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.

Day 29 - June 27th

The morning got off to the usual early start and everyone walked over to the cafe for breakfast. Following the meal, each group went their separate ways as some went to the main gym while others went to the courts used by Intramurals. The campers are used to the walks between gyms but yesterday brought some really bad weather. My age group hustled through some rain to the main court before the downpour ensued. Another group was able to bus to their gym, as the site was a further walk from the cafe.

Before starting the 5 on 5 games, we had stations. As a result of there being more teams than baskets, most half courts had 2 coaches instructing. Our station was ball handling, one of my favorite drills to teach. I think I enjoy working specifically with this station because I know the importance of being able to handle the rock. I didn't work on my handles as much as I could have growing up and I don't want kids to make the same mistake as I did. Afterwards, we jumped on for our morning game and things just clicked. The game was never close as the aggressiveness and intensity were there from start to finish. My team improved to 2-3 with one game remaining.

After lunch, we had another guest speaker. Byron Mouton, a member of the 2002 Maryland National Chanpionship Team spoke to the campers and showed them a couple drills that they could do on their own time. We also worked on some transition offense/defense prior to the afternoon games.

Instead of talking about the game in this next paragraph, I'll just say I thought we set a camp record for the biggest loss. Turns out someone lost by 52 last week and we fell just short of that. I told my team before this game that I thought we were talented enough to win a championship but could also easily lose quickly in the tournament. Call me crazy but I thought even after getting absolutely demolished, we still had a shot.

As it turns out, the play-in games 7/10 and 8/9 were played and we somehow avoided the trip to "Dayton". My team was stoked when they found out we locked up the #6 after winning a 4 way tie-breaker. The bad news came when the #3 seed was announced as the team we just played. Some coaching changes were made and instead of applying pressure at half court, we packed in the defense as tight as possible. The game plan was to force them to make jump shots and we were successful for the first 15 minutes or so. Unfortunately we didn't have the depth to maintain our position in the game and were eliminated from the tournament.

After camp ended, we meet as a staff to discuss the following day's plan. Maryland basketball staff has been very hospitable as they provide pizza, drinks, and snacks to the coaches. This is much appreciated, especially when dinner is eaten 5 hours prior. For the final night, the great hospitality continued with a coaches social at a local bar. I know I enjoyed this time as I'm sure many others did as well. It was nice to talk and get to know one another better, outside of a basketball setting.

Day 28 - June 26th

I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes as I used the voice recognition to "type" this blog. I hope all mistakes were fixed but with no wifi, I had to be creative rather than just typing it up. 

The campers were woken up at 7:45 and we met downstairs shortly after for breakfast.  After we finished eating everybody, walked over to the Xfinity Center for the morning stretch. Today, it was led by Coach Cliff Warren. The noteworthy part about that is that two years ago, Coach Warren was the head coach at UNF's crosstown rival, Jacksonville University.  He is now an assistant coach for the Terps. Prior to playing our first set of games, the 100 campers were divided into 10 teams.  It just so happens to be that I was told three of the worst players in the league were on my team. If you read yesterday's blog I mentioned how last night served as the evaluation period but I was not yet with this age group.  The coaches got a good laugh but we decided to wait and let the kids play before making any trades.

It was about 15 minutes into my first game when the league office placed a call to me (not literally).  My team was down 25 points right off the bat and a trade occurred with the team I was playing.  The game was paused to trade one of my least experienced players for the other teams third or fourth best player. It's amazing how the rest of the game was even and I knew I got a great player.  As it turns out he is a top-five player in the league of 100 kids when he is aggressive and takes the ball to the hole. The camper is 17 years old and is built like an ox. However when he settles for mid range pull-ups he shoots about 10% and isn't a top-five player on just my team. Therefore, I encourage him to be aggressive every single possession. I don't know why he doesn't realize this on his own as he is unguardable in the paint.

On day 1, the entire camp learned the "camp offense". Each coach was instructed to teach the same half-court set, which I thought was a great idea. I had never seen this before but it is amazing how much smoother and more organized the 5 on 5 games were. The set begins with the ball handler at the top the key, 2 wings and 2 players on the blocks.  The two wings down screen and from there it varies by coach. Sometimes, my team will cross screen while other times it sets a stagger screen on the weak side. Either way, it helps the game flow rather than just coming down and playing 1 on 1 off zero passes.

The second game was much more competitive. The back-and-forth contest was flowing right up until the last rotation. As it turns out, half my team became friends with the trainer as they dealt with cramps, rolled ankles, and tweaked hamstrings. The bench shrunk and minutes increased for everyone else, but that was a factor down the stretch. We had a six point lead with one minute to play and we absolutely blew it. I don't really believe in holding the ball or stalling in camp so I called for the camp offense to be run. The defender jumped the passing lane and laid the ball in to tie the game with 5 seconds remaining. TIME AND SCORE!!!! You always need to know both.  A player on the other team thought they were still down 1 so he intentionally fouled my player with two seconds remaining.  I didn't want to call the foul and have our first win come like that but fortunately the other ref did. My player headed to the line for 1 and 1 but missed the front end. The rebounder stepped out of bounds after corralling the board and we had 1 second remaining on the clock with a chance to win.  The inbounder faked a pass to the middle, drew extra attention, and passed the ball to the short corner, where my player nailed a 15-footer. Ball game.

The final game of the night came after dinner and the players were absolutely exhausted. Maybe I should re-word that and say the players and their coach were absolutely exhausted.  I'm actually writing this post this morning because I tried to write it last night following the staff meeting and room checks but I fell asleep with the computer on my lap, only one paragraph in. Day 28 man. I still found it in me to give it everything I had as the final game of the night would complete day two in College Park because these campers deserve my best effort from start to finish. We ended up losing the game but I was really tough on my players. I coach these kids at every camp as if they are on the high school team, regardless of their age (unless it is the really small guys).  These kids happen to be 14 to 17 but at most other camps I've had 11 and 12-year-olds.  After the game, one player's father came up to me and thanked me for doing a great job. I had no idea who he was before he introduced himself or which one was his son but he wanted to know how old I was and where I was from. He was shocked when I said 21 and not 31 because he had never seen someone that young "say all the right things".  He then recommended that I pursue coaching... LOL. It's only been my dream for the last six years and I have been blessed to learn from such great people at North Florida these past three years. There is SO much more to learn and I look forward to continuing to grow as a coach. 

