Day 12 - June 10th

The third day of camp is usually the toughest for campers and coaches. Everyone has sore bodies and tired legs but there is little time to rest. It is about staying focused and getting better in the allotted time. To keep the players in my age group active, I changed up my station. We played 3 on 3, only allowing 3 dribbles while encouraging players to screen away from the ball. My day was made at around 11am when a player on an opposing team complimented my station. He said my team is the only one that runs an organized offense. I explained to him that it's not really an offense but I rather coach my players to move without the ball and when they do get it, to keep the ball "hot". This means to keep the ball moving, rather than being in the possession of one player for an extended period of time.

I know this will surprise many of the everyday readers, but 5 on 5 games were played today. The win total tripled as the 2-3 Hawks moved to 6-3 after winning all four games. It was very rewarding to watch my campers space the floor while screening away from the ball. It can be a challenging task as many kids have never been taught that before, but when the ball starts moving and you get layup after layup, the kids can see what works. With Championship Thursday being tomorrow, my team went from "pretenders" to "contenders" quickly. We'll see how things shape out when the lights come on.

Today was my favorite day of the summer so far simply because of what happened after camp. The Memphis staff conducts "power hour" open to all high school kids, whether they participate in camp or not. For a minimal charge, players can get a college level workout with a college staff. As I told Coach Pastner, it's a no-brainer! I don't understand why there were only 20 participants for the first hour and 13 for the second hour. The players went through drills that the Memphis players do in a regular workout.

It worked in my favor that most of the Memphis basketball managers weren't able to stick around and help for these workouts. Instead of watching practice and taking notes like I did yesterday, the coaching staff allowed me to be on the floor and help out. At first, I was a bit timid stepping onto another floor and coach so I did what was asked and kept all comments to myself. In the second workout, one of the coaches told me to get on the floor and "coach 'em up". I had a ton of fun out there as I was helping the players get better. My highlight came when I told one of the players something to improve on and Coach Pastner echoed it immediately after. 

I want to close this blog talking about Coach Pastner. As one of the staff members said, he's the only coach in America that would be putting in his time with this group. Obviously they weren't bringing in big money by putting on these clinics. I know one other coach who happens to reside in Jacksonville that would be out there as well but they were right;, the vast majority of head coaches would not be spending their valuable time with high school players that have little or no chance of playing at the highest of levels. I was incredibly impressed with how engaged Coach Pastner got with both the players and me. He is extremely personable and a great teacher of the game. He also recommended a pretty good place to eat.

Sorry, had to mention this... So everyone from Coach Pastner to the last member of the support staff was absolutely raving about Gus's Fried Chicken. They wouldn't stop saying how delicious the food is and that I must check it out before leaving town. Apparently they were somehow underselling it, although I don't think that was possible. I told them that if I didn't like it, I wasn't going to camp tomorrow. Let's just say I will be at camp tomorrow.

Day 11 - June 9th

The all important 5 on 5 games got played today, as usual. I wonder what would happen if a day of camp went by without those games being played. Some campers actually ask in the mornings if 5 on 5 game will be played that day. In the many camps I have worked, the answer has been yes every single time. Anyhow, my team went 1-1 on the day, nearly knocking off the top team in the league. At the end of our 2nd game, which was five minutes before camp ended, I called all the players in on both teams. I hadn't been as frustrated as I was at that point all summer. We won that game by 10, but so much unnecessary stuff occurred. I had to explain to the kids that if that had been a club, travel, high school, college, etc. team that I was coaching, I would have asked multiple kids to leave the gym. As terrible as that sounds, some kids need to be a little tougher. They complain about every call. And for my team, this comes after explaining that I am not going to call minor fouls. If hearing a whistle and your team getting an automatic two points is going to make up for the frustration of not being able to finish a layup through some contact, you can't play for me. There was one kid on the opposite team that had a GREAT drive downhill, forced the big man's defender to help, and made a pocket pass to his teammate. I mean it was GREAT. His teammate missed a wide open layup. The guard was so mad that he was about to cry on the court and walked back on defense while my team scored in transition. I stopped the game and had to remind myself that this was just camp. I was about go to bananas. 

All I hope to get out of camp is to teach kids to defend and be the best teammate they can be. As I have said before, I don't care about winning, I don't care about minor fouls. In that group meeting, I was forced to be brutally honest and told the kids that the only talent I had in my high school days was effort. I couldn't score, I really couldn't defend, but I was always a great teammate and I was willing to put my body on the line for my team. The other thing any former coach of mine would agree with is that I was coachable. They were shocked at how bad I was (LOL) but explaining this to them helped get my message across. Coaches look for the whole package and if you aren't going to play hard and be coachable, you won't find yourself getting minutes at any level.

