Reflection

I’ve now been home for a little over a week and have had an opportunity to process the whole experience. What an incredible journey I went on. The Camp Tour was very exhausting, but an experience that I would do all over again tomorrow if I could. I highly recommend putting together a journey similar to mine to all aspiring coaches. It is a great way to network as you meet most of the staff from that school as well as all the other camp coaches. Meeting people is a huge benefit from working camps, but it is the effort you put in afterwards to develop sincere relationships that truly makes the difference. Just the other day, I mailed out 25 hand-written letters. My hand was burning at the end of a few hours, but when someone sees that you took the time to write a letter and pay for the postage, that shows you are interested in that relationship. There aren’t too many coaches that are initially going to reach out to me after a camp but I would bet a majority of them contact me with a phone call, text, e-mail, or letter back after getting my mail. At the same time, you have to realize how busy these coaches are, especially the ones that are on the road recruiting for a good part of July. The student assistant that worked the day camp at their school isn’t their first priority. After understanding that, it’s a pretty neat feeling when the phone rings or buzzes and it’s one of those guys.

I touched on the networking benefit of working these college camps but there is no doubt my favorite part is the friends you walk away with. I had mentioned one friend in particular that became a full-time division 1 assistant but the job wasn’t official yet when the blog was written. I’m so excited for Alex Ireland as he is currently on the road recruiting. The Alcorn State assistant coach was previously a GA at Valdosta State and we met working camp at Florida. A perfect example of a hand-written letter came from Alex. The day I got back to school at UNF, there was piece of mail waiting for me from Alex. I met several people this summer and walked away with so many friends. The funniest interaction came with Nate Laing, simply because of the connection we already had. His dad was the head coach at Campbell, and his top assistant was Bobby Kennen, who is currently the associate head coach at North Florida. A lot of people in this business know a lot of the same people, but when you are that close, it’s pretty cool.

The next seven paragraphs are going to include a short highlight from each school I visited and a little bit about each camp. It’s interesting to note that while each camp is similar, they do things a little bit differently from one another that makes them unique.

LSU is extremely lucky to have Zach Kendricks on their staff. He’s a known commodity in Baton Rouge as he is working for his 3^rd head coach. Usually, that doesn’t happen but he is there for a reason. I can’t even put into words the effort he made to get me into camp. The difficult part was that the dorms were completely booked and there wasn’t a place for me to stay. Furthermore, I contacted him very late in the process after another school bailed on me. Fortunately, he worked and worked and was able to arrange sleeping conditions for my 7 night stay. I worked both individual day camp and the team camp in Baton Rouge. The camps were extremely organized and well-ran.

After driving through the entire state of Mississippi, I eventually arrived in Memphis. The four day individual camp ran smoothly and efficiently. Each age group had their own gym and their own schedule. I rarely saw any other groups as we were able to focus on our own kids. I felt like the kids that week really got better as ample time was spent on stations and skill development. My favorite aspect about Memphis was definitely Power Hour. This took place after camp and was open to anyone, whether they were participating in day camp or not.  For a measly $7.50, kids could get a college-level workout ran by Coach Josh Pastner. I mean, come on, this is a no-brainer. I would have been at every power hour if I lived in that area growing up.

I had finally heard what a father/son camp was, but I was excited to see it in action. I will come right out and say it - The University of Kentucky is the best place for that camp. There were 600 participants and they came ready. Watching grown men run around a gym asking 18 year olds for autographs was definitely a little strange but the concept of the camp is outstanding. Like I mentioned in the blog, I would have dragged my dad to that whether he wanted to go or not. Being able to bond on the basketball court by participating in various drills and contests against other duos is a great experience for a father and son. This is definitely a camp I will look into running one day. The numbers didn’t get much smaller when the overnight camp kicked off the following day. It was a cool experience being in that environment and trust me, those people love their CATS!

