Myles Turner Hosts Second Annual “Back 2 School” Basketball Clinic at Trinity High School

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Myles Turner brought back his ‘Back 2 School’ basketball clinic to his alma mater Euless Trinity High School for the second consecutive year. The camp featured helpful drills and scrimmages with Myles even participating alongside them too. They closed the camp with a fun Nerf war and with some cool giveaways.

The campers were able to participate in drills that helped the fundamentals of the game in terms of ball handling, passing, shooting, and defense. It’s helpful for young players to be exposed to these types of drills because now they have drills from the camp that they can do on their own to get better in key areas of the game.

It’s always easier to teach kids when they come ready to work hard and learn, and that’s exactly how it was at the camp. Everybody was attentive, and that allowed for a genuine learning environment for the kids to expand their comprehension of the game of basketball.

“My favorite part was that all of the kids were so into everything I had to say. The energy was incredible. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids; it made this year very special. Whenever you run these kinds of camps, the kids’ attention spans are not very high or very long, and this year they were very attentive to everything I had to say.” 

Earlier this month, Myles talked with Indiana Sports Coverage and in that interview, he touched on what it means to host a camp in his hometown. The state of Texas is known for their football, especially in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford area but Myles wants to help other players succeed from the area in basketball and running his camp is an excellent way to help.

“It’s just so cool because a lot of people don’t make it out of my area for basketball. A lot of people make it out for football or don’t make it out at all. I feel like I serve as a source of optimism for these guys and come back home and provide a little camp for them. [It’s] just an opportunity to come and get better and have some fun and just be in an NBA player’s presence.”

The emphasis of the camp itself was on the defensive side of the ball, which has been a key component to Myles’s success at the collegiate and NBA level. It’s crucial for young players who want to have a successful basketball career to be proficient on defense because that is what gets you on the floor and keeps you there, even if you don’t have the best of offensive abilities.

“One message that I like to send to the campers is that at any level anybody can score. There is a lot of talented scorers, and the higher you go you got there because you put the ball in the hoop. One thing that will make you stick out is your ability to defend at any position.”

“If you’re a multi-dimensional guy that can defend more than one position, the coach will be able to depend on you and have you out there on the floor. Stressing defense is a big thing and a big part of my game, obviously with my shot blocking and defensive presence that I bring to my team. The biggest message with that was that if you can play defense, you can play anywhere.”

When talking with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Myles discussed why he likes hosting his “Back 2 School” basketball clinic for the kids at his old high school. He also talked about what he wanted the kids to take away from an offensive standpoint from their experience at the camp. Basketball is certainly a team sport and learning good habits early is a crucial component to having a successful basketball career, and that was a goal of this camp.

“I’m just trying to provide a safe, fun environment. That’s the biggest thing. For these kids to come out here and compete and know they make it out of this area like I did. This is where it all started. I just want to give them a good environment.”

“Just teaching the basics of basketball. My main message is that nobody can do everything by themselves on a team. It takes a team to accomplish one goal. Sharing the ball, moving the ball, proper spacing, that’s important at the youth level. We worked on a full court slide drill, and we had kids try to cut their man off as soon as possible. I wanted to put a huge emphasis on defense.”

A new addition to this year’s camp was that Myles taught the campers a few of the plays that the Indiana Pacers run to give them an idea of the complexities of an NBA playbook. At the youth level, the offensive strategy is typically quite basic, and it’s good to open the minds of young players, so they know that there is always more to learn and to be prepared for when they will have to remember more complex plays later in their careers.

In the last session, the campers did what is called the “hero drill.” This drill puts your speed, ball handling, and finishing at the rim to the test as you have to race against the clock as you go from one side of the court to the other in time to finish a layup. The seconds on the clock gradually get decreased to eliminate campers.

Myles talked about how the “hero drill” is his favorite of all of the drills that they did at the camp.

“My favorite drill was the hero drill. It’s a full court drill where you have about five seconds to get up the court, and then it starts counting down from five-to-four-to-three and whoever can get it the fastest wins a big prize. So that’s probably my favorite drill.”

At the start of the camp, Myles played some one-on-one with the kids as a challenge. The sequences mostly ended in blocked shots. Not all of the one-on-one sequences ended the same, though. One camper named Kolbe managed to convert on a fade away jump shot over Myles.

“I actually had one camper that got me. He hit a little fade away lefty. His name was Kolbe. He’s a talented kid. He was one of my more talented kids that I had there. He was one of the younger kids, and he actually played in the older group and held his own. He was good impressive at my camp, but yeah, he got me.” 


Myles and the camp instructors put on a show against some of the campers. This has become a staple of the camp where he throws puts on a show as he throws down some electrifying dunks, makes some deep jump shots, throws some flashy passes, and locks them down on defense. This experience shows the abilities of an NBA player up close, and let’s face it, getting dunked and having your shot get swatted away builds character.

“I never take it easy on any of my opponents, obviously. I want to kind of instill that in them in a very young age. My dad when I grew up never took it easy on me; he never let me win. My mom, anything we did she never let me win, and that built my competitive spirit. Now to this day, you can ask any of my friends; I’m very competitive in everything that I do. I just hate to lose at anything, and I feel you can instill that at a very young age and it can only benefit you from the jump. Getting beat at a lot of stuff that you do when you’re younger will help you in the long run.” 

The camp ended with a fun Nerf war. If you follow Myles on social media, you will see that he is a Nerf enthusiast and he has these battles with his friends. He thought it would be a fun experience to incorporate that into the camp. It’s important to note that Nerf graciously donated the guns and bullets. Lushaj’s Pizza deserves thanks too; they provided lunch for the campers.

“The nerf battle was something that was exclusive to my camp and has never been done before. That’s something I pride myself on, being original and in my own way. When I was younger, I used to play with nerf guns all the time. Even to this day, me and my friends and my roommate will have Nerf wars now and then. I thought it would be a heck of an idea to share some of my childhood with my campers.”

“Everybody loves competition. We partnered with Nerf, and I would like to give a special shout out just for providing the guns for me, and we did it in a good, safe manner, and all of the campers got to keep the guns as well. The biggest thing was that I was able to share some of my childhood with the children coming up.”

Overall, Myles believes that the Nerf war went well and he wanted to make it clear that what Nerf did to make it all possible is greatly appreciated. The camp was a great experience for everyone involved. The kids were able to have fun all while working hard and learning more about the game of basketball, which is exactly the goal of any great camp.