After camp, I was fortunate enough to watch the Memphis team go through workouts. Coach Pastner invited the camp coaches to stick around if they wanted to. I had my notebook out and my pens ready as today was a neat experience. As often as you can watch other programs workout and practice, I suggest doing so. No matter the level of ball, you can always pick things up by seeing how others go about their business.

I was incredibly impressed with Coach Damon Stoudamire. He took the time to talk to some "fans" prior to the workouts. I put that in quotes because I'm not 100% sure the relation they have to Damon or Memphis basketball but they were asking him some pretty in-depth questions. I couldn't help myself but ask a question as well when he started talking about recruiting "sleepers". For those unfamiliar, coach had a very successful NBA career, winning rookie of the year in the first of his 13 seasons. Even more impressive was his ability to coach once he stepped onto the floor. The man simply knows basketball. 

I had been in Memphis for nearly 48 hours and hand't been for some BBQ yet. Fortunately, that changed tonight as another coach and I headed to Central BBQ. That place was serious. I ordered the pulled pork with sides of baked beans and mac & cheese. I'm not sure if we'll have an opportunity to head back but it would certainly be worth it. Located just five minutes off campus, the place was packed with locals grabbing a quick bite. 

Day 10 - June 8th

The first day of this week's Josh Pastner Basketball Camp at the University of Memphis was this morning. Coaches were asked to arrive by 7:30 for a brief meeting before the campers showed up at 8. The kids were allowed to shoot around until the official camp start time of 9am while registration was still taking place outside. There are 100 campers this week, which is broken into three age groups. Each age group had their own set of coaches and their own gym to use for the day. I was very excited when I was placed with the "NBA" as I enjoy working with the oldest kids at camp. These kids ranged from 12-16 and came hungry to learn. Typically, the older the campers, the more you can teach basketball. I much rather spend my time and the campers' time instructing rather than handling behavior issues, which can be the case sometimes for the younger kids.

The morning started with the campers being introduced to the camp staff, camp rules, and the camp overview. Basically, camp director Coach Julian Swartz discussed the expectations for the upcoming week of camp. Following this talk, the other coaches and I took the NBA to our gym and divided the teams up randomly. We then chose our teams and I had the second pick. I didn't get the one team I wanted and as it turns out, that is the best team in the league. The reason I wanted that team was for their big man who is about 6'2" - 185 pounds. Although he is by far the best player in the league, I wanted the challenge of improving his inside game. It is one thing to dominate in a camp, especially playing with kids younger and less experience. When you play with kids your own age and size, it is a different game. With the second selection of four coaches, the Atlanta Hawks were ready to go to work!

I have determined that I either look like a great passer or just a really bad basketball player and they don't know what station to give me. For the second consecutive camp, I have the passing station! Heads up to Kentucky camp up next: I can teach other skills too. Of course I didn't mind passing as it is a very important component to the game; what a coincidence though. Anyhow, with older kids this week, I was able to work on passing drills while on the move rather than stationary fundamentals. The drill ended with the campers doing a 3 man weave. I have to say, I was impressed with the focus and ability of the kids to perform a drill we do at the college level.

The afternoon consisted of everyone's favorite, 5 on 5 games. We played two different teams and lost both by one possession. You would think with the second choice of teams, I would end up with one of the better teams but that wasn't the case. However, the games were close and after one day of camp, my team defends better than any of the other three. That's a win in my books. Kids LOVE playing defense with their hands and fouling but teaching them how to stay in front of their man by moving their feet and keeping their hands off the offensive player is a fun challenge for me. Of course, I also discussed the importance of being a great teammate. One of my players got fouled on a drive and ended on the ground. I happened to be right next to him and as he was about to get up himself, I made him wait for his teammates to come over. That's how the kids learn. It's one thing to talk about it, but it's another for them to actually hustle over and help their teammate up.

Camp ended at 4pm and I watched a couple Memphis players come into the gym to work on their game. Mandatory workouts are tomorrow and Thursday and Coach Pastner said we were all welcome to stick around and watch. I'm definitely looking forward to that as it is neat and a great learning experience to see how different programs go about their workouts and practices.

After a much needed nap, the camp coaches returned to the practice facility at 8pm for some pickup basketball. I made a huge push during camp for this to happen as I left LSU without playing once, I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed as I try to get a game organized at each camp I attend. Tonight, we played 3 on 3 and then full court 4 on 4 on the main floor. Unfortunately, we couldn't get enough coaches to play a regulation game, but it was still a fun time. We are hoping to play 5 on 5 Wednesday night. Being able to bond with the other managers and camp staff while playing the game everyone loves is a ton of fun! We were at the practice facility until about 10:30 so my options of a late night dinner were limited. I drove through Wendy's and I'm deeply regretting not ordering a frosty right about now!