Tennessee Tech was one of my favorite stops simply because of their staff. I have a really good relationship with their DOBO, GA, and now former manager. They did me a huge favor when one school bailed on me. I would be stuck in the middle of the country for three days and have nowhere to go. I immediately started looking for camps that ran those available days with somewhat close proximity and came right to TTU. Although they handed us two losses last season, I was very excited for my trip back to Cookeville. While on campus, I assisted them by officiating team camp.  It was an incredible scene as nearly 100 teams participated in the event.

My drive to Raleigh was longer than I anticipated, but it was another great camp. North Carolina State is home to the nicest campus that I saw of the seven schools. In addition to the modern campus, they housed everyone in what I still am arguing is a hotel. I live in a very nice dorm at UNF (it’s the one with the lazy river in the backyard) but I’m convinced this was actually a hotel. The key was a card and the rooms were unbelievably nice. The best thing this camp did was end by playing “Cut-Throat”. It is a 3 on 3 game that every camper is involved in and is built up throughout the week. This way, when parents show up for the end of the session and the awards ceremony, 90% of the campers aren’t sitting down watching. By doing this 100% of the campers are participating. Remember, you have to sell the camp to the parents too, and this is a perfect tool to do so.

Maryland would serve as the final overnight camp that I would work. For those of you that don’t know what this means, the campers stay overnight and the job is never ending. Bed checks are at 11pm and wakeup for breakfast is at 7am. Sleep is limited at these camps; don’t forget those 30-45 minutes daily to write my blog. The staff at Maryland made me feel welcome right from the start. They also ended camp with a coaches social. I was surprised more camps didn’t do this as it is a great way to interact with the other coaches outside of a basketball environment. Camp flew by and it was time for my final destination.

I was beyond exhausted by the time I arrived in Richmond, but I was also very excited. This was the one camp I had circled on my calendar and built my schedule around. If I had to pick one highlight from the Camp Tour, it would definitely be going for dinner with Coach Wade. Being able to sit down and talk basketball with someone I look up to on and off the court was awesome! As far as camp goes, they ran a smooth operation with an interesting twist that I had not yet seen. The afternoons consisted of 15 minute segments where the campers were always rotating between games and competitions. Rather than participating in 45 minute activities, this system kept campers and coaches alert and engaged. I’m looking forward to my trip back to Richmond as North Florida travels to VCU this season!

I mentioned this at the beginning of the reflection but I will say it again. I wish I could do this experience all over again. It was an incredible journey that has already opened up so many doors. I made friends, I started building relationships, and I was able to teach the game I love to kids around the country, literally!

Day 35 - July 3rd

The final day of The Camp Tour had arrived as things wrapped up in Richmond, Virginia. It was Championship Friday at the Will Wade Basketball Camp and the campers came in hungry for the hardware. A particular camper was ready to transition from assistant coach to MVP. The young man that sprained his ankle and was in a walking boot yesterday came up to me excited as ever. I didn’t even consider the option of having him play until he begged me for a good 20 minutes. I gave in and told him that the final decision would be up to nobody other than the trainer. When he received the all-clear, I knew we had a good shot of winning it all.

The morning began with a shortened rotation of stations. The kids were anxious to get to the contests and competitions as they had little interest in further working on the fundamentals. Prior to lunch, the hot shot and knockout competitions took place and the top two campers from each team advanced to the final round. This competition took place on the main floor at the rest of the campers were able to watch. Energy and intensity were at an all time high, both by the campers and coaches. I was a proud coach to have the final two members of the knockout game remaining.

After stopping for the pizza lunch break, the VCU players took the floor and put on a show for the campers. Dunks and threes were raining inside the Siegel Center as the campers were going crazy. This was a nice break as the kids enjoyed watching their idols play while they were simultaneously resting up for the afternoon. Prior to the 5 on 5 championships, the camp arranged a team shooting competition. Each team was placed in a bracket, and every round was scored as best of 3. The campers were to shoot from the elbows and the first team to 15 won a point. My team advanced to the finals but came up just short.

I think losing this competition actually helped focus our team for the 5 on 5 championships. They seemed to be all over the place with many not listening to simple directions. As a result of having the #2 seed and clinching a bye, we were off for the first round of games. I decided to use this time as a team practice and run through our offensive sets. I even installed one new play as other coaches were starting to figure out how to guard what we were trying to do.

