WEST ORANGE, NJ -- Elliot Cadeau, West Orange resident and a Bergen Catholic High School class of 2024 student, ran a low-key free basketball camp for the students who attend Washington Elementary. Elliot grew up in the Watchung Heights part of West Orange but hasn’t been involved in the West Orange basketball scene since he finished fifth grade at Kelly Elementary.
On Thursday, he brought a team of other high school players, photographers, videographers and coaches to provide a free camp for the students in grades two to five. Despite the bad weather and a surge in COVID, 14 basketball enthusiasts and their parents came out to the West Orange Boys & Girls Club, for a morning of fun, exercise and basic basketball.
Elliot's immigrant parents--his dad is from Haiti and his mom hails from Sweden--have always been heavily involved in West Orange, and Elliot wanted to make sure he continues that legacy. "Living down the hill, many of my friends didn’t have the same opportunities as I did when I was little. Some of my friends never went to a camp. My family used to pay for neighborhood kids to go to camp. Our car was always full of kids we took to camp. So now that I am in a position where I can help, I wanted to start as soon as I could." He added, "I would like to thank Mayor Parisi and the Boys & Girls Club for helping me set this up."
Elliot, a student-athlete, plays basketball on his high school team. He enlisted his friends to volunteer for the event, which was a nice opportunity to assemble some other high school players to do something great for the community without the rivalry that’s on the court. Elliot's basketball skills class organization, CadeauCares, will continue to run free camps in communities that could benefit from more basketball.
Elliot is ESPN #1 Point Guard in Bergen Catholic's class of 2024 and also a long-time member of the Swedish National Basketball team. He grew up in West Orange.