TIFTON — Lady Devils basketball players of the present and of the future spent a week honing skills at Eighth Street Middle School last week.

This week of camp at ESMS featured “everything,” said head coach Julie Conner. “All the stations, jump rope, three-on-three …”

Eighth Street was last home to Tift County High hoops in 1998. Construction at Tift County High’s gymnasium made it the natural site for the sessions.

This week’s camp was for Tift County girls players in grades 6-12, plus, Conner said, a handful of coaches’ kids.

Thursday’s session was the longest, lasting from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., but also featured some special guests. Newest assistants Mike Beeman and Trevon Bryant were in attendance, plus there were special appearances from former Lady Devil Dail Adaway and from Tim Maloney, a friend of Conner’s who has been involved with women’s basketball teams around the country.

Beeman has been a constant of Tift County running sports, but the New Hampshire native also has a long history of coaching basketball.

He said becoming an assistant is “a blessing in disguise.”

Beeman talked about his basketball background with the players and what his style was going to be as an assistant. One of the skills he will work on with players, he said, was “to be efficient and score while you’re tired.”

Keeping skills sharp deep in games via conditioning is among the things Beeman said he will work on with players.

“Ninety percent of the game is played down low,” he said, squatting slightly in a defensive position.

Basketball, Beeman said, was one of the easiest sports for a player to better at while practicing alone.

Adaway, who went from TCHS to Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, told the players that hoops at the next level were “way harder than high school.”

Bryant will be bringing his own unique experience to the Tift County program. After graduating from Tift, he not just played in college, but has extensive international experience.

After more drills, including backwards jogging and three-line passing, Mahoney arrived to speak with the group.

Maloney and Conner are longtime friends, having known one another when the two were high school coaches in Florida. Maloney has assisted at colleges all over America, including Iona, UMass, Baylor and Florida. He was part of a national runner-up staff at Florida and while at Baylor, the 2013 squad won the NIT title.

After pretending to offer the fastest player on the squad $50, Maloney talked about motivation.

“You as human beings are worth millions of dollars,” he said. “Your character is worth more than $50.”

Maloney said they should always make eye contact and to always give their everything.

“Every time you do something, you do it to [the best of] your ability.”

His chat with the players extended to the more practical, including a reminder to use the backboard glass on shots.

“Use the glass,” he said. “It’s always going to be your friend.”

Maloney had individual talks with the roster and demonstrated skills before having the players perform drills.

Work for the Lady Devils is just beginning on the basketball court. June sees them go to a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp in Tennessee. Later in the month, they have camps in Florida, at Georgia College and State University and at Ware County.