Our first matchup of the tournament turned out to be our most competitive game. An 8 point lead (which is astronomical in a 15 minute game with 5^th-7^th graders) was erased and the game was tied with 2 minutes to go. I was a bit nervous as none of our sets were working and we couldn’t get a stop. Fortunately, we found a way to win and advanced to the semis. I thought this would be our toughest matchup as we lost two of three to them in the regular season. This team was very strong defensively and just tougher than any other team. My team raised their level of toughness for this game and won the semi-final by a comfortable margin.

The championship game took place on the main court with 200+ campers and many other parents watching. The lights were on and this was the time for boys to become men (not really). We were able to build small leads as our sets led to very good shots on the offensive end. Defensively, the opposition was able to creep back into the contest by hitting some deep shots. As much as I wanted to pick up at half-court, we could not contain the ball so we had to pack in the defense. I was content with getting beat by a handful of 3’s but wasn’t going to allow one player to drive by my team and get a wide-open layup every position. My team held strong and THE CHAMPS ARE HERE!!!!

I couldn’t have picked a better spot for The Camp Tour to come to an end. The staff at VCU was extremely welcoming, and treated me like family from the minute I got to Richmond. I am now spending the night at a hotel in Fayetteville, NC and continue the drive to Jacksonville early tomorrow morning. I will be posting a reflection blog on the whole trip sometime in the next week, so keep your eyes out for that. I want to thank all of you that have read anywhere from 1-35 blogs as I hope you enjoyed this journey along with me. To all aspiring coaches out there, PUT TOGETHER A CAMP TOUR!!!! What an amazing experience that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. 

Day 34 - July 2nd

The alarms were set early and often as the morning was off to a premature start. I headed to Richmond's City Hall to dispute the parking ticket received on Monday. I planned on being there 15 minutes before the 8am opening so that I would be seen first, as I had to make it back to VCU's campus by 8:30 for camp. Fortunately, I found where I needed to go within City Hall quickly, but I wasn't thrilled for what I heard next. A court date would have to be set up to dispute the parking ticket and my options were limited with me leaving tomorrow. The only thing I could do is have a written submission given to the judge explaining why I am innocent of this parking violation. If I won the case, the fine would be dropped but if I lost, I would have to pay the $60 fine plus $57 in court fees. There is absolutely no chance I'm risking a double or nothing situation on something that I can't even be present at to defend myself. I ate the ticket as an expensive lesson and headed to camp.

Upon arrival, I was given an injury update on one of my players. He unfortunately sprained his ankle and would not be available for the rest of the week. However, I commend his dedication as he still showed up for camp and worked to improve his ball handling while others went through stations. During games, he served as the assistant coach and helped verbalize our offensive sets. Whether his parents wanted him out of the house for the day or he took it upon himself to come get better, I don't know, but I do know he turned an unfortunate situation into a positive one.

Our station changed by the group today as we had some teams that did "V" cuts yesterday and others that had not. For the groups that had not yet been instructed on this type of cut, we worked on getting open and sweeping through to the basket. The teams that covered this topic yesterday got to have a little bit of fun. The station was transformed into a conditioning drill that incorporated defensive slides and closeouts. Surprisingly, the kids really enjoyed this as it had them constantly moving and communicating defensively.

The most fun the campers have definitely comes in the afternoons with the 5 on 5 games. Our team entered the day at 8-2, and in a 3-way tie for 1st out of 12 teams. The schedule had us playing both other top teams, which would serve as a huge challenge after seeing our best player go down. The team rose to the challenge and split the two games, nearly winning both. A 3-1 day has the Hawks at the top of the standings and competing for a #1 seed for Championship Friday.

After camp, I was able to come back and take a much needed nap. You can imagine how exhausting this journey has been, but one that I will look back at and remember for the rest of my life. The final day of The Camp Tour is tomorrow and I couldn't pick a better place to close it out. The staff here has put on a great camp and has been extremely welcoming from the start. Time to get some sleep as I will be putting everything left in the tank out there for the kids tomorrow!

