Jordan Rezendes glanced the group of eight Wareham middle schoolers who showed up to the basketball clinic held at the Sylvester Garden Courts Saturday and smiled.

“I just hope they have fun, because that’s what it’s about,” Rezendes said. “We just want them to go back home like, ‘Wow, you guys taught me this,’ or ‘I had a good time today.’ And that’s what really matters.”

Rezendes, who attended Wareham High School, is a current UMass Dartmouth junior who plays basketball for the college’s team, the Corsairs. He was named the 2015 Little East Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year after averaging 23.2 points per game this season.

He returned to Wareham with Brandon Stephens, a current American Basketball Association player and former Corsair, to teach at the Rise Basketball Clinic.

The two co-instructed with Steven Rush, a former basketball player at North Carolina A&T State University and two high schoolers, Ashantay Tavares, 16, and Trey Miranda, 16, who volunteered to help out.

The clinic, which lasted two hours, and cost $30 per child, covered everything from dribbling to shooting to precision footwork. Rezendes said the clinic also aimed to encourage the budding players, who might not get the help they need to improve their game.

“When I grew up, I never had nobody to train me, to work me,” Rezendes said. “I put the work in myself, or had to go to Boston, or somewhere else to put the work it."

Stephens said he hoped the children used the camp lessons to push themselves harder off the court.

“I want them to take that that, and pretend it’s school. Like, ‘I don’t feel like studying tonight, but I know I need to get this A to get my grade to be what it needs to be,” Stephens said. “Just teaching them how to persevere, how to push through something, even though times may be tough.”

By the time the clinic was over, the children were thoroughly sweaty, but all told the instructors they felt they had learned something.

“My favorite part of the day was when I learned … how to dribble more to the basket, instead of going behind the basket and then trying to shoot it,” Skylar Gonsalves, 12, who was awarded the camper of the day trophy, said.

As the campers dispersed, Rush said he hoped they understood what it takes to follow a passion -- basketball, or otherwise.

“A lot of people might think they like doing something, but it’s a lot of work that goes into it,” Rush said. “You just got to teach them how to work.”