Un-Tall Camp Tales (2001)

Let me tell you a tale...

It is Wed. afternoon of Erin Hoops’ week long Basketball Camp...

You suddenly discover one of the campers STILL can’t make even one lay-up in a row. (A lay-up is the simplest and most basic shot in basketball.)

Help is definitely needed (and the kid wants it too).

You isolate a basket and work, work, work.

Success comes slowly.  From no baskets being made to the odd shot going in.  Then (and this almost always happens) the technique of scoring a lay-up suddenly gets mastered.  The body and the brain get together and the skill of making lay-ups pops into place.

You feel good.  The kid has made 6 lay-ups in a row.  The kid’s smiling.  You’re smiling and happy too.

Life’s good.

End of tale?  Nope...

The kid comes roaring up to you Thursday morning first thing...grinning and excited to share with you... “I got 13 in in a row.”

You momentarily don’t know what’s been said, but the light dawns...excitement is shared between the coach and the camper.

End of tale?  Nope...

On Friday afternoon the kid is in your face again.  This time dragging along another coach who has witnessed the kid accomplishing the incredible.  The kid has sunk 32 lay-ups in a row.

Camp excitement of the achievement is shared.

Man do all of us in charge of helping coach the kids feel good.

Tale Two

It’s now Wed. morning, fifteen minutes to the start of the day’s camp activities.

And...in walks one of the High School kids who has played pick up basketball off and on as his job permitted all year with you.

He walks over to you and you hear, “I’m not working today.  Do you need an extra coach?”

You’re stunned.

People don’t materialize out of thin air offering to give up their day voluntarily, yet here out of the blue is additional help...

It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t know what we are planning for the day.  What matters is he wants to help and why shouldn’t he?

You accept him and he smiles from ear to ear.

Inside your body tells you something important has just happened, that’s bigger than life.  You’ve expanded and cemented a new level of friendship that is strong and good.

You give him a coach’s T-shirt and the camp day begins with super feelings all around as the volunteer is introduced to campers and all.

Tale Three

This tale is the stuff a plot for a movie could be built on...

It’s Monday morning the first day of the camp...

This tale’s camper walks into the active, noisy gym unsure about being part of this camping experience.

Really if the truth be known not wanting to be at the camp period.

The feeling magnifies, though others seem to be having fun.

The day’s a struggle, but bearable.

It’s nice to go home.

Day two – still testing the camp.  Smiles are possible.  It’s not ALL bad.

Some people are OK.

Skills are learned.  Achievements made.  New friendships develop.

The days of the camp pass...it’s Friday.

Reluctance is overcome and the camper learns to dribble two balls simultaneously.  No other camper does this.

A chance to show everyone this skill is offered.  Initially accepted, then rejected and finally interest in demonstrating the two ball dribble to everyone is expressed.

All camp activity stops.

Bounce, bounce, bounce across the wide gym the camper goes experiencing success with every step.

Safely across, the kid turns around and starts the long trip back.

Suddenly the whole camp is clapping and cheering.

We’ve seen one of us do a most difficult manoeuver that few of us could do with such skill and poise.

Wow.  Another awesome camp experience.

Tale Four

It’s the morning of the first day of camp.

You’re in a line bouncing your basketball, waiting for your first turn at trying to sink a lay-up dribbling straight down the centre of the court at the basket.  You shoot...you miss.

You miss again...and again...and again.  Yes, and again.

It’s day one of the camp and you missed all five centre lay-ups you’ve tried.  It’s discouraging...but the camp stresses never give up – never quit.

It’s Friday morning, the last day of camp, your chance to shoot five more centre lay-ups.  You’ve learned.  You’ve grown.

You win a certificate of achievement for Never Quitting – You’ve made four of the five centre lay-ups today.

Wow.  Another awesome camp experience.

Tale Five

It’s 16 inches long.

It’s 8 inches across.

It’s 5 inches deep.

It’s a cardboard box.

It’s unexpected.

It’s voluntarily given.

It’s full of individually wrapped miniature Mars Bars and M&M packets.