Day 33 - July 1st

The morning got off to an earlier start than I had hoped. I set multiple alarms starting at 7:00am rather than 45 minutes later because I had to write yesterday’s blog. I’m not sure if it was a result of playing pickup after camp or The Camp Tour taking its toll on me but I was exhausted last night. I passed out at 10pm without writing the daily happenings. Camp got off to its usual start with the campers shooting around and stretching prior to stations.

Today, we decided to teach another cut other than the “L” cut. The other coach and I instructed the campers on the fundamentals of “V” cutting. For this drill, the offensive player started in the slot and cut back out to the “45”. They would then sweep through and finish at the basket. This is a challenging task to teach 2^nd-7^th graders as some kids understood the concept and others needed more explaining. All in all, I think it was successful and I hope to see it translate into the 5 on 5 games later this week.

Coach Jones talked to the campers after lunch as today’s guest speaker. He discussed the importance of defense and had every camper get in a defensive stance. Sometimes I struggle getting just my team to listen to me but he somehow had the whole camp up and moving simultaneously. After this concluded, we transitioned into the afternoon segments of games, contests, and competitions.

My team struggled in the 5 on 5 games as we faced adversity that was both in and out our control. 

After improving to 7-0, the referees may or may not have made some (a lot) phantom calls that favored the other team. The toughest part by far is calming my campers down as they obviously don’t want to lose. The opposition hadn’t won a game and my team is undefeated; they don’t understand the camp’s objective of getting every team in the win column. The part that was in our control came in the following game as was grabbed a defensive rebound with 5 seconds remaining, clinging onto a 1 point lead. The camper thought a whistle was blown and gave up the ball as the defense was pressing. They laid the ball in and the rest is history. The 8-2 Saint Joseph’s Hawks need to step their game up tomorrow!

After camp, I once again walked over to the practice facility to watch the VCU team go through summer workouts. Having an opportunity to see how other programs operate is really neat, and sometimes you pick up drills or philosophies you agree with. For example, the players worked on ball handling with medicine balls, regular basketballs, and a combination of both simultaneously. I have never had a player use 1 basketball and 1 medicine ball to do stationary ball handling, but I like that idea for a less dominant hand and may use it moving forward.

Day 32 - June 30th

Camp began at 9am but the staff was asked to arrive 30 minutes early as campers would begin to show up. Before the day starts, it is best to have a coach at each basket to keep things organized rather than have 230 campers shooting balls all over the gym. At my basket, I set up a game of knockout, so that 20 kids are now shooting 2 basketballs and the area is under control. Coach Wade opened up camp right at 9am and the campers went through their daily stretches immediately after.

After roll call was taken, the groups were dispersed to stations. Once again, another coach and I would be teaching different basketball cuts, our station for the week. We expanded on the topic of "L cuts" as we pretended the defender was jumping the passing lane. In this situation, the offensive player would then go backdoor and receive a bounce pass to finish the play. To signify the defense, we placed a chair at the free throw line extended or "45" and the camper had to touch the chair before going back door for the layup.

The final activity before lunch would be the "game of the day". Today, it was knockout and the kids absolutely loved it. The way it worked is 2 teams were at each basket and they played for a set amount of time, Whoever won the most games would advance to the finals and play against the coaches. Following lunch, Coach Rasheen Davis spoke to the campers and instructed on the importance of ball handling.

Before we knew it, the afternoon rotations had already began.The day absolutely flew by and this would continue with the 15 minute segments of games, contests, and competitions. My team won all four games, advancing to 6-0 on the week. Of course they are thrilled with the record, but I am happy to be on the sideline and see these kids setting down screens and cross-screens, while some campers are only in the 5th grade.

After camp, some of the staff stuck around to play pick-up on the main floor. This was a fun time as it presents an opportunity to both have fun and get to know some of the other guys out there. My favorite play came when I threw a rim-runner pass to Travis Wallace, who flushed it with authority. The former North Florida Osprey and 1,000 point scorer recently became a graduate assistant for the VCU program. SWOOP!!!