Day 27 - June 25th

The staff meeting for Maryland Basketball Camp was not until 1pm and I took full advantage of that. I was able to catch up on some much needed sleep by not having an alarm go off until 9:30am. It took me 30 minutes to drive under 10 miles, but I was able to meet Chris Ramos, a former FGCU manager, at Chipotle for lunch. He is now living in the D.C. area working with Team Takeover, an elite basketball program. I met Chris this past season and couldn’t be happier to see him following his dreams!

I arrived at the Maryland campus 30 minutes early as I always leave ample time in case things don’t go as planned. It was very fortunate that I did this because construction caused a couple detours and I had trouble getting to the arena. Upon arriving to the meeting, Coach Nima Omidvar, Director of Basketball Operations, gave me a good laugh while he was taking attendance. He came right out and told everyone I was the “World Tour Guy”. After asking me what number camp this was for me and I said 8 of 9, the other coaches were in awe. Most of them just finished working this past Maryland camp and some were exhausted at the start of camp #2. An interesting part about going from camp to camp is how refreshed I feel on the first day at each new spot. Yesterday, I was dead tired after finishing up at NC State, but today I felt great as I arrived in College Park, Maryland.

The campers arrived between 3-5 for registration and each camp coach was assigned a responsibility for this process. I was asked to assist the trainers with paperwork but they told me that they would be able to handle everything between the two of them. I jumped over to the picture area and helped out a friend I made working at NC State camp. I had no idea he too was coming to College Park. The campers were able to take a picture with the Maryland players as they were decked out in some neat Under Armour jerseys.

Once camp began and the staff was introduced, we split into our assigned age groups. I was put with the Big 10, which consisted of 8-10 year olds. To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t initially thrilled about it but the two guys in charge of the age group are absolutely hilarious. They have been working this camp for years and both work in the education field. As it turns out, we had 6 coaches for 22 kids and the other age groups were short a couple coaches. They asked two of us to switch groups and typically I would be the first to raise my hand. I like working with the oldest kids possible because that is where I can do the most teaching and the least amount of babysitting. I can’t believe it but I actually thought about staying because of the amount of fun I knew I would have with that staff. In the end, I decided to jump age groups starting tomorrow morning.

After walking back to the dorms, the campers were able to purchase pizza, drinks, and snacks at the camp store. Just like at NC State, they take care of the coaches and supply pizza at no cost. Right after walking up and down the halls for room checks, we met as a staff and discussed the agenda for tomorrow. Bits and pieces of the NBA Draft have been watched, but truthfully I just want to get some rest. 

Day 26 - June 24th

The final day of Mark Gottfried Basketball Camp had arrived and the 366 campers came ready to play. The vast majority of the kids wanted to start the 5 on 5 single-elimination tournament right away. Prior to the games being played, we had the preliminary rounds of the individual contests (free throw, hot shot, 1 on 1). By 9:40, or about an hour after arriving to the main gym, the tournament was underway. My team had earned the #11 seed of 18 teams with a 2-2 record. We were the underdogs in the first round matchup and that was evident early. Once again, we went down big early on, for the fourth time in five games. 3 of our best players were on the court, but they just couldn’t get stops. What fired me up on the sidelines was the lack of focus defensively. I can deal with a kid not executing screen the screener action, but I can’t deal with my best player not willing to be locked in and get stops against arguably the best player in the age group. It wasn’t until I got under his skin that he started defending and we found our way back into the contest.  Although we lost the game by one possession, I was incredibly proud with the team’s effort and enthusiasm all week.

After lunch, the tournament really started to heat up. Multiple games were coming right down to the wire and the contests were very intense. One court was rushed after clinching a birth in the semi-final game, which made no sense but the kids loved it. At the end of the day, camp is about the kids getting better and also having fun. Some coaches need to be reminded of that as they took the games way to seriously. I have no problem with enthusiasm and intensity if you are coaching your kids, but to be all over the court complaining to the officials is immature and uncalled for.

The camp concluded with a game called “Cut Throat”. I loved their idea of ending the session with a game involving every camper rather than 90% of the campers sitting and watching a championship game.  The 3 on 3 game is of high intensity and fast pace as the campers have multiple rules offensively and defensively. For example, each defender must start on the baseline and closeout to their man while pointing to them and yelling out the score. The offensive team must have every player touch the ball and get a paint touch before attempting a shot. Each day, new rules were added, and the kids really enjoyed it. I would definitely bring this game to another camp down the road!

Just prior to the camp’s award ceremony, there was a loud crash in the back of the room. NC State’s leading assist man “Cat” Barber made an embarrassing mistake. Leaning a bit too hard on the table, down he went. The funniest part about his incident is apparently another coach warned him 45 seconds earlier not to do that because a coach fell the day prior. Well, if you didn’t read yesterday’s blog, that was me.

After camp, it was time to move out of the dorms and get on the road. I snuck in a quick shower and was in my car by 6:15. The 4.5 hour drive didn’t seem too bad other than the fact that I had a full day of work in the books. Like usual, there was an insane amount of construction and I didn’t wind up getting to Washington D.C. until after midnight. With my next camp being in College Park, Maryland, I was able to spend the night at my sister’s place, less than 10 miles from campus. The best part of the drive came when I took a wrong turn and ended up right in front of the Washington Monument. It was great to see my sister as I hadn’t done so in 6 months. She picked up dinner for me and even offered to sleep on the couch to let me have a good night’s rest in a bed. I owe you one sis! Day 26 is complete and I’m already 2.5 hours into Day 27. Time to get some much needed sleep!

Day 25 - June 23rd

The 6:55am alarm was set once again for the morning craziness. Whistles were blown early and often as I paced down the hallway on the fourth floor. Amazingly, some kids came out laughing while I’m sure others tried to sleep through it. Even if some tried, I assure you they were unsuccessful. After walking over to the main gym, Coach Gottfried ran a rebounding clinic for the campers. He covered offensive rebounding/finishing as well as defensive rebounding/outlets, both things that were taught in our station yesterday. Just like every coach in America, he preached two hands, two hands, two hands. At our station today, we worked in greater detail on offensive rebounding and finishing around the basket. The kids enjoyed it because they were able to shoot the ball, but we encouraged proper technique and footwork.

After a break for lunch, we returned to the gym for the 1 on 1 competition. It is very similar to King of The Court. In this format, the offensive player only has three dribbles and must score on the first shot attempt to stay on. The three dribble rule is a great one because it teaches the campers to play North and South rather than East and West. As we transitioned into the 5 on 5 games, I knew we were in bad shape. Campers were arguing with each other in warm-ups and not running the plays properly that I asked them to practice. Just as I predicted, this translated over to the game and we suffered tremendously. It was only a 4 point deficit at halftime but that increased in the 2^nd half. Nothing is more frustrating for a coach than losing every single 50/50 ball. I can deal with missed shots but lack of effort is something I simply don’t tolerate.

