returns to Charleston

  • Published
CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Twenty-six Airmen arrived here May 1 to participate in the Air Force basketball training camp and compete for a spot on the Air Force basketball team.

The training camp runs through May 24, and is followed by the Armed Forces Tournament here May 26-31.

For the fifth year running, Coach Mark Watley, a technical sergeant from Hill AFB, Utah, is heading up the camp. His assistant coach this year is Gabriel Scott, a contractor from Tinker AFB, Okla. Coach Scott has been with the team for three years, and Coach Watley played on the Air Force team for 12 years before becoming the coach.

During the training camp, only 12 players will be selected for the team. They will have to endure a rigorous schedule to make it to the end, said Coach Watley.

"We will be having two to three practices per day for the duration of the camp, as well as five games in the first four days of camp, to include 8 a.m. practices," added Coach Watley.

When choosing his team, Coach Watley said he looks for three things.

"It's a combination of talent and the ability to pick up the system I teach at this level," said Coach Watley. "The last element that's needed to do well at this level is heart."

Coach Scott echoed those comments and added that he also looks for hunger to play the game.

With the camp culminating with the Armed Forces tournament this year, Coach Watley said the Air Force team should have the extra motivation to win.

"Playing at an Air Force base is a big advantage, because when you're a player, you feed off the crowd," he said. "When we played at [Charleston AFB] in 2000 -- the last year we won the gold medal -- the crowd played a huge role. It's as though we didn't want to disappoint them by not playing hard, and their cheering kept us wanting to fight until the end. Maybe lightning will strike twice in the same place, and we'll bring home the gold medal again at Charleston."

Coach Scott added that the Airmen are excited for the opportunity to compete.

"For many of them, this is their first opportunity to participate and measure themselves against a higher-level talent pool," said Coach Scott. "As representatives of the entire Air Force, this inspires a great deal of pride and sense of belonging to something special to the Airmen."