Oklahoma City, Okla. -- On the first day of the OKC Thunder Youth Basketball Camp at the Gaulke Activity Center on the campus of Mid-America Christian, Thunder starting center Kendrick Perkins surprised the kids with a visit and hosted a Q & A with the campers Monday afternoon (June 6). 

Perkins also gave a speech and signed each of the kids' camp t-shirts. 

"When I was growing up, I never experienced anything like a professional camp, so it's good to give back to the kids and it's always good to see them out here enjoying basketball," Perkins said. 

The first day of the camp focused on being a good teammate and featured numerous shooting, passing, dribbling and defensive drills. 

While Perkins was more than happy to talk basketball with the kids at the camp, he admittedly hasn't paid much attention to what's happening in the rest of the basketball world since the Thunder was eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. 

"I haven't watched any of the NBA Finals and I don't even know what the series is," Perkins said. 

"The games are always at night and I like to go fishing, so I'm usually night fishing." 

The camp resumes Tuesday morning (June 7) at 9 a.m. and will run through Friday afternoon (June 10).