SLIPPERY ROCK — Riley McGonigle lip-synced to a song that blasted over the sound system in the Slippery Rock High School gym.

She got into a crouch so she could better see the feet of a little girl who was dribbling a basketball while weaving her way through a series of cones.

On the other side of the gym, Morgan Siebka bent over and barked out instructions to 8-year-old Lucas Allison, who was bouncing basketballs with both his right and left hands.

“Eyes up on me,” Siebka bellowed. “Good. Good job.”

Scenes like those have played out for the last two weeks at the new Rock Box during a camp run by Melinda Rhoads and a slew of current and former Slippery Rock High boys and girls basketball players.

This particular two-hour segment Thursday was for boys and girls in grades one through five.

McGonigle vividly recalled the time she spent as a camper here when was little.

“I came every year I could,” said McGonigle, a senior at Slippery Rock High. “It was what made me love basketball.”

Rhoads, who coaches at the junior high level in the Slippery Rock School District, has run this camp for so long, she can't remember when it started.

This year has been different for Rhoads, however. It's the first camp without her husband, Posey, who died in April.

“Being in the gym helps because basketball is life,” Melinda said. “So many things come out of it. (Posey) always came in, even when he was working. He loved camp, too.”

The 46 boys and girls at the gym on Thursday loved it, as well.

They are why Melinda Rhoads and her troop of instructors keep coming back, she said.

She gets a particular kick out of the youngest of the participants.

“When they come in, some of them don't know why they're here. Some of them are crying when they come,” Rhoads said. “Our job is to make them leave with a smile on their face because basketball is supposed to be fun. Summer camp should be fun.”

Often, though, it is the campers who put smiles on the faces of the instructors.

Siebka, who also participated in the camp as a youngster, will play at Florida Southern this winter. One girl, however, thought Siebka was playing at a much higher level.

“She asked me how I liked playing in the WNBA,” Siebka said, laughing. “And I said, 'No. I'm just going to college, not the WNBA.' But I felt cool.”

Rhoads matches the enthusiasm of the boys and girls in her camp, which amazes some of her instructors, including her daughter, Kourtney.

“It's nice we get to do this together,” said Kourtney, a Slippery Rock High graduate and junior on the women's basketball team at Kentucky Wesleyan College. “I like watching my mom, watching how much she loves it, how enthusiastic she is. I don't know how she keeps up with them.”

Marissa Siebka, Morgan's younger sister, is on the other side of the camp experience this year. Last year, she was in the oldest age group. Now heading into her sophomore year at Slippery Rock, she is helping out as a teacher.

“It's hard not jumping in there and doing the drills with them,” Marissa said, laughing. “Riley and I did a couple of times.

“We all love it,” she added. “This camp is just a part of life for us, I guess. When they do something good, their faces light up and it feels good to know you helped them do it.”

Melinda is shocked sometimes by how hard her young campers attack every drill.

“They love trying to do the very best they can. Some kids lose that along the way,” she said. “This age group, it doesn't matter what it is, whether they are doing push-ups or step-ups or trying to make a layup, the are going as hard as they can. They are trying to get that done and that gets us all fired up.”