This past Saturday June 3rd, we were lucky enough to attend coach Ron Naclerio's free youth basketball clinic at Benjamin Cardozo High School, located in Bayside Queens. Coach Naclerio has been the head coach of the Cardozo H.S. boys basketball team for 35+ years, and this past season he became the winningest coach in New York City varsity PSAL history.
Beyond his resume as a decorated NYC basketball coach and 2x PSAL Champion, coach Naclerio is an excellent skills trainer and is renowned as a dribbling and ball handling coach not only in NYC, but all over the country. He's worked with the likes of Stephon Marbury, Lamar Odom, Ron Artest and Joakim Noah to name a few.
Also on hand for Saturday's clinic was Kyrk Peponakis, the former head coach of the Queens College men's basketball squad for 19 years, and current Cardozo junior varsity coach & Billy Medley, longtime Cardozo assistant coach of the boys varsity team.
The clinic featured a full schedule from greetings and introduction to stretching and warm-ups to working different stations and finalized with some games and a shooting contest.
As an added bonus, ex-Cardozo star and current Monmouth University basketball player Ray Salnave spoke with the kids, shared some personal stories of his playing days at Cardozo and also stressed the importance of schoolwork.
At the end of the 4 hour camp, Coach Naclerio mentioned that he will be holding a similar clinic at Cardozo sometime in September. We strongly suggest all parents with young children with an interest in sports to inquire about attending this (to be announced) upcoming Fall clinic. For more info keep a close eye on Coach Naclerio's Twitter page @CoachRNaclerio and/or email him at naclerioron@yahoo.com or e-mail Coach Peponakis at kpeopna@schools.nyc.gov. #QueenscapesEndorsed
Words and photo by Adolfo Steve Vazquez