NATCHEZ — Even though there aren’t as many kids as he would have liked, it’s not going to deter Samuel West from putting on a good basketball camp.

About 20 youngsters participated in the first day of the Miss-Lou Basketball Camp at Martin Gymnasium, put on by former Alcorn State head basketball coach Samuel West.

Because of the lower turnout, the boys and girls camps will be combined.

From today through the end of the camp Thursday there will be just one session, from 8 a.m. to noon each day.

Previously the boys camp was in the morning and girls camp in the afternoon.

“We didn’t have the number we thought we’d get, but everything went well,” West said. “Normally we have anywhere from 40 to 50 plus kids. Hopefully (today) we’ll have more.”

But even though the numbers were low, West said the first day of the camp was a success.

“I have a great group of girls and guys here,” West said. “We’ll work with what we’ve got. We will enjoy the kids that are here and enjoy the rest of the week.”

West said that many of the kids who came to this year’s camp have been there in the past, which made for an enjoyable first day.

“We had about three hours and 45 minutes of just drills and fundamentals,” West said. “We worked on shooting, passing and dribbling, and the attitudes of the kids were great.”

There was also a guest speaker, Jason Cable, who is an athletic administrator at Alcorn State.

“We had a great speaker come in today,” West said. “Time went by so fast. We had a great time.”

The camp continues today at Margaret Martin Gymnasium on Homochitto Street in Natchez.

West said anyone interested in participating in the camp can still sign up.

And West said he would like to see a lot more girls in the gym today.

“We only had about five girls (Monday),” West said. “Hopefully we’ll get a lot more than that (today).”