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Right around June 10th we would be in Radford or Hampden Sydney Virginia or Tallahassee, Florida ...  Running overnight residential camp was a tough business, long days, sleepless nights but so damn rewarding to have that type of impact.

To think in three months, my former partner, the one-and-only Howard Garfinkel, will be inducted in the Naismith Hall of Fame largely due to the work that we did through the camp.

Coaches out there...as you are getting ready to run your camp, let me tell you the biggest lessons I learned in a life-time of running basketball camps:

1.) Camp doesn’t run on paper

I was a planner.  Every minute allocated trying to maximize the camp experience for the campers… but what do you do when…

A game goes into double overtime, lunch takes longer than expected or the camp is dragging…

You have to adjust.

You might have the right topic, the right timing and the right coach but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a great segment.

You have to have your finger on the pulse of camp, you have to read the energy and sometimes you have to abandon the program and save the day by going into your bag of tricks.

2.) It Only Matters What The Campers Took Out Of It

Telling your staff what to teach won't be enough.  You have to make sure they know how to teach it and they better be able to maximize the repetitions and correct it

No one cares about your drill, they care about how many times they touched the ball during the segment and if they did it right

3.) A Camp’s Self Talk is Incredibly Important

Garf was great at building up the staff to all be the best coaches any of these campers could learn from or be coached by.....that’s the seed that was planted and that perception became the reality

Later on I learned it was incredibly important to praise the camp’s effort, to give credit and build the experience up in the camper’s mind.

4.) Get Out On The Court

No matter how much work there is to do, if you aren’t present, camp just isn’t as good as if you are on the court.  No one works the same as when the boss is watching.

A great way to get a feel for how camp is going, is by picking up a whistle and officiating the games.  It’s the most honest view of the product.

For the first time, I put together my go-to templates and keys to help you run a great camp.  

It starts with my camp details assessment that goes through what you have at your disposal so that I can work with you on coming up with the best program to accomplish what you set out to in your camp.

You have my camp manual, sample camp instruction curriculum, camp safety plan template and various camp daily and weekly programs that I utilized in running camps all throughout the World.

Get your hands on this Ultimate Blueprint for running an Amazing Camp Here --->

Let’s lace them up and get ready to run a great camp this summer.