Day 9 - June 7th

Today happened to be one of the two days off I have during the tour. In other words, I could sleep in and devote the entire day towards driving to my next destination; I definitely did both. Some drives between camps will have to take place overnight but as part of a famous Coach Driscoll qoute, "...that's just the way life works". If you don't know the rest of that quote, I suggest looking that up, it's great!

The 5.5 hour drive would take me right through the state of Mississippi. However, one of the friends mentioned in yesterday's post is now working in the state so I was able to stop by and check out campus. After getting a tour of the facilities and seeing a little of what the school offered, we were able to get a quick bite. It was great to catch up and hear some of the excitement in store for that program!

The rest of the drive was quite interesting. I ended up on some strange road for 45 miles. I don't want to call it a highway because it was a 50mph speed limit with some serious twists and turns but I'm not exactly sure what it is referred to. For about 43 of the 45 miles, there was no service. I didn't really know exactly where I was but fortunately my GPS did. And for those of you concerned about my gas tank situation, I made sure I had a full tank before going down that stretch. I didn't see any places to fill up along the way, although I'm sure in a 45 mile stretch, there had to be a few.

Eventually, I arrived in Memphis, Tennessee and checked in to the dorms that I will be staying in. After moving all my belongings into the room, I noticed the door would not lock. Timing was very poor since it was the middle of game two, but I needed to handle the situation. The staff could not fix the lock so they moved me to a different room. All was taken care of and I was able to catch the 4th quarter and overtime period.

As promised earlier, I would share some stories and tips along this journey and today I wanted to blog just how I ended up at North Florida. I was a HUGE Florida Gator fan growing up; I mean big time! I bled orange and blue in all facets. My siblings were both students there, I loved Gator sports, and even my braces were orange and blue. If the Gators were playing on TV, I was watching the entire game. It didn't matter if it was football, basketball, volleyball, softball, etc., I wasn't moving. I had my heart set for the seven years prior that I would call Gainesville my home. When applying to universities, I went the in-state route, applying to Florida, Florida State, Central Florida, and North Florida. To be perfectly honest, that was probably the order of schools I wanted to attend, with the middle two being a toss-up. The University of Florida was the last of the four decisions to be announced and I had been accepted to the other three institutions. The bad news came on 2/10/12 at 5:09 p.m. It's scary to think that I still know the exact time that I clicked refresh and saw "I'm sorry...". I couldn't even read anything after that. Not to sound like a total baby, but I was devastated and immediately engulfed in a lake of tears. I can't even explain the feelings that wen't through me. I felt as if I had let the family name down. Calling my sister was the toughest phone call I made because I would have had one year in Gainesville with her. Knowing I had a familiar face just minutes away would have been nice for my transition to college. As my best friend's dad told me right then and there "doors are going to open, just different doors than you expected." I went back and forth between UCF and FSU as to where I would attend school. I knew a little bit about both institutions but had never seen the campuses. These were the toughest weeks I had ever encountered before some good news came from my high school basketball coach. North Florida basketball coaches would be coming to my high school to workout one of my teammates. The day Coach Driscoll and Coach Kennen arrived was the day I knew where I was going to college. I can't even put into words how I felt, but I can say it was the greatest feeling in my 21 years of life. I spoke to Coach Kennen for 10 minutes prior to the workout and talked to Coach Driscoll for 10 minutes after the workout. I can't remember exactly what was said, but I know I was sold on the program right then and there. It was a little strange but my best friend's dad knew exactly what he was talking about. Getting rejected by my dream school was the best thing that ever happened to me. For the last three years, I have been living my dream and I couldn't be more proud to be an Osprey!

SWOOP!

Day 8 - June 6th

I want to start off today's post by again congratulating two friends of mine that reached out to me today. They both received full-time coaching positions and I couldn't be happier for them. I can't even explain how big of a smile I had on my face as I know how hard both have worked to get to where they are today. More on this when it becomes official.

This morning got off to an early start as game 1 of 11 tipped off at 8am. The final day of team camp would begin with pool play and conclude with single-elimination brackets. The 76 teams were primarily from Louisiana and Mississippi but some traveled great distances to play in the event. As I ran the clock and book, I would chat with both coaches and find out a little bit about their respective programs. I was very surprised as to how friendly the overwhelming majority of coaches were. Even though the games are much more relaxed and it is just a summer tournament, the heat of the moment can get to some people.

The tournament games ran very smoothly and the only issues I witnessed were between the coaches and the officials. There were definitely some upset coaches pacing the sidelines, but that is part of the game. The games could not have been more organized and I was extremely impressed by how competitive the majority of games were. I had multiple 1 point games on my court today.