Day 31 - June 29th

Today couldn't have gotten off to a worse start as I found a parking ticket on my windshield at 7:10am. I was told by the housing people that I could park on the street until 8am without any concern and I even asked a police officer last night, who confirmed this. He was in the lobby of the dorm yesterday and said as long as my car wasn't blocking a fire hydrant, I was perfectly legal and didn't have to worry since I was leaving before 8. The $60 fine came as a shock and fortunately the housing coordinator is looking into the matter. More on this as hopefully it can be resolved.

Soon after the staff meeting ended, campers began to arrive for registration. Coach Wade opened up camp at 9am and we were off and running. The campers were already broken up into teams, which made things way less hectic than most other camps. We were able to dive right into stations. Along with another coach, we were assigned the cutting station. We worked on "L cuts" which was funny because Coach Wade had his VCU players doing this later on at his workouts. They were concentrating on the same things that we were teaching 11 and 12 year olds. Explode out of the cut to create separation from the defender and sweep through to attack the basket.

After taking a break for lunch, we had a guest speaker. Today, it was Coach Wes Long, who talked about the importance of listening. After speaking with the kids, he played one of my favorite camp games "Steph says" which is the same game as "Coach says" and Simon Says. The reason Steph was used is because he recruited Stephen Curry out of high school and actually sat next to the Curry family at Church every week. Coach Long said that Stephen was always such a great listener, which his future coaches have stated as well. There is no doubt that to be a great basketball player, you have to be a great listener!

I was a huge fan of how the afternoon was structured. Every 15 minutes, teams would switch to a new location within the gym. They could be doing everything from playing 5 on 5 on the main court, to team practice on a side court, and even knockout on one goal. The 15 minute intervals kept the attention span of most kids and focused them in on the task at hand. I will definitely bring this idea with me moving forward as I found it to be very successful.

Coach Wade invited the camp staff to stick around and watch workouts after camp. The three sessions contained high energy, and even higher intensity. Saying those dudes got after it would be putting it lightly! There was a lot of competition throughout the workout as the players worked on different skills. One of my goals this summer was to improve with player development, and I was able to pick up some different things from today. I'm already looking forward to their next workouts on Wednesday!

Day 30 - June 28th

The campers were awoken at the earliest time of the week, today at 7:15. With the weather not being great, we dismissed the campers by hallway to the cafeteria for breakfast. The goal was to get started at 8:30 because some quarterfinal games still needed to be played. The challenge was that the awards ceremony was supposed to take place at 11:30 and the brackets obviously needed to be finished prior to that. The games very extremely competitive and eventually a champion was crowned.

While the four finalists were playing games downstairs, the remaining campers from the six other teams were upstairs in the auxiliary gym. Rather than having these kids who were eliminated last night from the tournament sit around and watch others play all day, they participated in a 3 on 3 tournament. The concept of this was to also give these 60 campers another chance to win a title. The games were quick and teams were moving from basket to basket during the allotted time. Eventually, we had another group of champions,

With camp ending at noon, I was able to stop in Washington D.C. for a couple hours to see my sister on the drive to Richmond, Virginia. We were able to grab a bite to eat and walk to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. I don't think President Obama was home but it was pretty neat to see The White House up close and personal. The amazing part is that it isn't nearly as big as you would think. Although it was short, being able to take a quick break and spend time with my sister was awesome!

After arriving in Richmond, I stopped by the Siegel Center, home of the VCU Rams. Coach Wade had invited me upstairs to say hello and introduce me to some of his staff. This was really kind of him as most staffs don't operate this way. For the readers that don't know Coach Wade, he is a good coach but an even better person. Today, he texted wishing me safe travels from Maryland. Like who does that? He has 1,000 things on his mind and he made my day by remembering I was coming up to work his camp and sending that message. He also invited me out to dinner. Part of me was in awe as you have a star in the profession treating a manager like I too am a star. That's the kind of person Coach Wade is and I'm so fortunate to have had an opportunity to build a relationship with him over the past year.