This week was an absolute blast! I worked the Steve Shields Basketball Camp. Steve Shields is the Head Coach of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans.

I had been in contact with Camp Directory Chris Lowery for about two months. Once a week leading up to the camp he would call me and make sure I was still good to work the camp. As a college kid trying to feel wanted by a coaching staff, this made me feel as important as any other coach.

On Monday I arrived at the Jack Stephens Center at 7:20 in the morning and met up with Coach Lowery. He handed me a shirt and told me that I would be a station line coach. He handed me a booklet that explained everything. In the mini-camp, I worked with Kim Sitzman, a two-time All-Conference selection for the Lady Trojans. We were in charge of the shooting station. We were given 7 kids who were about to go into Kindergarden. One of our kids was Creed Williamson, the son of former Razorback Corliss Williamson. In the regular camp, I was given a station line of my own with kids 10-11 years old. I was put in charge of the ball handling station.

In the regular camp, we split the camp up into 4 leagues, SEC, Big XII, Sun Belt, and NBA. My line was in the Big XII. We divided the teams up randomly. The team that I picked to work with was Texas A&M. The reason I picked them was becuase a kid from my line was on that team and he told me that he was a good defensive player and I wanted to see it up close and personal. We then had each team play 2 games so we could evaluate them and make sure all the teams were fair. They ended up being pretty fair.

On Tuesday, we played hotshot and played 2 more games per team. Texas A&M had won all 4 games thru Tuesday. At this point, my line count went to 14, probably on eof the highest in the camp.

On Wensday, things took a little interesting turn. During stretching, I heard Coach Lowery call one of the girls in the camp Gracie. The name rung a bell, so I went and checked her name. Her name was Gracie Bailey. Well I know a man by the name of Curtis Bailey and his ex-wife Jennifer Bailey. I asked her if her dad was Curtis and she said yea and I asked her if her mom was named Jennifer and she said yea. I started laughing and told her that her mom used to coach me in basketball and that I’ve known her since she was born.

The next day, I was working with my station line in hotshot, and a woman walked in and started talking to me. The only thing was I was on one side of the baseline and she was on the other, so I couldn’t understand her. I walked over and said “Mam?” She then said “Jennifer Bailey.” I looked at her with a look of amazement and gave her a hug because I haven’t seen her in so long. She and I were talking for a minute then Gracie came up and goes “Mom, what are you doing here?” Jennifer sadi that she was visiting me and that if Gracie didn’t go back to her basket, she would give her a kiss right in front of everybody, so of course, Gracie ran back. She and I talked for a minute and said things had now come back full-circle. She told me that she told my dad she feels old becuase of it and wanted to tell him he must feel even older. After a minute I gave her a hug and told her I needed to get back to work. I go back to my station and one of the kids asks me a question that shocked me for a minute. He asked if she was my girlfriend? I was a little stunned and then responded that she used to coach me.

On Friday, we had Championship Friday. Texas A&M played against Texas Tech in the Big XII Championship. The comissioner looked at me before the game and said that it was going to be a full-out coaching game. He asked who I wanted and of course I said Texas A&M. I huddled them up and gave a generic pre-game speech about how every game before this didn’t matter. Texas Tech would be leaving it all out on the court. They started off a little slow, but my team leader, Billy, got things going. He started getting big time rebounds and shots. After the first substiution, they were up 1, but I told them that it meant nothing. The then pushed their lead to 4. They held this throughout and ended up winning.

After winning this, it made me want to win the Sunshine State title that much more. Well, I have this week off, then I go to Pittsburgh for Five-Star, I’ll let you know how that goes.

Gene

There have always been two people who have always been by my side, through the good and the bad. Through my first years playing sports through my first girlfriends. My parents have always tried to make it better for me than they had it. I can only hope that when and if I become a parent I can be half as good of one as they are.

The most recent example of this is them allowing me to be away from home for 3 weeks driving to three different stops, two of which I didn’t have somebody to go stay with. They knew this was something I wanted to do in order to help get me into my chosen career path of coaching. I would call them and tell them what I was doing and the phrase that I kept hearing from them was “We are so proud of everything you are doing.” If I didn’t feel that I had my parents support I probably wouldn’t pursue it. My parents support means the world to me, and they have always wanted me to do what makes me happy.

The fact that my parents have always been there for me and put me in situations to succeed is why when I get my first coaching job, they will be the first to know and I will want them by my side and sharing in my success. The success they helped in making.

Remeber, parents are the reason for your success, whether they are like my parents or not. They gave birth to you and without them you wouldn’t be here.