I want to give a special shout-out to LSU Men's Basketball - specifically Coach Charlie Leonard and Coach Zach Kendrick. The two camp directors did an absolutely amazing job with both the individual and team camp this week. Although the quality of camp would for sure bring me back to Baton Rouge, I was even more impressed with the people of LSU Basketball.

The odometer is back in action tomorrow. Baton Rouge, LA ----> Memphis, TN

Day 7 - June 5th

The morning got off to a faster start than I had originally planned. LSU Team Camp started today and the high school teams began competition at 10am. Unfortunately, I had to drive downtown to the Louisiana state police station to get my fingerprints taken for a camp later this month. Even though I arrived 10 minutes prior to the office opening, a line had already formed outside. Eventually, my name was called and I was out of the office around 8:45. Yesterday, I located a post office on the way to the courts and quickly mailed the fingerprinting information to the necessary address. I arrived at camp at 9:30 and was ready to go! I was very fortunate and appreciative to the LSU staff for being so understanding of my situation and allowing me to show up later than originally asked.

The sports complex that I was working at contained three basketball courts. As it turns out, my court was not being utilized for the first set of games. I helped out on another court by doing the book. For those unfamiliar, the book is where the score, fouls, timeouts, and everything else relating to the basketball game is written down. Once I shifted to my own court for the 11:00 game, I was responsible for both running the clock and the book. Although doing both simultaneously takes concentration, it is a very doable task.

Throughout the day, I worked 8 games and surprisingly they flew by. The team camp has 76 teams playing on 10 different courts. The competition varies from junior varsity to different competitive levels of varsity. This was clear to the naked eye as some teams were very good while others clearly had some work to do. The LSU staff did a great job of putting the teams in the divisions they belonged in and as a result, most games were very competitive right until the final horn.

The highlight of the day came in the evening during a high level varsity contest. A team from Jackson, Mississippi was in a full court man to man press. After creating a turnover, the 6'5" sophomore attacked the basket and stuffed it right over the defender. I applaud the defense for trying to block the shot rather than surrender an easy two, but the player had no chance. At UNF, we call that, "ON HIS HEAD!!!" (I can hear you from Baton Rouge, Coach Taylor.)

The 2nd and final day of LSU Team Camp is tomorrow with the first games starting at 8am. Time to get some sleep!

Day 6 - June 4th

Today was the final day of Johnny Jones individual camp at LSU. The campers arrived early and with more energy than ever. A full court game of 5 on 5 was being played immediately and I decided to jump in. I was no longer going to let the kids score on me and get to wherever they wanted to on the court. I demanded the rock in the post and went over my left shoulder on back to back possessions: buckets. I couldn't take it easy on the campers after receiving criticism from multiple readers a couple days ago for my efforts during the 1 on 1 game.

Confidence was brewing for the LA Defenders (my team name) this morning. It was pretty apparent that my team contained the least amount of talent of the six teams. After winning one round of a shooting contest and coming in 2nd of 6 of a dribbling relay, my campers were mentally prepared to contend for a championship. Okay, maybe not, but they certainly appeared that way.

The 2-3 pool play record earned us a 4 seed in the championship bracket. The 1 and 2 seeds were rewarded a bye and we would square off with the 5 seed for a chance at the semifinals. The game was close the entire way and I may have been, probably was, sweating out there. Although I wanted to win for the kids, I really didn't care about the score. I just wanted the campers to perform the little things that I have been preaching all week. After a controversial call that I made (yes, the coaches also referee) in favor of the other team, we were headed for overtime. My players weren't happy with me but I spent so much energy trying to explain the importance of defending without using their hands. In college, it's automatically called when you have two hands on a player. Why not teach them early?

We ended up making a lucky shot in the sudden-death overtime period. The gym went nuts and we were on the way to the semifinals. I won't write much about the next game because it wasn't pretty. We went down something like 24-8 and my guess is the opposition converted 20 points off turnovers. The game ended up being a 6 point contest because the opposing coach did the right thing and removed his best players at the correct time. However, the part that disappointed me was that some of my campers started to melt when the score went bad. All in all, it was a great run and I was proud of each and every one of them!

At the completion of camp, I asked each kid what the most important thing they learned was this week. Some kids had great answers and others didn't, but when my best player responded with "how to be a great teammate", I knew my job was done.

I couldn't have been more impressed with the staff at LSU and how organized they were the entire week. The camp ran smoothly from Monday morning until Thursday afternoon and I know there were many hours of hard work put it to this. Great camps don't just happen on their own. My next camp starts tomorrow as I remain in Baton Rouge to work LSU Team Camp. Looking forward to what is in store when close to 80 high school basketball teams come together and compete!