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DETROIT -- The Titan Club, in conjunction with Detroit Titan Athletics, hosted its first Titan Club Basketball Camp for special needs players on Monday, August 22. Thirty-seven campers attended the inaugural event, held at both Calihan Hall and GESU Elementary School.

Led by a team of coaches which included current and former Titan basketball players and coaches, Utica High School players and coaches, and Special Olympics and Titan Club volunteers, camp participants honed their basketball skills and competed in fun contests.

Bernie Fuhs '03, a former Titan men's basketball player, served as the camp's basketball director, and was assisted by fellow alumnus Marc Mazur '02. Current Titan coaches Autumn Rademacher and Brigid Mulroy (women's basketball) along with Jay Smith (men's basketball) also joined in on the action, leading campers in drills. Titan basketball alum Desmond Ferguson '00 greeted the campers in the morning and spoke to them about the importance of having a positive attitude, learning through athletics, and having fun while they do it.

Titan Club Directors Pat Martino and Mike Bartnicki served as the camp chairpersons, leading the planning and execution of the event. Martino reflected that “the hard work of all the volunteers, Coach Rademacher, Coach Smith, the Titan women's team, the Utica teams and all our Titan Club members made it a great day for the campers.”

The day was successful on all ends, providing the foundation for the event to grow in size and quality. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and by all accounts, all involved learned quite a lot. The Titan Club is thankful to everyone who contributed their time and effort, as well as to GESU Elementary for the use of their facility.

“Pat Martino saw there was a need for a quality skills basketball camp in the area and I think we delivered that” Bartnicki said. “It was a great start for what should become an annual Titan Club event. Although we are a booster organization, we can certainly give back to the community in ways like this.”

Planning for the 2012 Titan Club Basketball Camp for special needs players will begin in the fall. Check the Titan Club page on DetroitTitans.com for more information throughout the year.