Chuck Driesell’s basketball camp at Battlefield High School: Everyone leaves a better player

In 2004, with Battlefield High School in its infancy, Chuck Driesell recognized a great local opportunity in using the school’s facilities for his basketball camp, the Chuck Driesell Basketball Academy.

He asked BHS Director of Student Activities if he would be interested in hosting the camp.

His reply was, “You absolutely can have a camp here.”

Driesell and his staff have run hoops camps for girls and boys, ages 7-15, at Battlefield High ever since.  From June 22-26, approximately 120 participants took part in the 2015 Chuck Driesell Basketball Academy there. 

“We have youngsters for whom this is the first time with a basketball.” said Driesell. “But we also have some College Division 1 caliber players, as well. We group the better players by competition level.  We have them play two on two and three on three while stressing fundamentals and free throw shooting.” 

Every group is taught the fundamentals of basketball at his/her level.

Because Driesell has spent 33 of his 54 years either playing Division 1 basketball or coaching high school and college programs, he understands the game and how to teach it. He knows what campers hope to gain by attending camp.

“Everyone leaves camp realizing they have become a better basketball player,” said Driesell. “We had 15 counselors at camp who are high school coaches and college assistant coaches with at least one counselor per ten kids.”

Last year his staff included former Potomac High, University of Maryland and international professional guard, Eric Hayes as a counselor. 

Driesell’s basketball academy assures campers will work on skills, do plenty of drills and play in games every camp day. This is how Driesell always works to help them improve.

He was born in Charlotte, NC when his father, the legendary Charles, “Lefty” Driesell was head coach at Davidson University.  The family moved to College Park, MD when Lefty became the head basketball coach at the University of Maryland. Chuck later played as a scholarship shooting guard at Maryland from 1981-1985, competing in one NIT and three NCAA tournaments.  He was on Lefty’s only AAC championship team, was an Academic All-American and three time ACC honorable mention honoree.

In 1985 he earned a bachelor’s degree in business management. After serving three years in the Navy, he became the Naval Academy Prep School’s head coach. He served from 1989-1996 as an assistant coach under his father at James Madison University.

He has coached in college as an assistant at Georgetown University, and the University of Maryland and as a head coach at Marymount University in Arlington and at The Citadel in Charleston, SC.  He also was head coached at Bishop Ireton High School.  Before moving to coach at The Citadel, he lived in Gainesville. He is now the head coach of Maret High School, in Washington, DC.

Bringing experience and knowledge to his academy, Driesell exposes campers to all aspects of basketball. This year he also put on two South Carolina camps. As in college or high school, he stresses academics to his campers along with the fundamentals of basketball. The Chuck Driesell Basketball Academy has adopted a quote of Driesell’s father, “The Harder You Work, the Luckier You Get.”

The 2015 Chuck Driesell Basketball Academy session at Battlefield High pleased him. “The kids competed and worked to be fundamentally sound,” he said. 

He now turns his attention to the basketball program at Maret High School.  As a private school Maret, requires some recruiting, a strength he inherited from his father. In addition to basketball, he stresses the importance of earning good grades.
 
He and Paula, his wife, have a daughter, Taylor, with a college degree, another, Brette, attending The College of Charleston and a son, Luke, who attends Coastal Carolina University.  Chuck’s and Paula’s recent move from South Carolina to Bethesda, MD, is convenient to coaching at Maret High School and to working his future Battlefield High School camps.
 
“We have assured ourselves for the same week for next year’s camp,” Driesell said.  For more information about Driesell and his camps go to http://www.driesellbball.com  Call. 843 606-2737.