Shortly after returning to the courts following dinner, the evening games were underway. The way it works is half the teams play while the other half watch. For the staff, you are either coaching your team or officiating if your team is not playing. My team had the second game and by the time the 1-2 Hawks took the floor, a small crowd of parents had formed.  Better yet, I agreed to terms with Terry Henderson to join the staff as an assistant coach. The NC State player was absolutely incredible with the kids. It is neat for them to have a player sit on our bench but the way he interacted and helped coach the kids was awesome! (He even set up “Four Corners” to run out the clock in the final minute) Maybe it was Terry’s presence, but the kids came out to play right away. Instead of going down 10 early, we started the game on a 10-0 run. The ball was picked up at half court every possession and the campers suddenly remembered the offensive sets. It was unreal how magically everything came back together. One of the refs asked how the team wasn’t undefeated; I laughed. My favorite moment in the game came when I called for “box” to be run. The first couple times it was ran incorrectly but I had discussed it with them at the previous stoppage of play. I might have been at half court with a bigger fist pump than Tiger Woods when he won the 2005 Masters when the play was executed and we scored a wide open layup. Usually at the camp level, one screen is enough to get open. When you run screen the screener action, it’s guaranteed to work. Getting your kids to be in the proper spot is the only obstacle in having success.  The highlight of the game believe it or not wasn’t even that play but rather what happened a few minutes later. I am very passionate and enthusiastic on the sidelines and for whatever reason, I decided to relax just a little. I leaned on a table to catch my breath and I guess I leaned too hard. The table collapsed, the clock fell, and I went tumbling. How less than 10 people saw this embarrassment is beyond me but sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself. The loud bang occurred and I was flat on the floor dying of laughter. In the end, the 2-2 Hawks earned the 11 seed of 18 in the single-elimination bracket tomorrow.

After camp concluded, we met as a staff to discuss tomorrow’s events. In addition to the awards such as Mr. Hustle, MVP, and Coach’s award, each camper will receive an evaluation. Basically, we are asked to grade each of our players in the categories such as on-ball defense, court vision, rebounding, and being coachable. If you have read any blogs up to this point, you would know that last category is my favorite and the most crucial. To no surprise, every single one of my campers received an excellent grade in being coachable. They did a great job listening and executing to the best of their ability.

I also want to mention what a great job Jeff Dunlap (Director of Operations) and Ben Asher (Graduate Assistant) have done putting on this camp. It is not easy running a camp with almost 400 kids and they have done an outstanding job being organized and running a smooth operation. Of course things are going to happen that you can’t plan for, but from there it is all about M&A, monitor and adjust. Huge congrats to Ben Asher on his new gig at Siena, Director of Basketball Operations. They made a great hire!

Day 24 - June 22nd

Things got off to a loud start this morning. At most camps, the staff recommends that you knock on doors and make sure the campers are awake and moving at the appropriate time. Here, they literally told us that we could turn this place into a circus, as there were no residents of the building around. Although I was half-asleep myself, I walked into the halls and started blowing the whistle VERY loudly. The Fox-40's don't disappoint. After breakfast, we walked over to the gym and had stations. I was assigned to the rebounding drill with another coach. We decided to work on fundamental rebounding where we encouraged campers to get the ball at the highest point, jumping off two feet and grabbing the ball with two hands. It's amazing how these fundamental things that are taught at camps to the youth are the same things that are taught to division 1 basketball players. After grabbing the rebound, we had the campers work on their outlet passes. It is important that as a great rebounder, you can pass the ball ahead to a teammate quickly.

After lunch, the campers headed to the gym for the first regular season games of the week. Right before we were to play, each coach had 30 minutes with their team. Each squad had 15 minutes of on court time while the other 15 minutes could be used for anything the coach wanted. I spent my first 15 minutes with a pen and paper where we drew up 2 offensive sets and 2 out of bounds plays. When our court time became available, we practiced those sets in hopes they would work in the game. It was now go time! Unfortunately, just as we had last night in the exhibition, we went down 10 early. I don't know if it is my fault with a bad lineup or if the players just don't come ready to play from the tip. Either way, it is extremely frustrating to see players get beat off the dribble and play no help-side defense. Layup, layup, layup. We coulnd't buy a stop. We went on a nice run ourselves, 13-0 in the second half to cut the deficit to 1. Unfortunately, the last rotation didn't get the job done as we suffered a 6 point defeat.

Right after dinner, campers returned to the gym for the evening games. Each team would have one additional 5 on 5 game. My team played another winless team and battled extremely hard. I was proud of their effort for the most part, but there was definitely one frustrating part. An under out of bounds play "Box" was called by me from the sideline. The play was not executed properly and after just getting the ball in, I called a timeout. I took out a piece of paper and drew up once again each player's responsibility. When the players executed after the timeout and converted the play for a wide open layup, I jumped twice as high as my previously recorded vertical leap. I tried to explain to them that I really didn't do anything magical, but that the most impressive part was that they were being coachable. They finally listened. (It was a simple screen the screener play that I saw a team run at Tennessee Tech Team Camp) We notched our first tally in the win column as we defeated the opponent by five points.

After the commuters got picked up at 8:30pm, the overnight kids had the option of shooting around or watching the NC State players run pickup games. The vast majority decided to watch the Wolfpack battle. Cat Barber and BeeJay Anya were definitely the crowd favorites. 45 minutes later, the campers were dismissed back to the dorms. Almost all of them attacked the camp store immediately, where pizza and snacks are sold. When I walked into the camp store, there were about 40 campers and 1 poor woman, who was collecting payment. I jumped in and handled all the pizza requests as she looked like she needed some serious help. Another fun but long and exhausting day in the books!

Day 23 - June 21st

I want to open today's blog by wishing all the dads a Happy Father's Day! Dad, I know you've settled into being my 2nd biggest fan as mom would be upset if she wasn't #1. Thank you for everything you have taught me as I wouldn't be the man I am today without your love and guidance.

A special shoutout to Coach Driscoll, who sits at the top of the leaderboard for the most comments as well as the best comments for the blog. To answer his most recent questions...
Total Miles Driven: 2,600
Total Gas Money: A LOT
Total States Visited: 8
Total Dunkin' Donuts: 0 (uh oh...)

