Miller Feeds His Passion With Basketball Camp

The kids show up early for Dave Miller's MVP basketball camp at the Spectrum Club in Manhattan Beach. Some of the campers are still asleep while others are ready and raring to go. But nobody is more raring to go then the man himself, Dave Miller, who has the enthusiasm of 20 of the 7-year-old campers.

The day starts simply, with everyone grabbing a ball and just shooting around with friends. There are racks of colorful balls for the younger kids and regulation NBA balls for the older campers. The campers range from ages 5 to 14 and the boys and girls are grouped together by age.

Between greeting every camper and their parents at the registration table, Miller sprints into the gym and blows his whistle. All campers need to freeze at the sound of the whistle or pushups are demanded. And if you are a parent shooting with your kid, you need to freeze too, or he will demand pushups from parents as well, which delights all of the campers.

Miller has a strong resume, coaching at the NBA level as an assistant for the New Orleans Hornets as well as a college assistant coach at Texas, Arizona State, Army, Utah State and USC. He also does commentary on the Lakers' pre-game show on 710AM radio - the man can talk forever and is always full of enthusiasm, wit and plenty of knowledge when discussing hoops.

But Miller's passion is his MVP Camp, which has come a long way in the 14 years since he established it at Pacific Elementary School in Manhattan Beach. 

"It really started as a play date for my sons David and Mike, with 10 of their friends,'' he said. ''Their friend's parents wanted me to give private lessons but I was coaching at USC and didn't have the time. I took a week of vacation, ended up running the basketball play date with their friends and that was the start of the camp."

There are more than 100 campers in the two sessions that run during the summer, and another 100 show up for three days in late December before Christmas.

Most of the campers are from Manhattan Beach and many come to all three sessions. Some of the campers have been coming to the MVP camp for more than 10 years. The camp stresses fundamentals in the morning session and after a lunch of hot dogs and hamburgers cooked by Miller and his wife, Eileen, the afternoon session is filled with games.

"I always remember the two-ball dribble. I love working with the little campers because when I was 4 years old, I was just like them,'' said Morgan Chandler, who is in her first year as a coach/counselor for the youngest campers, after attending the camp for 10 years.

Patrick McMillan from Manhattan Beach is now 14 and he has been coming to the MVP camp for 5 years. He is the big man in camp for the last time and he will also become a counselor/coach for the younger kids next year.

What are his thoughts on spending a day of hoops with Dave Miller? "He is a really energetic and funny guy, and he knows tons of stuff about basketball. His stories about the NBA are great and so are his jokes," McMillan said.

The interesting thing about the morning session is that the fundamental skills that Miller and his coaching staff stress are not boring little kid drills but are challenging drills.

"When I went to the NBA, I was surprised that they did not have some fundamental skills,'' Miller said. ''The drills we do in camp are the same as some of the college and pro drills we ran."

They are very technical and difficult for many of the new and younger campers. But Miller wants everyone to try all of the drills, including dribbling two balls at once, four different ways.

Matt Beshke has been coming to camp for three years and will be entering high school next year. "It's been great hanging out with some great coaches and talking about basketball,'' he said. ''The drills we do really improve your fundamental skills."

The campers are moving all day long, there is no standing around. Drills are run for short periods of time, 15 minutes each, to keep the kids interested, and then they move on to the next drill. The campers move from basket to basket and have a different coach at each station to teach a different skill.

Miller speaks to the campers at the start and end of every day. The campers love his stories about the NBA -- "Chris Paul and I were rookies in the NBA together and we really bonded because of our college experiences" he told them.

At the end of the day parents get a chance to win shoes or apparel signed by Miller's friends throughout the league. But they need to make the shot or suffer the wrath of Miller, making them do pushups in front of camp, or forcing them to bring in cupcakes for all 100 campers the next day. That's a lot of pressure for a parent.

His lessons are not always about basketball but also about life. "I want everyone to make eye contact and say please and thank you. My goals for my campers are higher than the 10 feet height of a basketball rim," he said.

Miller impresses on the kids how to be good teammates, to point to your teammate that passed you the ball before you scored, as well as how to be a supportive friend. He lets them know what foods they should be eating, how much sleep they need to grow and his most important lesson is how to be respectful to teammates, coaches and parents.

As the campers get ready to leave after the final session on Friday afternoon, Miller gives them one last thought, while holding up a basketball. "Let this ball help you make friends. You can go any where in the world and make friends with this ball.''