Summer Jobs - 6/30/09

DENVER – June is winding down, which means the University of Denver basketball players are in full swing with summer classes and the coaches are getting ready to hit the recruiting trail again.

It always impresses me when I hear about how the DU athletes spend their summers. As mentioned in previous blogs, all of the basketball players are in Denver taking classes and working out.  It’s especially important for the newcomers to the program, who are learning the ways of Denver Basketball from the older players and are transitioning to life on their own. 

All of the players also worked at the Joe Scott Basketball Camps earlier this month, and Nate Rohnert and Andrew Hooper, along with DU women’s basketball players Ashly Robinson and Brianna Culberson, are working at the Chauncey Billups Basketball Academy this week down in Rohnert’s hometown of Parker, Colo. The report after Day One was that camp was going well and that Billups was doing a great job making sure all the kids were learning and having fun.

Then there are the Lewis brothers, as many people around the Ritchie Center refer to them because they always seem to be hanging out together – or perhaps it’s because they share the same last name.

Kyle Lewis and Rob Lewis are both finance majors who excel in the classroom, and both of them have landed internships at financial companies. 

Rob starts at Ryan Financial, and Kyle’s job is already underway at Lazarus Investment Partners. Kyle said the job is a great challenge and has immersed him in the financial world with everything coming at him pretty fast. This is how Kyle described it: “It’s kind of like learning a new language.”

It comes as no surprise that DU’s basketball players are spending their summers with internships, considering the grade point average of the returning players was right around 3.4 during the spring quarter. It really is an impressive group.

New Faces on Campus - 6/15/09

DENVER – Summer classes started this morning here at the University of Denver, and the newcomers to the men’s basketball team officially joined the DU community.

Freshmen Blake Foeman, Chase Hallam and Jeff Powers join transfer Trevor Noonan in taking their first classes at Denver, which also allows them to start weight training and conditioning, as well as open gym with the rest of the team.

“We are excited to have the guys on campus and starting to make an early transition to the challenges of college life,” head coach Joe Scott said. “I know that Nate Rohnert, Rob Lewis and Kyle Lewis and the rest of the upperclassmen will work with them this summer and prepare them for when workouts start in September.”

Joe Scott Basketball Camps: The Joe Scott Elite camp, which occurred from Friday to Sunday following a day camp earlier in the week, welcomed some of the best high school players in Colorado, as well as some from California, Florida, Missouri, Oregon, Texas and Wyoming.

The camp places a strong emphasis on overall individual skill improvement for players in grades 9-12, while also focusing on advanced offensive and defensive skills along with developing the competitiveness to be a college basketball player.

“The camps were well attended with high caliber players, who were eager to learn and improve their skills,” Scott said.

Obviously, the level of instruction was the highest caliber, as well, considering it was run by the Denver Basketball staff. In fact, both camps provided an excellent coaches-to-players ratio, providing participants with an exceptional amount of individualized instruction from Scott and his coaching staff.

Coach Scott will host a Team Camp on June 26-28, and more information can be found on DenverPioneers.com.