DATE: Friday, July 18, 1997                 TAG: 9707170246

SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 20   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER 
                                            LENGTH:   59 lines

GETTING A LESSON FROM THE PROS DENVER NUGGET'S STITH AND OTHER PLAYERS TEACH KIDS AT PAUL WEBB CAMPS.

John Anderson posted Bryant Stith down low - putting a nice spin move on the Denver Nugget shooting guard and connecting with a pretty baby hook shot from the baseline.

Was this unknown schooling Stith?

Not hardly. No way a 15-year-old rising Tallwood sophomore who hasn't even played on the Lions basketball team was going to take a five-year NBA veteran to the hoop with such ease.

At this Salem High session of the Paul Webb Converse All-Star summer basketball camp for youngsters, it was Stith who was doing the teaching.

Anderson just happened to be the tallest kid at the camp and was picked by the 6-5 Stith to participate.

It was a thrill he'll never forget.

``To play against a guy like that was really an experience,'' said Anderson, who will be trying out for the Tallwood team this winter. ``To be able to work with an NBA player was fun.

``I was nervous at first, but he said a lot of things to me that will help. Once I calmed down, I realize he was helping me and it's something I'll never forget.''

Stith never forgot similar situations at a Paul Webb camp when he was Anderson's age.

``This was the camp that had the most impact and influence on my life,'' said Stith, a 26-year-old Freeman, Va., resident who played at the University of Virginia. ``I remember when Len Bias brought me out in front of everybody and did the same thing. It was truly special.''

It was also the same year Stith attended a camp with Alonzo Mourning and Milton Bell.

``We all went together for three years in a row, now we're all in the NBA,'' said Stith, who averaged a career-high 14.9 points with the Nuggets last year. ``We all give credit to our days at camps as kids.

``Now we all try to give back. Maybe if I can touch somebody's life the way those guys touched mine, maybe it can help.''

Webb has been running his summer basketball camps for nine years, expanding from three to six sessions along the way.

The former ODU coach brings in guys like Stith to give 30-minute talks on various aspects of the game and to help make things interesting for the kids.

``We average 150 kids a camp and the emphasis is on teaching basketball and making sure the kids are having fun,'' said Webb. ``They won't learn anything if they aren't.''

There will be two more sessions of Webb's camp: July 28 through Aug. 1 at Western Branch High and Aug. 4-8 at Cape Henry Collegiate School. Sessions run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. MEMO: For more information, call 464-4561. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY

Brian Stith, a Denver Nuggets guard, coaches Justin Garcia, 14, of

Virginia Beach, at camp.

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