More than 50 kids turned out for the 23rd annual Inglemoor High boys basketball camp, hosted by longtime head coach Greg Lowell and his staff, as well as current and former members of the Vikings’ varsity team.

The camp — which ran July 6-12 — also served as a homecoming of sorts for some of the Vikings’ top talent, as a number of recent graduates returned to the Inglemoor High gym to coach the campers.

“It’s different, I love coming back and seeing all the coaches and all the old players,” said Todd Campbell, who graduated in 2009 and now plays forward for Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. “I remember when I was just a little guy and moving all the way up. It’s fun to see the kids and how they improve.”

The camp, which serves as the main fund-raiser for the 2010-11 Viking team’s expenses and travel budget, hosts incoming seventh- through 10th-graders, many of whom look to some day earn the opportunity to play varsity ball under coach Lowell.

“It has become sort of a tradition, a good bonding thing for the older kids to coach in the camp,” explained Lowell, who will be in his 23rd year of coaching the Vikings. “We’ve had kids that have come up and coached with me, they all went through this camp.”

Throughout the five-day camp, Lowell stresses the fundamentals of team play through drills promoting offensive and defensive development, and then lets the kids, under the tutelage and support of the varsity athletes, try out their newly honed skills in a friendly, yet competitive 5-on-5 game environment.

“I think the younger kids like being around the high-schoolers,” Lowell said. “It’s a fun type of camp.”

Benji Bryant, who along with Campbell helped lead the 2008-09 Vikings to a seventh-place finish at state, started participating in the camp in eighth grade and said he thoroughly enjoys coming back every year as a coach.

“Especially with my little brother (Eric, a senior) and a lot of his friends out here, it’s a lot of fun to see the kids grow up every year and see a lot of new faces,” he said. “It’s also fun to see the players that are about to replace you, the ones that are about to play for the high-school team.”

Although as a coach he appreciates seeing improvement in the youngsters coming up through the program, Lowell also complimented his varsity players for showing leadership during the offseason by directing the camp, as well as many former players that took the time to show their support for Viking athletics.

“When you’ve done it as long as I have, you remember them when they were sixth-, seventh-graders and all of a sudden they’re 30 years old,” Lowell recalled. “That’s kinda neat.”

Under coach Lowell, the Vikings have made the league playoffs in 19 of 22 seasons, and have made the 4A state tournament three times in the past six years, with a high finish of fifth in 2004-05.