My O my have times changed... I can remember the days when having an air conditioner was a luxury... or getting rides from game to game by parents was as rare as finding a $2 Bill..... Most of the times as kids, we had to find a tree outside and find shade just to keep it cool....
For those who was in High School in the 90's on down, I'm sure you can recall going to 5 Star Basketball camp in Honesdale, PA sleeping in the cabins with 11 other campers and it would be 98 degrees outside.... Or even Eastern Invitational living in those same conditions as 5 star.... As kids, we never even worried about it being too hot during the day or too cold at night.... We were just excited to get to camp and play against some of the top talent in America....
Even if the week you went to wasn't the most competitive, we still wanted to make a good impression to the guys who ran the camps.... We understood what it could do for our futures... We understood that it could get us an invite to a HIGH LEVEL CAMP if we played well....
I say all that to say this, Athletes these days seem to be so used to Central Air, being driven all over the place, fancy socks, newest sneakers, etc.... When they go to camps these days, they complain that the room is too hot, we play too many games, my ankles hurt among other things.... Lots of kids just don't appreciate the opportunities that are in front of them and seem to take everything for granted.... Because of this, kids get a false sense of reality on how good and tough they really are.... It takes a tough and focused kid to put aside the fact that it's hot outside or their camp coach isn't that good or their camp team sucks.... That's just life!!! It's not always going to be perfect....
I can recall one year being at camp with Stephon Marbury, Felipe Lopez, Tim Thomas, Kareem Reid, Adonal Foyle, Shamgod Wells, Reggie Freemen, Jarret Kearse, Marvic O'Conner, Shawnta Rodgers, Tony Rutland, Rafer Alston, and the list goes on and on..... I was no where near one of the top players there in my eyes but I focused on competing with these guys... Almost landed a spot on the All Star team.... I also attended a session where none of these guys were there, what I did was be one of the best players at camp and get the coaches there to see what my personality was like.... They didn't have all of the big name players to focus on so I got some attention... It paid off till this day because those coaches have helped me build my network of coaches over the years....
One thing you never want to do as a player is "BIGTIME" a camp.... In other words, don't act like the camp is beneath you and you shouldn't be there... In all reality, if you shouldn't be there, you wouldn't be there... These days you would be playing in a National aau event being looked at by major and mid major schools.... Kids and parents seem to want everything to happen for them right away... Every parent want the best for their kid, and it's only right..... but every kid will not be a division 1, division 2 or division 3 player.... Some may not even finish HS basketball....
What ever happened to the days of going to the park at 11am with your friends and playing ball until 8pm cause the sun just went down? It's too easy to sit at home and play video games for 5 hours in the summer but it's more difficult to read a few books, do a few math problems, lift some weights and shoot 500 game speed jumpers a day....
What's the answer? How do we get these kids back on track and appreciate all the different opportunities they have in front of them? Let me KNOW!!!!!
Coach Little
For those who was in High School in the 90's on down, I'm sure you can recall going to 5 Star Basketball camp in Honesdale, PA sleeping in the cabins with 11 other campers and it would be 98 degrees outside.... Or even Eastern Invitational living in those same conditions as 5 star.... As kids, we never even worried about it being too hot during the day or too cold at night.... We were just excited to get to camp and play against some of the top talent in America....
Even if the week you went to wasn't the most competitive, we still wanted to make a good impression to the guys who ran the camps.... We understood what it could do for our futures... We understood that it could get us an invite to a HIGH LEVEL CAMP if we played well....
I say all that to say this, Athletes these days seem to be so used to Central Air, being driven all over the place, fancy socks, newest sneakers, etc.... When they go to camps these days, they complain that the room is too hot, we play too many games, my ankles hurt among other things.... Lots of kids just don't appreciate the opportunities that are in front of them and seem to take everything for granted.... Because of this, kids get a false sense of reality on how good and tough they really are.... It takes a tough and focused kid to put aside the fact that it's hot outside or their camp coach isn't that good or their camp team sucks.... That's just life!!! It's not always going to be perfect....
I can recall one year being at camp with Stephon Marbury, Felipe Lopez, Tim Thomas, Kareem Reid, Adonal Foyle, Shamgod Wells, Reggie Freemen, Jarret Kearse, Marvic O'Conner, Shawnta Rodgers, Tony Rutland, Rafer Alston, and the list goes on and on..... I was no where near one of the top players there in my eyes but I focused on competing with these guys... Almost landed a spot on the All Star team.... I also attended a session where none of these guys were there, what I did was be one of the best players at camp and get the coaches there to see what my personality was like.... They didn't have all of the big name players to focus on so I got some attention... It paid off till this day because those coaches have helped me build my network of coaches over the years....
One thing you never want to do as a player is "BIGTIME" a camp.... In other words, don't act like the camp is beneath you and you shouldn't be there... In all reality, if you shouldn't be there, you wouldn't be there... These days you would be playing in a National aau event being looked at by major and mid major schools.... Kids and parents seem to want everything to happen for them right away... Every parent want the best for their kid, and it's only right..... but every kid will not be a division 1, division 2 or division 3 player.... Some may not even finish HS basketball....
What ever happened to the days of going to the park at 11am with your friends and playing ball until 8pm cause the sun just went down? It's too easy to sit at home and play video games for 5 hours in the summer but it's more difficult to read a few books, do a few math problems, lift some weights and shoot 500 game speed jumpers a day....
What's the answer? How do we get these kids back on track and appreciate all the different opportunities they have in front of them? Let me KNOW!!!!!
Coach Little
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