The morning was off to the usual early start. I grabbed a quick bite at the hotel's continental breakfast before heading to the Dail Center for an 8am staff meeting. The meeting basically took us into registration, with the first campers checking in at 11. My job for the following two hours was to be around the main parking lot and answer questions/direct people to where they needed to go. Truthfully, I wasn't the best person for this job as I knew 0 answers; I just arrived on the campus for the first time three hours prior. After a few questions in which we didn't know what to say and standing in the blazing heat for five minutes, another coach and I moved to the registration exit door and figured how we could be of assistance. We reminded each family leaving that they needed to check into the dorms for the overnight campers as well as directing them to the gym for a parents meeting. It was pretty neat that I was paired with Nate Laing, who happened to be the first person I conversed with this morning. His dad was the head coach at Campbell for 10 years and one of our assistant coaches at UNF, Coach Bobby Kennen, was on that Campbell staff. It's a small world.

Once camp got underway, the kids were divided by age group. I was assigned to the "NBA" with 11-12 year olds. My camp philosophy is pretty simple: the older the kids, the more teaching I can do and less babysitting. I wan't to have an impact on each and every kid whether it is making them a better basketball player, better teammate, or better person. Although I didn't have the oldest age group, I was happy to have older kids than I did last week. We lined the kids up by height and split them into 18 teams. Yes, there are almost 175 kids just in that age group and 366 total campers. We spent the next few hours simply evaluating; the campers went through drills, 3 on 3, and 5 on 5 as we watched with one goal in mind: make the teams as even as possible. I liked what the NC State staff did as they assigned us each a team early on but told us that wouldn't be our team for the week. They did this and encouraged us to make as many trades as possible to make the teams balanced. After evaluations were done, they assigned us to a new team at random.

You can usually tell what kind of team you are going to have just by completing your team roster. At every camp, it is typical to write down each campers' first and last name as well as a contact number. The kids that are going to cause problems don't wait and try and trick you but rather start misbehaving immediately. I set the ground rules right after I saw some issues and told them I was with 8-10 year olds last week. I wasn't trying to babysit this week but rather help them become better basketball players. We stepped onto the court after dinner for our first 5 on 5 game, although I believe it was technically an exhibition. I had this new team for a grand total of 10 minutes and I had no idea how good or bad my team was. It turned out that I had 10 players and coming from UK camp, the two platoons would be utilized for substitutions. I tried to make the two groups as balanced as possible but I was really just judging a book by its cover, exactly what they teach you not to do. I had no other option at that point.

Things turned sour very quickly. Just a few minutes into the contest, our team (Atlanta Hawks) was trailing 14-4. The situation was worse than what the score portrayed. My team was hopeless on offense and couldn't stay in front of their man defensively. At this camp, they grant you two timeouts per game. I called my first at that point and sat all 10 guys on our bench. Half of them looked like they were going to cry and the other half didn't even want to look at me. I let them know right then and there that they had two options: they were either going to take my coaching or I would trade them immediately. I really have no problem if you are at camp because your parent's force you out of the house or you just want a fun experience but I expect you to do one thing and that is to listen. If you are coachable and give me your best effort, then that's all I can ask for. It's amazing that at the end of the game, those 6-7 players that for sure wanted to be traded mid-game but didn't have the courage to say so no longer wanted to be traded. We won by 4 as we somehow learned to defend. I was dripping sweat by the end. As you all know, I don't care about wins and losses but you won't find a camp coach more enthusiastic and into the games than I am. It's a weird combination because typically the ones that actually coach their campers are the ones that want to win but for me, I'm just very passionate and love teaching the game. One of my favorite parts in the game came when a sub for the other team was literally yelling for 5 minutes straight at me to get back into my coaching box. Sorry man, but I was on the other side of half court encouraging my guys to get in a stance and move their feet. I teach the kids the same things at every camp and it's amazing how such basic ideas work. The concept of passing and cutting to the basket is the easiest thing in the world, but every kid would prefer to pass the ball to player B and then stand there and scream player B's name until they pass it back. I'm excited for day 2 as I'll learn which players truly want to be coached and which guys are just here for a good time!

Day 22 - June 20th

I want to start off today’s blog by again thanking the staff at Tennessee Tech for a great few days. Even though they beat us twice, it was nice to return to Cookeville and catch up with some friends. Their coaches and managers are really impressive in how they conduct themselves and represent their program. I was also very impressed with how their players performed during team camp. As far as I saw, they were punctual and did everything that was asked of them. I started talking to a few of the guys and when I said North Florida, they remembered our home and home series. A couple of their players knew our guys personally whether it was playing AAU ball against one another or growing up in the same community.  It was neat conversing with them but the interesting part is how it veered away from basketball and turned to the high character people we have at UNF. I’m so lucky to be surrounded by these players/coaches daily, but for people outside our program to notice that is special.

Today’s drive from Cookeville, Tennessee to Raleigh, North Carolina was supposed to be seven hours. Fortunately, there were no accidents but construction and heavy rain added an additional 30 minutes. All in all, that wasn’t too bad and I was fortunate to have a full day to commit to driving. This was one of two days throughout the tour that I had off from camp. I had stopped after a few hours to pick up Cookout, the second time in three days. The fast food joint needs to add some locations in Florida! The other stop came with just an hour and a half remaining in the drive. I noticed that I needed gas soon and rather waiting until I was in desperation mode, I would get off as soon as the rain stopped. If I had to guess, it was raining for 80% of the drive, making the drive that much more difficult. Finally, I pulled into a gas station and the weather changed from sunny to rainy instantly, again. I was only going to put in half a tank because lightning struck to what I felt was pretty close. The next thing I knew, the machine stopped pumping gas; the power had gone out. I jumped in the car and took off immediately as I believed lightning struck the area. Fortunately, all was fine and I had plenty of gas for the remainder of the drive to Raleigh.

I’m staying at a hotel for the night as the dorms were not yet available at NC State. Although the overnight camp begins tomorrow, they also have a team camp which concludes at some point tomorrow. The high school players are staying in the dorms which is why there is no space. For dinner, I grabbed a bite across the street at Jersey Mike’s. The options were plentiful as there is a huge shopping center but I was in the mood for a sub. I’m now looking forward to a good sleep as the staff meeting is at 8am tomorrow!

