When a swarm of eighth-graders start shooting at the same basket, it’s hard for any player to stand out amid the barrage of balls and scrambling bodies.

During the 8th-9th-grade session of the Cougar Basketball Camp on May 30, one player stood out above everyone else.

Not because he was the tallest player at the camp – in fact, Ross Johnson was one of the smallest players on the court. Nevertheless Johnson’s enthusiasm and skill level was hard to miss as he ran circles around the bigger players that surrounded him.

That fact wasn’t lost on Scott Petry, South Junior High basketball coach and camp instructor, who said Johnson was the first camper through the South Junior High’s gym door shortly after 8 a.m.

“I definitely know if a kid shows up a half an hour early to practice and the ones that stay a little late, too,” Petry said. “Those are things you definitely pay attention to.”

Johnson soon found the rack of basketballs on the sideline and began warming up before Petry had the chance to divide the age groups.

There were only 10 ninth-graders on one side of the court, but 21 eighth-graders surrounded Johnson on the other. The other eighth-graders were scrounging for balls so they could take another shot.

Johnson was sprinting to balls so he could pass them to players who didn’t have one. At times, he would even stop mid-shot just to run down a ball and give it to another camper.

Throughout the series of drills in the camp Johnson showed that he wanted the ball in his hands at all times, but not necessarily so he could score.

When the age groups split up for “pre-game” warm-ups, Petry told the campers that only three balls were needed for each group, so Johnson made sure he was one of the three who had a ball in his group.

“I always like to have a ball in my hands because it makes me feel more comfortable,” Johnson said.

Johnson took the wing position during the three-man weave drill so he could pass to the shooter during the drill. Johnson said he prefers to set up teammates so they can score, rather than scoring himself, but that certainly isn’t because he lacks the ability to score.

One of the shooting drills Petry had the campers do was a “cross-lane jumpers” drill where the players had to run back and forth and shoot from the baseline outside of the lane and make as many baskets as they could in one minute. When it came to Johnson’s turn, he made the first 10 shots he took and made 16 before time ran out.

Towards the end of the camp, Petry split the campers up around the six goals in the gym and instructed them to practice the “Swish” shooting method that he was teaching at the camp. Midway through the exercise, Petry stopped everyone from shooting so they could watch Johnson’s form.

Petry said he’d coached both of Johnson’s older brothers and that he could tell he had been around basketball most of his life.

“I think Ross is a real hard worker,” Petry said. “All his brothers have been hard workers, so I think Ross is following in that path.”

Johnson said he got used to playing against older and bigger players by playing against his brothers at home. As a result, Johnson said he wasn’t intimidated by the ninth-graders despite being a head shorter than most of them.

Petry said because of Johnson’s basketball experience, players usually looked past his size and recognized him as a leader.

“He’s been playing AAU ball for quite some time and those kids, even though they’re small at that age, he’s a natural leader,” Petry said.

For Johnson, the Cougar Camp was the beginning of a busy summer as he said he was playing summer baseball and would continue to go to basketball camps in the area.

Johnson said the Cougar Camp was beneficial to him because he could improve his skills and learn new ones that he couldn’t learn at home. Johnson said that aside from the basketball camp, he enjoyed the camaraderie between the campers.

“Just meeting friends and making friends,” said Johnson of his other favorite aspect of the camp. “Seeing people that you don’t usually see during the summer.”