Former Deering High basketball standout Nik Caner-Medley, currently playing in Spain’s top professional league, will return home to host a youth basketball clinic June 13 in the Deering High gymnasium.

“Growing up, some of the best and most memorable times I had in basketball were at camps and clinics,” Caner-Medley said, via e-mail. “It was where my love and passion for the game developed into dreams and aspirations to be the best player I could be.”

Caner-Medley was named Maine’s Mr. Basketball and was the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year following his senior season in 2001-02. He went on to play at the University of Maryland before embarking on a professional career.

Caner-Medley will be assisted by current Deering boys’ varsity coach Dan LeGage, as well as several former coaches. The clinic is for boys and girls in grades 4 through 8 and goes from 1 to 4 p.m. The cost is $20 per player and the proceeds will go to the Ernie Harmon Scholarship Fund, which honors the school’s late longtime official scorekeeper and the Southern Maine Activities Association’s official statistician.

“Ernie Harmon was a great man,” Caner-Medley said. “I’m thrilled to be able to help raise money for the scholarships in his name.

It’s a great cause. It will be a really fun time and I hope a lot of kids will come because I think they’ll have some great coaches there to learn from.”

Caner-Medley’s playing future is open to conjecture. Many involved with the new Developmental League Maine Red Claws would love to see him come home and play at the Portland Expo, but Caner-Medley is weighing his options.

“Spain has been great,” he said. “It’s the best league in Europe and I have had a very good season, so I expect the future to be very exciting and I have a lot of basketball left to play at a high level, hopefully including the NBA.”

For more information on next month’s clinic, contact Dan LeGage at 874-8260 or legagd@portlandschools.org.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net

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