Isabella, who won the camp's Hustle Award, poses with Elliot Cadeau.
WEST ORANGE, NJ — Before he heads off for his freshman year at the University of North Carolina where he will play for one of the most storied basketball programs in the country, West Orange native Elliot Cadeau hosted a basketball camp at Montclair State University on Sunday, July 30.
The camp, which ran from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., included approximately 70 participants, boys and girls, in grades 4 – 12. Campers honed their skills through various drills and games.
Cadeau has been a resident of West Orange since he was just a few months old and attended West Orange schools until the fifth grade. He attended Bergen Catholic in his freshman year during the COVID season. Cadeau missed his sophomore season due to injury in 2021-22. This past season, the 6-foot-1 point guard and consensus 5-star prospect attended Link Academy in Branson, Mo., helping the team capture the GEICO Nationals title. After the season, Cadeau, who was in the class of 2024, decided to reclassify and signed with North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
At the end of the camp, Cadeau talked to the campers about how he made sacrifices to devote his time in becoming one of the top basketball players in the nation. Cadeau is ranked as the No. 12 overall player by 247sports and No. 13 overall player by ESPN for the 2023 class.
In an interview with the West Orange Chronicle immediately at the end of the camp, Cadeau spoke about growing up in West Orange, which also produced NBA superstar and fellow point guard Kyrie Irving.
“There are a lot of great players that came out of West Orange,” Cadeau said.”Everybody knows Kyrie Irving. It means a lot to represent my town. It kind of shaped me as a person and all my friends are from West Orange. I have a lot of people that I love that are from West Orange. To be able to represent it is great. No matter how big I get, I will always try to represent West Orange and make sure that it’s known that I am from there.”
Cadeau also credited his family for their tremendous support. His parents, James and Michelle, are immigrants. Michelle is a native of Sweden and James, a tennis player, is from Haiti. Elliot’s older brother, Justin Cadeau, is a tennis player at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Michelle and Justin were also among the camp staffers.
“I would not be near as close to where I am without my family right now,” Cadeau said to the West Orange Chronicle. “They support me in everything I do. They try to help me make decisions that are best for me that make me the best human that I can be. I really appreciate them for all the stuff they did for me and there is not enough for me to do or say to thank them for what they did.”
Cadeau’s main message to young basketball players is to always work hard and believe in yourself.
“Anything is possible,” Cadeau said. “Both my parents are immigrants, and me being 6-foot-1, hard work can take you a long way. You don’t have to be 6-7 or you don’t have to be tall to make it. Anybody can do it, as long as they put their mind to it.”
Photos and video by Joe Ragozzino
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