For the student managers reading this blog, I want to heavily encourage you to do some research into the Rising Coaches Conference being held in Las Vegas July 21^st-23^rd. I am excited to be making my first trip to the conference and have heard such great things about it. The staff does a great job bringing in high quality speakers year in and year out. I can’t wait as this trip is only one month away!

Day 21 - June 19th

The final day of Steve Payne Team Camp had arrived and we were off to yet another early start. Fortunately, only 6 games to ref were on the schedule as my legs felt like string beans this morning. Nature Valley granola bars were eaten for breakfast and I used Olive Garden for lunch as motivation to get through the games. Of all 16 games I worked, I really only had a couple upset coaches and I have to say I was disappointed. When you are knocking out game after game, some enthusiastic coaches and parents complaining keep things entertaining. I felt as if a lot of the kids and coaches were just “going through the motions”. I understand the coaches being more laid back than the regular season and using the summer to evaluate but the players should be as intense if not more intense. In the summer of 2009, I used team camp to earn a jersey!

For those of you that don’t know my story but have been reading my blog, you have picked up on the fact that I wasn’t the most skilled high school basketball player around. I was cut from middle school in 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade. I was cut from the JV team in 9^th grade. Most other kids would have quit at some point during that stretch, but it only made me stronger. I finally realized that talent wasn’t going to get my name on a roster, so I did everything nobody else wanted to do. I took charges, I was the first to the floor on every 50/50 ball, and I used my basketball IQ to outsmart my opposition.

Six summers ago came my opportunity at the Embry-Riddle Team Camp. Since there were so many players interested in playing for the JV team, coach decided to bring 2 teams. At no surprise, I was placed on the “B” team. The first game of that weekend was played in a local church and the performance is still talked about today. I think I had 17 points but the staff talks it up to 25; more importantly the team got a win. The game was against Circle Christian High School and the “crowd” or “A team” was chanting my name at the end of the first quarter. I felt on top of the world and knew my hard work was starting to show. I took somewhere between 4-6 charges and played my tail off. The next game I drew another handful of charges, this time in front of the varsity coach. I’ll never forget that the staff came over to me and told me at that point, I had earned my jersey for the following year. That was a great moment as it was the first time of three (I played varsity as a junior and senior) that my name would appear after the final cuts were posted. My high school career began at a team camp just like this one and I would have liked to see some guys at the end of benches taking every opportunity possible to make a case for themselves.

The greatest part of the day was that after officiating and cleaning up, I would have some time to relax. If you have been following my journey closely, you would know this is a non-stop experience. Along with the Tennessee Tech managers, I headed to dinner at Cheddar’s. Following the meal, a few of us gathered at one apartment for FIFA. It was nice to sit down and relax but it was even better to do it with friends. I had a great time at Tennessee Tech and a 7+ hour drive to Raleigh, NC is in store for me tomorrow.

Day 20 - June 18th

Since yesterday’s blog was written a bit early, I wanted to start today’s from where I left off. I completed the roughly 3.5 hour trip with only a pit stop to fill up the tank and get a drink. I tried for the final two hours to find something to eat, but I wasn’t willing to settle for McDonald’s or another fast food joint. Between not eating very well in Lexington and working my tail off, I felt as if I had earned a meal to sit down and be waited on. I stumbled across a Chili’s once I arrived at my final destination: Cookeville, Tennessee. After dinner, I headed to Tennessee Tech University to meet up with the staff and watch the final couple hours of team camp, day #1. I was very fortunate that I didn’t wait to write that blog because we were cleaning up the gyms and getting ready for day #2 until almost 1am.

That alarm went off early and often this morning. Finally I got into the shower and drove to Cookeville High School. My job for the day was pretty simple, officiate. This wasn’t a problem for me as refereeing basketball is my summer job at home, when not on The Camp Tour. I first became certified as a basketball referee three years ago and have been officiating for eight years. The games were pretty easy to work but there were a lot of them. Previously, the most games worked in one day for me was seven. Today, I ran up and down the court for 10 games. You could imagine how my legs feel right now. However, I’m so happy to be here and see some friends I made back when we had a home-and-home series with TTU this season.

I want to share something that I did that first initiated the relationships that I have made with Garrison Boyd (Former Student Manager), Mitchell Hill (Graduate Assistant), and Gus Fraley (Director of Basketball Operations). I want to write about my experience as I think it would be beneficial for any student manager reading this to take with them for next season. The first of two games against TTU last season was played at home in Jacksonville. Prior to their arrival, I contacted Coach Fraley. I told him who I was and that I would be assisting them for the duration of their stay. Our staff does a great job being visible and helping the opposition when they come into town (usually the day before) but I took the initiative to be the point of contact. This means that I am at the arena to greet the opposition upon arrival, around the arena during their practice in case they need absolutely anything, and there after they finish to put the basketballs away, close the lights, and do their laundry. In our league, it is a rule that the home team washes the visiting team’s gear. However, I always offer the opposition to take care of that, league game or not. When TTU showed up for shootaround the day of the game, I was there once again, before, during, and after. I was in constant communication with their staff asking if they needed anything whether it was directions, laundry, or even a place to eat. I’m not sharing this for a pat on the back but rather as a teaching lesson for young student managers who want to learn something new. I’m so lucky to be given the tasks and responsibilities I have at North Florida and over the last three years, those have continued to increase. However, when I see that I can take something off the plate of someone on staff and make their job easier, I either ask them or take the initiative to just do it! Coach Byron Taylor told me it is an assistant coach’s job to make the head coach’s job easier and after processing that, I decided it was a manager’s job to make an assistant’s job easier. If I take one task of each staff member’s to do list every day that might open up their schedule by 20 minutes to watch more film, get in an extra workout, or maybe call a recruit. I hope I got the point across that if you want to learn and grow as a student manager, sometimes you need to put yourself out there and take initiative.

Day 2 of TTU Team Camp is in the books and the finale is tomorrow. Coach Fraley and Coach Hill have done an amazing job organizing this camp of 90 teams across 13 gym sites. We might have been up until 1am cleaning up yesterday, but I know they were up even later finalizing every last detail. Then, the day comes and things happen. That’s when you have to M&A (S/O Coach Taylor), monitor and adjust. They did a fantastic job and it is neat to be around such a well-organized event. I also want to congratulate Garrison Boyd on his recently accepted position of Graduate Assistant at West Alabama. Proud to call you a friend!

