What You Need To Know

• Andre and Kaleb Wesson are leading a youth basketball camp at Westerville South High School 


• The professional basketball players are focusing on elevating the youth on and off of the court


• They want the kids to focus on building relationships and life skills outside of basketball

But among that small group are two brothers who are trying to help prepare aspiring athletes for what life after college might entail.

Playing sports can pave the way for many young kids, helping them become better athletes, competitors, teammates and more. A camp at Westerville South High School is led by some athletes that have played at the next level and they are teaching basketball skills but also giving kids the chance to learn that it’s not only about elevating your game, but elevating yourself.

Andre and Kaleb Wesson are using their skills and knowledge to help the next generation. 

“The biggest part of it actually is off the court,” said Kaleb Wesson.

The brothers from Westerville South, who played at Ohio State and now play professionally overseas, are running a three-day basketball camp at their high school alma mater for kids going into third through eighth grade.

But the camp goes beyond just teaching basketball skills.

“The biggest thing that I try to teach ‘em or preach to ‘em every morning is get to know your neighbor,” Kaleb Wesson said.

“Relationships. That’s what I told ‘em first day. I think it would be a waste of their parents' money and having them come here if they didn’t build a relationship,” Andre Wesson said.

And who better to learn those lessons from than former players who used to be in these kids’ shoes, including some of the Wesson brothers’ former teammates who didn’t make it to the professional level.

“We have me and Andre who are current professional basketball players, and Ennis, who played collegiate basketball at a high level but he’s also just in finance right now, so making sure that we have those backgrounds that we can give these kids and provide them with all the avenues that they can possibly go through in this process,” Kaleb Wesson said.

The hope is that the kids leave camp not just as better basketball players, but better people as well.

“We’re not going to be sitting there asking them a whole bunch of questions about zone coverages and their reads and stuff like that. We want to know the avenues and the process it took you to get to your degree, what made you pick that degree, what were the things that pushed you to do this, that the third,” Kaleb Wesson said.

Kaleb said he wants to give kids an opportunity he didn’t have when he was younger.

“Growing up in Columbus, there wasn’t a lot of pro athletes that you could physically see. Put your hands on, they would actually come up and talk to you,” Kaleb Wesson said.

Both Wesson brothers want the kids to walk away remembering that the game is truly about building relationships and athletes can get involved with their community.

“Basketball can take you more places than just on TV. Those people who play on TV, that’s the 1% of basketball players,” Kaleb Wesson said.