NBA champion Klay Thompson holds court in Ladera Sports Center

Klay Thompson of the Warriors follows a youth game Wednesday.

Three-time NBA champion Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors wrapped up the final day of his basketball camp for youth athletes Wednesday at Ladera Sports Center in Ladera Ranch, not far from where he starred as a high school player at Santa Margarita.

Approximately 300 youngsters between the ages of 8 and 15 were split up into groups and held games and went through drills. The session ended with Thompson taking part in full-court games with a group of young players he selected.

“It’s been an amazing camp,” said camp director Steve Williams. “We’ve been trying to get Klay to come to a camp for the last four years and for it to actually come to fruition and be here at the Ladera Sports Center is something very exciting and to have 300 kids here from all over the country is pretty cool. We have a couple kids from Florence, Italy, Spain and Mexico.”

“The kids are thrilled that Klay is actually here, but he comes for three hours. And they’ve gotten uniforms, shirts, all kind of giveaways. Klay has probably given away two pairs of shoes every day with signatures and shirts. It’s been pretty amazing. He is super involved. He just wants to hang out.”

“Klay has been excited even before the camp started,” added one of Thompson’s friends, Seth Tarver. “It’s Klay’s first camp so we definitely have room for improvement. Klay enjoys interacting with kids so this is kind of the first step.”

Thompson told camp organizers he did not intend on doing media interviews so he could devote his full energy to the camp.

Thompson, a four-time NBA all-star, told young players he would be around for autographs when the three hour session ended.

One of the coaches helping out was Harry Wilson, who has also helped out athletes from the Irvine area.

“I used to coach Klay when he was in eighth grade and played for my traveling team and throughout high school, also in college,” Wilson said. “Basically, I’ve just helped him and his brother and his dad since they were  eighth graders (the Thompson brothers).

“He thinks it’s a good give back and he wants to start establishing it for later on. I thought it was great because the kids got to learn a lot of stuff and he was interactive with the kids. The coaching staff is incredible. I thought it was a great camp.”

Camp officials said about 25 players were awarded scholarships to attend the camp. For more information, please go to: http://klaythompsonbasketballcamp.com/about-the-foundation/.