Day 19 - June 17th

The final day of the John Calipari Overnight Basketball Camp had arrived. The morning started with our group being transported to the women's practice facility. After stretching and getting loose, the kids played Wildcat Shooting. The quarterfinals of the single-elimination tournament also took place prior to lunch. Since we finished undefeated and locked up the #1 seed, we faced off with the winless #8 seed. The game was close up until halftime. Just like I mentioned yesterday, we would be eliminated quickly if we didn't defend. The players caught their breathe at halftime and refocused to advance to the semi-finals comfortably. We left for lunch and I have to mention how great the transportation was all week. Not only was it very well organized, but they had pretty nice party buses taking us to the gym sites. I'm not sure that there is another camp in the country that does that.

The semi-final game was played right after the break for lunch. Our competitor was the #4 seed, who took us right down to the final horn in the first game of the week. The game was close and intense from start to finish. Not only were the coaches and players enthusiastic but the parents were as well, one particularly out of control. At the end of the day, this is camp, not AAU Basketball. The parents for the most part were around all week, literally setting up lawn chairs and blankets around the sidelines. I've never seen anything like it at a camp, but I'm assuming the large majority were from out of town and came for the whole experience. We were up by 3 with 10 seconds left and I wanted to foul SOOOO BADLY!!! I'm a huge believer in fouling in that situation but like I mentioned a few sentences ago, this is camp, not AAU Basketball. A player on the opposing team threw up a prayer at the buzzer that fell short, but there was some controversy whether he got fouled. The ref didn't make the call and Kansas State had advanced to the championship.

The sidelines were packed as the championship game consisted of the two top seeds. I have to give a huge shout-out to a player on the other team that looks identical to Stephen Curry. I mean identical. I don't even know his real name because everyone calls him Steph. The only thing he was missing was the mouth guard to chew on while at the line. The dude is a baller too and we couldn't get a stop to start the game as he went to work. Fortunately we eventually settled down and defended before I got caught in a bad stretch. I do a fair substitution order, where each kid has a number 1-9. I play 1-5 to start the game and 6,7,8,9,1 play the next rotation. After that, 2,3,4,5,6 play. The bad news came when an injury affected the lineup and I got caught with a bad rotation in for nearly 5 minutes. We were a -7 in that stretch and that was only because we made a couple lucky shots. The game went back and forth and the kids become negative so quickly when things go wrong. Sometimes they will make a great play and a teammate will miss a wide open layup or they might not defend exactly how I ask but all week and all summer I harp to just make the next play. You can't change that last play so refocus and don't let it affect what is about to happen. My team was up by two with 30 second left and I was in another predicament. Once again, this is just camp so I didn't want the kids to hold the ball. There are no free throws but rather automatic points on fouls so the other team can't force us to hit free throws. Fortunately, we passed it around and hit a layup to seal the deal. THE CHAMPS ARE HERE!

My favorite part of the camp always comes when the kids thank me for the week and say bye. I don't need a parent telling me how great I was because we won the championship or anything like that but when a kid looks me in the eyes and thanks me for learning how to defend that week, I know my job is done. On that note, I'm off to Cookeville, Tennessee this evening for Tennessee Tech Team Camp. I wrote this post a little early because I don't know what's in store once I get there and what the internet situation will be like. The drive is 3 hour and 15 minutes and it's time to get on the road!

Day 18 - June 16th

The "Blue" group traveled to the women's practice facility for the morning session. After stretching and getting the players loose, we went straight into stations. I decided to switch things up at the defensive drill and make it a little more fun for the kids. The first five minutes were dedicated to perfecting a defensive stance and holding the position. Although this sounds easy, you must keep in mind that we are teaching 8-10 year olds something they probably haven't been taught before. In other words, you have to repeat yourself 3,843 times, and that probably still isn't enough! The rest of the station was spent playing "Coach Says". The game is "Simon Says" but incorporating basketball movements, specifically defensive ones. The kids loved this but what they didn't even realize is that they were getting better at two things: defense and more importantly, listening. We had a ton of fun and if there is time tomorrow, I'll get a big game with our whole age group!

Today's first contest was knockout. The way it was broken up had two teams at each goal. The final three from each of the four goals would play it out to determine a winner. After one of my players took home the title, the 12 finalists played again, but this time with the coaches. Let's just keep it short and sweet, I completed the knockout sweep for the squad. Some more fun came when we played dribble tag. First the campers played a few rounds and then the coached jumped in. Thankfully, we had unlimited lives because I wasn't as successful in that game.

The afternoon session was spent in Memorial Colosseum, home of the Kentucky women's basketball team. Let's just say the building is very old; there is no air conditioning. We started off by playing hot shot. As explained in a previous post, the kids have 60 seconds to shoot from different spots on the court. Each spot contains a different point value. We then transitioned into our first 5 on 5 game of the day. My team played really well and notched another tally in the win column. Shortly after, we took the kids on a tour of the locker and film rooms. We didn't want to spend too much time in this gym with it simply being so hot in there. Before we knew it, dinner had arrived. 

The evening session consisted of two games for my team. 3 minutes into the first game, we were tied 10-10 with a winless team. 3 MINUTES IN!!!! I'm not even sure that I can score the ball five times in three minutes. I removed my first five and put in other four campers. I only had four subs and I didn't care. My favorite part about what I did was that one kid asked to stay in because we only had four on the court. No, you can't. All five of them were removed so that I could teach them why things went the way they did. As frustrated as I was, I know how important it is to put the kids back in the game and give them another chance. The parents, other team, and referees were so confused, but I hope my players learned something from that experience. We went on an outrageous run and won by 20. The score wasn't the positive result I wanted but rather my players picking up their man at half court  and sitting in a defensive stance for the entire possession. I was very pleased.

The final game wasn't nearly as dramatic. Thankfully, the kids woke up and defended from start to finish. It was a nice change as I was able to spend more time encouraging them to pass and cut rather than constantly subbing and teaching. My Kansas State squad finished the regular season 6-0 and earned the #1 seed in the tournament. I only write that because I know how great my team is feeling and the excitement they have for the final day tomorrow. However, the message in the morning will be pretty simple: if we don't defend, we'll be eliminated pretty quickly in the single-elimination tournament. 

Day 17 - June 15th

The morning got off to a very early start as I was on duty to wake the overnight campers at 7am for breakfast. I think the 5th of 8 alarms set was the one that got me up and moving and I was astonished by what I saw outside of my room. Most of the campers had not only woken themselves up but were also ready to leave. Breakfast is served from 7-8:30 but the campers wasted no time. Fortunately, the campers are old enough to go to breakfast on their own and I was able to get some more sleep before taking my morning shower. I caught the final few minutes of breakfast and departed to the gym for roll call.

