Summer seemed no different than the school year when Billy Pollard was a student. Class might’ve been out, but between athletic camps, practices and scrimmages the Bremen boys basketball coach was just as busy.

“I remember when I was in high school I didn’t see summer until I graduated college because I was always playing sports,” Pollard said.

Pollard is trying to avoid burning out his players this year, so the seven-year Blue Devils coach has scrapped team camps from his summer schedule.

Individual workouts started yesterday and pick-up games are played every Sunday, but neither are mandatory for players.

Pollard said he’s not sure that kids really get a lot of out team camps with the start of basketball season five months away.

“I think it’s a lot like spring football. By the time the season actually rolls around, you’re pretty much starting over again,” Pollard said. “It’s something I wanted to try this year to see if it does make a difference.”

All seven other local boys teams attended at least one of the camps at either Carrollton, Temple and Villa Rica. Most went to at least two of the camps, which generally run for a few days and guarantee each team about eight 40-minute games with a running clock.

Coaching at a small school played a big factor in Pollard’s decision. Most athletes at Bremen play three sports and all but two of Pollard’s players are on the football team.

“If I was at a big school and I had kids who that’s all they did was play basketball, then yeah, I would do the team camp and we’d have workouts all the way through fall,” Pollard said. “At a little school, I just think it’s too much to make them do all that. They’re kids. They need to have fun, too.”

When it’s time for business in December, Pollard will have a strong nucleus of players back on the court. The Blue Devils only lost three players and one starter, Vic Calhoun, to graduation.

Injuries decimated last season’s 7-18 squad. Three of Bremen’s key players - Clayton McIntosh, Dylan Jenkins and Kail Singleton - all missed time last season with injuries.

The Blue Devils were able to field a healthy team for the Region 6-A Tournament with the exception of McIntosh, who still wasn’t at 100 percent, and nearly upset the top two seeds in Gordon Lee and Trion.

Injuries are just a luck of the draw, Pollard said, but there is an upside to them.

“We had a lot of freshmen that got to play a lot of minutes, so we’ll have at least three sophomores coming back next year that started some games and played big minutes last year,” Pollard said.

They’ll also have seven seniors returning.

While they may be quiet over the summer, the Blue Devils have the potential to make some noise this season, provided they stay healthy, of course.