CLINTON, Tenn. (WATE) — From professional basketball to a new position on the court – the pandemic has unexpectedly re-routed one East Tennessee family’s path.

Around this time last year, Dominic and Angela Wright were stuck overseas. His basketball season had been canceled because of the coronavirus.

This year, they are giving back to the community that helped get them home through the sport they both love.

“Doing something that we all love to do – playing the game of basketball. So we’re just thankful and blessed that this day came to be,” Dominic said.

The couple is holding a spring break basketball camp for students.

“It was around this time last year when all sports got cancelled, which was really hard for the children, and so they didn’t get to do spring break camps or summer basketball camps,” Angela said.

Dominic’s professional basketball season was canceled, too. He was playing in Abu Dhabi. That’s where his family got stranded at the start of the outbreak.

“Thankfully, with your help as well as the U.S. Embassy, they were able to get us home and we’re thankful to be back,” Dominic said.

“When we got home, we had parents contacting us saying, ‘hey, we know you guys have a basketball court in your backyard, outside. All the gyms are shut down, can our kid come over, do some lessons with you guys?’ And we kind of felt like that we owed it to our community to do that, because so many people helped us to get home,” said Angela.

Those outdoor training sessions grew into a calling the Wrights say they never expected.

“This was something we never planned on, and we’re so excited this is the way that it turned out,” said Angela.

Dominic and Angela say at least thirty students are participating. They also say they’re doing temperature checks on the way in to the camp, which is being held at the Oak Ridge Civic Center, and you must wear a mask when walking inside.

If your child is interested, they can still sign up for the camp. You can give the Wright’s training line a call at 865-919-1541.