As a result of so many campers, the camp utilizes different gym sites. For the morning session, my group had to bus over to the men's practice facility. We added another coach this morning to the division and I was asked to switch from the shooting drill to the defensive station. Well, that is what they told me but maybe they saw me shooting around (LOL). We worked on closeouts with loud lips, low hips and high hands before switching to defensive slides. The morning session concluded with a free throw contest for the campers.

After lunch, we played "Wildcat Shooting". This is a shooting game that was played during father/son camp as well and everyone absolutely loves it. I first learned the game last summer working UF camp and took it to my high school's camp. The eight teams split into four goals, with two teams at each. Both teams form one line and shoot from the elbows. First team to five wins and the winning team advances to the next basket. The only way to score a point is to win the match-up at the "money basket". These games get intense and the kids love it!

The first of three 5 on 5 game was played immediately afterwards. I was so disappointed in the lack of defensive effort as my team allowed 51 points in a 30 minute game. Keep in mind these are 8-10 year olds so missed layups happen frequently too. I really failed as the kids never knew who they were guarding. I give them the "freedom" to pick their man which they handled well in the later games but for whatever reason, nobody defended one iota that game. It was a track meet with a basketball. Somehow, we outscored the other team by putting up 54. We had no business winning that contest, but the kids certainly took the win. As there were clearly no basketball highlights of that game since no defense was played, the highlight came on my teaching lesson halfway through the second half. Two campers ended up diving on the ball which forced a jump ball. Zero of the other eight players ran over to help them up so I stopped the game and made everyone do 3 push-ups. The rewarding part came frequently in later games when players were on the floor and teammates sprinted to help them up. Remember the two things you can control in the game of basketball, energy and effort. Put in the effort to be a great teammate.

I'm really lucky with the nine campers I have on my team. If you have ever worked camps before, you would agree that going 0-10 with kids that listen is a way better week than going 10-0 with campers that do exactly the opposite of what you ask. When I am not coaching, I have to ref the other games. My campers all stay seated in the area I ask them to and don't cause any issues. At dinner, we all sit at one table and they help each other clean up afterwards. I have one 7 year old in my group and the others treat him so well, it's actually neat to witness. After he spilled lemonade everywhere and started laughing, two of his teammates helped wipe the table and floor. My team just happened to finish the night 3-0, but I would definitely trade all those wins for these kids, even if they didn't perform well on the basketball court.

Day 16 - June 14th

Having the morning to sleep in was nice and much needed for the challenges that lie ahead. The staff for the University of Kentucky Overnight Camp met at noon today. Soon after the details and schedule for the camp were discussed, campers were arriving for registration. This process lasted for the next few hours until all the overnight campers were checked into their rooms and the commuter campers showed up ready to play. The camp only offers the overnight option to campers 12 years of age and older. At 5:30pm, Coach Calipari opened up camp and we were off!

The camp was divided by age into five sub-groups. I was on the of eight coaches in the "Blue" group, with 8-10 year olds. Our first task was to divide the 75 kids into equal teams. I have found the best way to do this is by lining the campers up shortest to tallest. Going down the line giving each kid a number 1-8 in order will make the teams relatively similar in height and hopefully skill level. Of course you have those kids that want to play with their friends and it is important to try to accommodate those requests, although they sometimes become too difficult to satisfy everyone. 

After all the campers were stretched out and loose, we began stations. We only had four goals for eight teams, so two teams were at each station along with two coaches teaching. Another coach and myself were given the shooting station. The campers got up a good amount of shots at the elbows and nail-hole, both off the catch and off the dribble. The rotation of stations lasted for about an hour before we had our first 5 on 5 games of the week.

The games tonight didn't count for the overall records, but the kids still played as if they did. It was difficult at times coaching 8-10 year olds without any practice, but I was very impressed with how they picked up what was asked of them. As noted in previous blogs, I can't stand when one kid takes 10 dribbles and his teammates are all standing there calling for the ball. Unfortunately, it happens often at this age but I did my best to encourage the campers to pass and cut as well as set ball screens. Not every possession was pretty but the ones where they passed to the wing and cut to the basket usually resulted in layups. 

At the conclusion of the 5 on 5 games, it was approximately 8:30 and time for pick up. Since my group is all commuters, the parents were there watching the final few minutes of the games and signed their kids out immediately. My basketball responsibilities were done for the day and I would only need to do bed checks in the dorms. Those were easy as I knocked on each door at 11pm and made sure both campers were in the room. I reminded them that it would be wise to get some sleep as I will be knocking at 7am for breakfast. On that note, I need to get some rest myself as tomorrow will be a very long day!

Day 15 - June 13th

Today was the second and final day of the John Calipari Father/Son Camp. The experience is a short one but the duos had an absolute blast. It was so neat to see a gym of 600 people just having fun and bonding with each other. Prior to roll call in the morning, camp participants were shooting around, boxing each other out for rebounds. I found it so funny to see how the competitive nature of many fathers kicked in at different parts of camp.

My group was at the outside courts for the morning session. We started with stations and my assignment was once again ball handling. Instead of doing two ball dribbling, I switched it to one ball. We worked on crossovers, "Iversons", and push-pull dribbles. Once again, seeing the father's get low and trying to handle the rock while keeping their heads up and calling numbers was nothing short of comical. There is an even bigger emphasis on having fun than on a "regular" camp so the station always ends with some sort of game. We had relay races working on these new moves and each person had to finish with a made layup. Some fathers weren't happy with the fact that I emphasized 'made' layup.

We had a long break for lunch as many duos used this time to also check out of the dorms. I was able to eat as well as relax at the room for a little, which doesn't happen at most camps. The afternoon was filled with contests for the groups against one another. The free throw contest came down to the wire, with two groups tied at 9/20. A sudden death overtime period was required and then the four basket winners had a final, ultimately crowning a champion. That was pretty calm and straight forward but hot shot got really intense. Hot shot is a game where you have 60 seconds and are to accumulate as many points as possible. The scoring at UK is 2 points from the block, 3 points from the elbow, and 4 points from the top of the key. I had father's complaining that people were cheating and weren't shooting exactly on the spot as well as shooting from the same spot multiple times. I was actually embarrassed for them that they started making a scene but fortunately they remembered why they were at this camp: for their sons. All eventually acted like adults and the winner at my basket ended up being crowned the champion.

