MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — In just its second year of existence, the Richmond Elite Academy basketball camp will welcome over 300 kids through its doors in an unassuming industrial park in Hanover. Once inside, some of the messages they will receive will come through loud and clear.
Former Highland Springs standout Andre Ingram attended the camp this week and spoke to the assembled future hoopsters.
Ingram is a longtime family friend of Joyce Patterson who owns the gym and runs the camp.
“This is like family for me,” Ingram said. “I play in this gym on the weekends. To see the passion from these kids brings me back to when I was their age doing camps like this.”
Ingram starred for the Springers back in the early 2000s and went on to play four years at American University.
Since then, he has remained an active professional player, spending most of his time playing for the Lakers organization with their various D and G league teams.
He had a memorable NBA debut back in 2018, scoring 19 points, the most by any Laker in his first game since 1993.
He took last year off for personal reasons but is back working out as a free agent looking to land that next opportunity.
“After a year off, it was going to be one of two things,” Ingram explained. “Either, man it’s hard to get back or I kind of feel fresh. I feel good. People ask me all the time how long I’m going to keep going? I say until the wheels fall off.”
“I’m definitely not done yet. I can still shoot it a little bit. Luckily, that’s the last thing to go!”
What has never left Ingram is his positive attitude and his belief in education.
He graduated fifth on American University’s all-time scoring list with 1,655 points but also with a bachelor’s degree in physics.
He stressed the importance of the classroom over the court to every camper who would listen.
“So many guys around my age were so talented, much more talented than I, didn’t get the chance to go beyond high school simply because they didn’t take the classroom as seriously as they took the court,” Ingram said. “That’s a shame. I want them (campers) to understand, you don’t have to enjoy the classroom as much, but you have to bring that effort.”
“I try to teach them that plus the amount of work it takes to get to where you want to be. I always bring up the education part as well.”
For more information on the camps, click here.
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