Several members of the Gatewood boys’ basketball team recently experienced something special.
Earlier this month, seven Gators’ varsity hoops players and head coach Don Keiser made the hour-long trip north on U.S. 441 to attend a basketball camp at the University of Georgia in Athens.
“It was a great experience,” Keiser told The Eatonton Messenger.
“We got to play against some great competition, and I think that the whole trip made us better as a team. It was also a bonding experience.”
The Gatewood group stayed one night while attending the two-day camp, run by Georgia men’s basketball head coach Mike White. At the camp, the Gators played six scrimmages against other high school varsity programs from around the state of Georgia.
Although the Gators went 1-5 at the camp, Keiser felt his team became a lot better and stronger through the experience.
“Every team we played was much bigger than us. I mean, from Class 5A to 6A schools,” Keiser said. “I think we earned a lot of respect from the larger [GHSA] schools because we only had seven players. I got a lot of positive compliments from other coaches at the camp. We played hard.”
During the trip to Athens, Keiser took the players out to eat and they also walked all over UGA’s campus. The players got a tour of the Bulldogs’ brand-new, state-of-the-art basketball facility, too.
“The guys were amazed by their facilities,” Keiser said. “We got to tour and play at the practice gym.”
The seven Gators who made the trip got to work out with White and the Bulldogs’ coaching staff, as well as learned what it’s like to be an NCAA men’s division I basketball player for two days.
Gatewood’s Adam Harvey, Blake Callaway, Matt Allen, Landon Moreno, Jake Rich, Kaden Keiser and JT Gregory attended. Walker Roberts was the only Gators’ varsity player unable to attend.
“Walker [Roberts] had baseball, so he couldn’t come, but it was fun overall,” Keiser said. “The camp made me really excited for next year. I can’t wait for it.”
In 2022-23, Gatewood went 22-5 overall. The Gators won their respective region and district titles before heading into the GIAA Class 2A state playoffs as the No. 2 overall seed. However, they got knocked out in the semifinals by eventual- state champion Central Fellowship Christian Academy.
Gatewood lost only three seniors from last year’s team: Jack Harvey, Harrison Kelly, and Jackson Morris. Kelly was a top contributor on the court, while Morris scored more than 1,000 points over his Gatewood career and was the Gators’ leading scorer last season.
Gatewood returns several starters in Callaway, Allen, and Keiser. Those three, plus the others, are primed to lead the Gators next year with hopes of winning a state title.
“We have a good chance of winning it all,” Keiser said. “We’ve just got to buckle down and keep working, though. We did three weeks of team workouts this summer and have been doing individual workouts since most of our guys play other sports. We will get back to work in the fall.”