I really enjoyed this camp and seeing how the father's worked alongside their sons on and off the court. It is a really neat concept that I would love for to expand to many other schools. Other than a few really competitive fathers at the end of the day, they were hilarious. Most of them had a great sense of humor and were extremely appreciative of our hard work. I would definitely work this camp again!

Fortunately, we were dismissed from camp at 4pm because I had some errands to run. The UPS Store closed at 5pm and I had to have a form notarized and mailed off. I eventually got to the store and took care of that with minimal issues. The form had to be mailed out ASAP to a camp I will be working later on during the tour. I then found a laundromat, which was much needed. I packed multiple bags of clothes, but on day 15, it was time to do some laundry. It happened to be a really nice laundromat and didn't take more than an hour.

With the overnight camp starting tomorrow, the days will be longer and sleep will be a must when the day comes to a close. My roommate and I took advantage of the best night to explore Lexington and it was a really fun time. Seeing the different college towns while working camps completes the experience in my opinion. Not every atmosphere is the best with many students home during the summer, but Lexington didn't disappoint.

Day 14 - June 12th

I had the morning all planned out and I would depart Nashville between 7:30 and 8:00 am. That would put me in Lexington 3 hours and 15 minutes later, or 11:15 at the latest, for a 12:00 coaches meeting. I take pride in both being punctual and planning ahead. Once I got on the road and had an ETA of 12:10, I said a few words that won't be repeated. My planning ahead didn't include the hour lost from changing time zones. I was so embarrassed and thought about how I could handle the situation. I texted the camp director and just told him the truth. All was fine but I was so disappointed in myself for not being fully prepared.

At the conclusion of the meeting, I was told that I needed to present two forms of identification to the employment office. A driver's license is one and the other needs to be a birth certificate, social security card, or a passport. That led to me taking a nice trip across town to the social security office and waiting 2 hours to be seen. Fortunately, I was excused of my pre-camp duties during registration. Upon coming back, I had to find a building on an unfamiliar campus but it all got taken care of right before camp started.

With all due respect to the other camps I have ever worked, this Father/Son Camp at the University of Kentucky is my favorite camp. Up until about a month ago, I didn't know these camps existed. When I was creating my database of possible camps to work, I came across this one and did a little research on what it entailed. Fathers show up with their son(s) and do drills, games, and contests with one another. To my dad: if I knew these existed back when I was younger, I would have dragged you out to one. Seeing the bonding between the sons and fathers while competing on the basketball court is such a neat sight to witness.

We still did stations and finally, I had something other than passing; they assigned me to ball handling. I put the duos through two ball stationary dribbling. The first time, the sons would dribble both basketballs simultaneously while the fathers would hold up numbers. The sons would have to call out the numbers shown, practicing keeping their eyes up. The idea of this is a great one because it engages all camp participants. The fun part was when the balls switched hands to the fathers and they performed the same drill. Upon getting a few laughs, I blew the whistle and switched to two ball alternating dribble. The father/sons enjoyed my station, but the real fun began when I told them we would be taking the station a step further and having relay races of what we just practiced doing stationary. You can just imagine...

I give those fathers a lot of credit that showed up with their sons to this camp. They had a great sense of humor and many of them are way past their prime athletically. The fathers come for the experience of being in UK facilities while also bonding with their son on the basketball court. The best father moments came during a shooting contest when their competitive nature was on full display, often taking the contests more seriously than the kids. Of course, you had the duos that were there for autographs and that was pretty funny watching grown men run around asking UK players and coaches to sign a basketball. They do love their Cats around here, no doubt about that!

Day 13 - June 11th

The final day of Josh Pastner Basketball Camp flew by. The morning consisted of various competitions and an extremely competitive 3 on 3 Tournament. My favorite game played was definitely camp knockout. I couldn’t have had a more inconsistent showing over the week. I won the contest Tuesday, was eliminated quickly on Wednesday, and finished somewhere in the middle today. Sometimes, you get a bad bounce off the rim and the person behind you makes shots. I will admit that rather than going behind someone I want to get out of the game, I strategically place myself in front of someone with a less likely chance of making the shot. However, as Coach Driscoll says, lucky shots go in and unfortunately that happened twice.  And yes, the competitor in me takes these games seriously, especially with the high school age group.

The 5 on 5 tournament was played this afternoon and after the strong showing yesterday, the Hawks entered as the 2 seed. I was incredibly disappointed as we got outplayed and outhustled in the semifinal matchup. We ended up only losing by four, but we didn’t deserve to win that game. It sounds cliché but the other team just wanted it more. Those crucial possessions in the final minutes were won both offensively and defensively by the opposition. I didn’t mind that we lost and weren’t playing for a championship, but I was extremely disappointed in the one thing every player can control: effort. When I played at the varsity level in high school, my matchup was usually bigger, stronger, faster, and the list goes on. But he would NEVER want “it” more than I did. It’s actually crazy to think back on it how I made up my lack of talent with effort and a high basketball IQ. Those two things might have allowed me to continue playing the game I love at the division 3 level, but I chose to pursue my dream of coaching at the earliest possible time.

The toughest part about losing the semi-final game and seeing the kids distraught was getting them ready to turn around and play in the consolation bracket. I simply told them that the outcome of the game would come down to whether they wanted to sit back and sulk on the last game or wanted to go out on a positive note. I have to say, they made me proud.  From the very first defensive possession, they were locked in and hungry to get stops. We ended up blowing out the opponent and taking 3^rd place. I was so proud of the kids as they easily could have quit but they didn’t.

Camp ended at 4pm with pictures and an autograph session with the Memphis players. The campers have the guys sign their camp shirts in addition to some brining Tiger memorabilia. Coach Pastner and the players were very impressive with the campers and parents as they genuinely engaged with them. It’s always neat when you can get that opportunity as a fan to meet the people you watch on TV and support from the stands. I stuck around for Memphis workouts before getting on the road. I had my pen and paper out taking notes for the first session before the coaches asked for some assistance passing and rebounding during the second session. It was a weird feeling being on the floor with another program during workouts but a neat opportunity to be up close and personal and see how they do things differently. I can’t wait to get back inside UNF Arena with my team though!!!

I want to give a huge shout out to Robert Harper and his wife Amy for allowing me to spend the night at their place in Nashville. Robert is the former “Voice of the Ospreys” and was also my “bus buddy” on road trips two seasons ago. Thanks again! Instead of making the trek from Memphis to Lexington after a full day of camp, I split the drive into two, 3 hour segments. I will finish the drive in the morning prior to my 12pm meeting for Kentucky basketball camp.