Sam Perkins’ playing career might be long over, but the former UNC star still finds a way to give back to the community that cheered for him when he suited up for the Tar Heels.

Perkins’ annual basketball camp runs this year from June 24 through June 28 and focuses on instructing each camper in the fundamentals of the game.

“This is the foundation of all the things they have to do in order to be successful,” Perkins said, speaking during The Ron Stutts Show. “It was instilled in me by Coach [Dean Smith] a long time ago and we still trying to exploit those traditions and all of those examples of how to be a great complete player.”

The camp will take place at East Chapel Hill High School and will be open from players ages eight to 16.

Perkins said he loves to see the kids who aspire to be a basketball player.

“When the week ends and they lose a championship game, I had some kids crying because of the fact they wanted to win so bad. But those are the breaks. You win and lose. But we teach them, you learn from losing and you learn from winning.”

In addition to his annual basketball camp, Perkins also works with NBA Cares. This grassroots program started by the NBA is a youth-serving program that supports education, youth, and family development.

“We have a lot of programs that are to help young kids that want to play basketball,” Perkins said. “But we also give attention to building schools, giving computers, giving knowledge to a lot of different people who can’t afford or do things on their own.

“So NBA Cares is an assistant program where we just try to give back to the communities in different areas. So every time there’s an All-Star game in your local city, there’s always a care for the community and trying to develop the community much better than when we last left when we first got there.”

Full interview: Sam Perkins on The Ron Stutts Show