Sorry for this being a little bit late, but the dorm they put us in at Clemson didn’t have internet, but with the schedule we had, there wasn’t time. I got in a night early because I wasn’t going to make it on time otherwise. After talking to Coach Josh Postorino, the older brother of current Lynn University basketball player Luke Postorino, for a couple of months , I met up with Mike Morrell, the Graduate Assistant at Clemson, when I got there. He let me into the dorm and showed me the room I would be staying in. My roommate arrived the next day. His name was Shawn Haggerty and he recently became a coach at a high school in Tampa, and said he was going to come to our game at the University of Tampa. He is a really nice guy. Mike told me if I wanted I could meet up with him at 9:00 the next morning to do some work, so I did. He asked me to help fill balls with air, put them in LittleJohn Coliseum, and then help with registration. At registration, I helped answer questions about where to go and then went and made sure people were ok in the dorms. The first day, Sunday the 8^th, the campers were separated into three divisions, ACC for the younger kids, NCAA for the middle division, and NBA for the oldest kids. After dinner, we had the kids do different skill work, the NCAA and NBA played some games too. Lights out was at 10:15 pm, and at about midnight Shawn and I passed out.

The next morning, we woke up about 7:30 and went to breakfast with the campers and rest of the staff. The morning was filled with more skills and games.  Throughout the day Mike and Josh had me running around making sure things were in order and balls were where they needed to be. I was even handed the keys to a golf cart and told to go pick coaches up from one gym and take them to another.  Again Shawn and I passed out about midnight.

On Tuesday, along with making sure things were in order, Mike asked me to ref a couple of games and that night I got my first taste of a new injury, shin splints. They hurt, but after propping my legs up and running backwards, my friend who used to be a trainer told me to do the later, they felt better.  We also started the tournament this day, so players stepped their game up.

On “Championship Wednesday,” we had game after game. Teams that were eliminated still played some games or had other things they were involved with. I was the ref of a NBA semi-final game, where the Nuggets played the Rockets, and the Rockets won and ended up winning the NBA league. I was one of 2 refs in the NCAA Champion where Texas beat Memphis. In the ACC division Boston College won.

I enjoyed every minute of the camp and learned so much. I got to meet so many different coaches. I met all the Clemson coaches, coaches from high schools in the area, and college coaches from the area. A lot of the college coaches were Division II coaches. A lot of them that have been associated with Clemson remembered a coach that I mentioned I work for, Coach Heskett, who used to work at Clemson.

Next year I hope I can work it again.

Gene

Well, day 3 was more of the same and at the end of the day we gave kids the opportunity to go swimming. One kid jumped in without knowing how to swim so I had to pull him out. Luckily he was only under water for a second.

That night, I got a call from my cousin Jay. He asked if when he got off work I wanted to hang out with him. Of course I told him yes. We went to a bar near his house and met up with his wife and some of her friends. We hung out and threw darts.

Today, day 4, was Championship Thursday. It was all games all day. The age groups were given a title, Confernce USA, NCAA, and NBA. The teams were picked at random. The winner from Conference USA was Tulsa, the NCAA winner was Florida, and the Lakers won the NBA Championship.

I had so much fun and learned a lot from this camp. I can’t wait to see what’s in store at Clemson!

Gene

First off, I would like to apologize for the fact that I forgot to bring my camera to camp, so I do not have any pictures. I’m going to try to remember tomorrow.

Now, on to camp.

Today was similar to the 1st in the activities that we did. The one biggest change was who showed up. Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway was there before camp started to do some working out. I got to meet him so that was cool. Also, a couple of the current Tigers showed up, including Shawn Taggart, Pierre Niles, Donneal Mack, Jeff Robinson, and Willie Kemp. I met all of them, but had an interesting experience with Willie.

I was refing a game and made a call, but another whistle blows and Willie reverses the call, which I was ok with since he had a better angle. Throughout the rest of the game he refed it with me, which made it a whole lot easier.

Anybody who thinks that basketball camps are jokes have never truely experienced them. The past two days I have been worn out after camp.

Well, I will try to have pictures tomorrow. Until then, later

Gene

So yesterday, I drove 2 hours from Little Rock to Memphis. My aunt and uncle live here, so they let me come stay with them.

This morning I got up at 6:45 am to shower and eat breakfast before following my uncle over to The Finch, which is the Memphis Basketball Team’s practice facility. There I met Brian, who is in charge of the camp, and Scott, who is in charge of the counselors. I got handed a Memphis Basketball shirt and a whistle and a copy of the schedule to peek at. Scott didn’t understand over the phone what I said my name was, so he put down my Uncle’s nickname, Doodaa. Most of the day I was ‘ref’ing games. This helped me understand the job a ref has during basketball games, which gives me a greater appreciation for them and the job they do.

During the day I met former players, current managers, and coaches from not only Memphis but schools all around. It was a great opportunity for me and I had a blast. At the end of the day, they got all the counselors together handed us Memphis shirts and shorts and told us the best way to help the kids have fun, was for us to have fun. I know I was having a blast and hope to build on this.

Well, I’ll give you an update tomorrow, as well a picture or two if you’re lucky. HAHA!

Gene