Chesapeake College hosts basketball academy

WYE MILLS — Local student-athletes have a chance to lace up their sneakers in July for the month-long J Noah Skills Academy at Chesapeake College.

The academy is dedicated to providing mentorship and professional development skills for middle school student-athletes.

The academy’s program is designed to help students gain an understanding of project management through basketball. The tools they receive help students manage details and routines of everyday life and provide skills for the workforce. The academy uses frameworks provided by the Project Management Institute and reinforces them with basketball content. The program consists of two parts: basketball training and classroom time.

During basketball training, campers will learn fundamentals and practice drills using a Dr. Dish shooting machine, which can track each athlete’s progress. J Noah’s founder, coach, and classroom facilitator, Jordan Pearlstein, also incorporates exercises learned during his 94 Feet of Game certification training with Los Angeles Lakers assistant Phil Handy. Training time helps students hone their skills while reinforcing the importance of consistency and discipline when working to achieve a goal.

During classroom time, students work through a curriculum that uses basketball-related examples and terminology to introduce project management concepts, including scope and time management, cost, goal setting, risk assessment, contingency planning, and more. Students then implement these concepts by using the NBA 2K24 PlayStation video game to complete a series of tasks, culminating in a mock NBA draft. After completing the draft, students create an action plan, which requires them to identify personal, athletic, and academic goals and develop a strategy to achieve them.

The four-week session begins July 1 and will take place in the college’s Health Professions and Athletic Center Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 pm. The program will be closed July 4.

The program cost is $500 for the full session. To register, visit https://sserv.chesapeake.edu/Student/InstantEnrollment and enter the course code AYC 502 9A.

Scholarships are available to help offset tuition costs for up to six students. Those requesting financial assistance should contact Rebecca Fauver at rfauver@chesapeake.edu.

The academy is also seeking an assistant to help Coach Pearlstein and the students. Basketball experience is required. Interested candidates should send a resume to contact@jnoahskills.org.