PEMBROKE — Kalen Eddings has dreamed of bringing a basketball training facility to his hometown of Pembroke.

Saturday, as local players and coaches participated in a clinic at Emerge Sports Performance, reality began to set in.

“Seeing those kids walk in that haven’t seen it yet, seeing their faces when they walk in, that does it for me,” Eddings said. “It’s not about me, it’s about these players and helping these coaches.”

The facility, located on Three Hunts Drive in Pembroke, will open Monday, Oct. 12, but provided the local basketball community a foretaste with the clinic.

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke men’s head basketball coach Drew Richards and assistant Connor Keltner were in-person instructors for the clinic, while University of Memphis assistant coach Cody Toppert and University of Houston head coach and Pembroke native Kelvin Sampson each led a session virtually.

Richards was eager to attend the clinic due to a longstanding relationship with Eddings, who served as a graduate assistant at UNCP for two seasons, but also because he sees value in the new facility’s existence, and for reasons beyond just basketball.

“It’s a place that they can get positive coaching and companionship, a place that they can get away,” Richards said. “The more they can stay busy, the more they can dedicate themselves to something. Not only does it have to do with athletics, but also their studies and school. I think once they develop that work ethic, I think it adheres to the whole rest of their lives.”

Local high-school coaches, including Red Springs boys coach Glenn Patterson and Purnell Swett girls coach Jonathan Efird, attended the clinic, both to hear from the accomplished speakers and support Eddings’ ambitions.

“Kalen talked to me a couple of months ago about his idea, and I told him to go for it, because it’s much needed in Robeson County,” Patterson said. “I’ve been talking to my kids about coming this way and getting a little extra training. … That will give them some extra help to come out here and get some extra knowledge of the game.”

“I believe this is something this community, this county has needed for a long time,” Efird said. “To have girls come and work on their individual game, for us, we try to utilize it as much as possible. (My players) enjoy it. They love the environment, the atmosphere.”

Purnell Swett sophmore Kylie Chavis was one of the players who attended the clinic, participating in drills led by Richards and listening intently to the knowledge shared.

“I think it’s very important, because it gives the community somewhere to go to practice in times like this,” Chavis said. “I really love this facility a lot.”

Having somewhere to train — and somewhere to go in general — was one of the motivations for Eddings in the project.

“My dream is that they’ll get to come in the facility and work on their games, but also it can be somewhere they can just come and hang out, and kind of get away,” Eddings said. “We’ve got enough going on in Robeson County that our kids can get into, so it’s just a blessing for me to kind of have something that they (can do).”

Eddings is clear that the goal of his facility is not to compete with local coaches, but to help them.

“We’re not here to outcoach you, we’re not here to take your players and tell them they’re not learning from you so come learn from us,” Eddings said. “We want to help you help them.”

Eddings played high-school basketball at Purnell Swett. In addition to his stint as a graduate assistant at UNCP he has high-school coaching experience as an assistant at Elev8 Sports Institute in Delray Beach, Florida and as head coach at Cape Fear Christian Academy in Erwin.

He has been doing private instruction on the side for the last few years before now turning it into a full-scale operation, along with his director of operations, Michael Dial.

The gym, about the size of half a regulation basketball court, will have three basketball goals and two squat racks by the time it fully opens in two weeks.

The clinic gave Eddings a chance to see his facility populated with people as excited about basketball as he is.

“It was awesome to finally be able to let people in and let people enjoy it,” Eddings said. “I was sitting there watching those kids shoot around, and those coaches shoot around, and that’s just it for me.”