Area kids attended the second annual Called to Greatness Christian basketball camp in Great Bend, hosted by former KU and Miami Heat player Wayne Simien  at the Great Bend High School Panther Athletic Center.
The camp, which ran Tuesday and Wednesday, was split into two divisions.
Third grade through sixth grade kids met from 9 a.m. to noon, while seventh- through 12th-graders held camp from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Simien said that he got started with the camp nearly five years ago because he wanted to teach kids basketball fundamentals and minister to the youth.
“I started doing the Call to Greatness camp back in 2007-08 back when I was still playing in the NBA,” Wayne Simien said. “I had a heart to host a basketball camp that not only taught some basketball skills that made me successful as a player, but also some biblical principles and things in the life of Jesus. Things that these kids can use in every single aspect of their life.”
Bryant Birney has been the camp’s local coordinator for two years and according to Simien, one of the main reasons that Great Bend is one of six camps Simien hosts over the summer.
“It started out with some relationships with Bryant Birney here in town,” Simien said. “We had the camps in urban communities in Kansas City. We’ve had them in suburban populations in Lawrence. It’s not hard to come out to some rural communities here in central Kansas, knowing that the kids out here have just as much a need for the things that we have to offer as kids in the inner cities and the kids in the suburbs.
“It’s been great and I hope to come out to this community for as long as I can.”
Birney said that Simien’s passion for teaching kids really improves the camp experience.
“Wayne (Simien) has just got a heart and a passion for kids and especially to minister to them,” Bryant (Buzz) Birney said. “He has a lot of experience with basketball and he loves to teach the fundamentals of basketball, but where his heart really is, is to tell them what’s important in life.
“He brings the experience of basketball to them, but he also brings the word of God to them.”
Birney said that the hardest part of putting together the camp has been promoting it.
“Getting the word out, advertising and promoting it,” Birney said. “That’s probably the biggest (part). Besides that, we’ve got great support. Great Bend High School has been awesome to work with us this year and last year, Barton Community College worked with us there. The community is really good. So the job really hasn’t been that tough.
“We live in a good community with good people that help and that care. Wayne Simien has a great reputation and a great name so when people know that it is a worthy cause, it is easy to get going.”
Simien said that his favorite part of running the camps is working with the kids.
“My favorite part is coming out here and serving the youth, and really sharing with them what true success and true greatness is,” Simien said. “So many people think that greatness is found in your athletic achievements or your accomplishments. But when we read the Bible and you look at the life of Jesus, you see that greatness is found in being a son or daughter of God and greatness is found in following in Christ’s footsteps. That’s the type of message that we share with these kids along with teaching them basketball skills.”