Payton Pritchard Basketball Camps: The Training System That Helped Build an NBA Champion

There’s a question I get asked a lot: Why do you run basketball camps?

The honest answer is simple — because someone built me up, and now it’s my turn to build others up.

I didn’t wake up one day in the NBA. I got here drill by drill, rep by rep, starting long before anyone outside of West Linn, Oregon, knew my name. And the best thing I can do with that journey is turn it into a roadmap for the next kid who wants it just as badly as I did.

And the best thing I can do with that journey is turn it into a roadmap for the next kid who wants it just as badly as I did.

These Payton Pritchard basketball camps are designed for young athletes and families looking for serious youth basketball training in Massachusetts, with a focus on fundamentals, confidence, discipline, and real player development.

It Started with the Fundamentals

Nobody talks about fundamentals the way they should. Every young player wants to work on the flashy stuff — the crossovers, the pull-ups, the highlight reel moves. But the players who last? The ones who become elite? They’re the ones who fell in love with the boring stuff first.

Ball handling. Footwork. Finishing at the rim with both hands. Catch-and-shoot. Reading the floor. These aren’t glamorous. But they are the foundation of everything.

My dad, Terry Pritchard, coached me from the time I was a kid all the way through high school and AAU. He was relentless about the basics — not because he wanted to grind me down, but because he knew that when the pressure was highest, your body falls back on what it knows best. If what it knows is right, you win. That’s the truth.

The Coaches Who Shaped Me

The camps I run aren’t just me showing up and tossing out advice. They’re a collaboration with the coaches who actually made me.

Eric Viuhkola has been in my corner since junior high summer ball. He coached alongside the high school program and was there for all four years of my high school career. Eric has a gift — he sees the game the way it should be played, and he teaches it that way. He doesn’t take shortcuts, and he doesn’t let kids take them either.

My dad and Eric both understood something that I now carry into every camp: a player’s ceiling is directly tied to their foundation. You can’t build a skyscraper on sand.

Four State Championships. One Blueprint.

I was part of four Oregon state championship teams in high school. I don’t know if that’s ever been done before — but I know exactly why it happened.

It wasn’t luck. It wasn’t just talent. It was discipline. Repetition. A commitment to doing things the right way, every single day, even when no one was watching.

State championships are the result. The drills are the cause. That’s what we teach at camp.

What We Do at Camp

When kids come to my camps, they’re not just getting autographs and a fun afternoon. They’re getting the actual blueprint:

• The daily drills — the exact work I put in to develop my game
• Fundamentals under pressure — because skills have to hold up when the game is on the line
• Coaching from Terry and Eric — two men who’ve built champions, not just players
• A mindset shift — from “I want to be great” to “I’m willing to do what greatness requires”

Giving Back

The NBA gave me a platform. These camps are how I use it.

I think about the kid who is exactly where I was — hungry, talented, maybe doubting whether it’s possible. I want that kid to leave camp knowing that it is possible, and that they now have the exact tools I used to get there.

The road to becoming elite isn’t secret. It’s not reserved for the lucky. It’s built one rep at a time, with coaches who care, habits that don’t quit, and a foundation so strong that nothing can shake it.

That’s what we’re building at camp.

Come get to work.

— Payton