A parent has brought them as prizes for the Camp.

Oh my, oh my, the binges.

Tale Six

Tuesday afternoon – 4:15 – many of the campers have gone for the day.  Seven hours of basketball in a day are more than enough for most people...but amazingly the gym is not empty.

There’s a camper at a basket, shooting diligently by himself.  He’s trying to score. He hasn’t fully learned to make his shot yet.

I watch marveling at the persistence and energy.

He shoots, he misses. He retrieves the ball.  Races back.

Three shots latter, a basket’s made...the ball’s retrieved.

What’s this?  The camper traipses over to the score card and flips it over one more point.

Ball under arm, back on the floor.  Shoots.  Misses.  Shoots and makes it.

Back to the score card.  Flips to the next number...and so it goes.

I watch a bit, realizing he’s made up a game of his own, and is enjoying himself.  I offer encouragement and praise and wander off wrapped in the warm feeling of his passion, his love, his dedication, his energy after a long day to a game called basketball.

Next morning he staggered me with, “I made fifty points yesterday.”  Thank heaven for once I was awake enough to know what was being referred to and able to be appropriately impressed.  The feat was awesome in its effect on the growth of a basketball camper.

Amazing what kids/people can do when motivated to use their inner resources.

Tale Seven continues where Tale Six ends.

It’s now moments later.  I’m feeling the warm glow of the shooting camper as I see AND hear five of the camp’s volunteer coaches in a half court game, playing their hearts out.  Laughing and talking.  Romping and smiling.

Fun is being had after more than seven hours on a basketball court.

There love of the game is eminently apparent.  It fills the gym around them.

Tale Eight

Not everything in a camp runs perfectly...

Friday morning, the last day of the camp it is approaching 11:00 am.

Ron Hill, this morning’s guest coach hasn’t yet arrived to do his scheduled hour session on Sports Health before our hot donated picnic lunch at 12:00.

Eleven o’clock goes by.  No Ron.

11:15 – no Ron.  Disaster is approaching.  Erin Knechtel’s Food Market has donated to a hot Hot Dog, drinks, and desert picnic lunch set for 12:00.

Hot lunches don’t stay hot.  I also know the lunch will arrive on time as Jeannette and Mike Wozniak are organizing and preparing it, and they are NEVER LATE.

11:30 – no Ron.  Mentally I’ve decided he’s not coming and that’s just as well as how do you handle an hour presentation done by a guest with a HOT lunch pushing right up against the session.

11:31 – yea gads Ron just arrived.

11:40 – Ron’s set up and ready to present.

I share the hot lunch problem with him and he says no problem he’ll do a twenty minute presentation.  He’s cool.  He’s so experienced, so professional he can flow with the situation.

Ron stayed and ate lunch with us.  He shared with me why he was late.  An emergency patient arrived in his office with a broken leg and that came first.  I share with him an understanding of how that was way more important than his camp presentation.

We smile together.  We have a deeper friendship.

Tale Nine

A new camp competition developed called “Do You Want Your Name On The Hoops Web Site”?  Answer, a resounding yes from the campers.  So 20 minutes are set aside for people to do one of two different Web Site Challenges; for the youth the challenge was “how many lay-up can you make in a row”, others were challenged to see “how many foul shots they could make in a row.”

Man did the campers work.  The gym buzzed with activity.  Campers gave their best, worked their hardest, believed in themselves, had fun, and never quit.

The results of their efforts are on the web site www.erinhoops.ca as the Fifth Summer Challenge found by clicking the link to the Summer’s Challenge Page.

I can not resist adding one young camper made 235 lay-ups in a row.  Try and do that someday yourself and you’ll realize the feat that was accomplished.  A week later another camper topped this effort with 295 lay-ups in a row.  Man – the fun of a challenge.

The preceding nine tales are from the Slam Dunk Basketball Camp.

Special Advanced Camp Tales

Tale One

This tale is short, simple, and basketball sweet.

It’s over half way through the camp when a camper says to a coach, “I’m gonna give up hockey for basketball.”

Sad for hockey.

Nice for basketball.

Says a lot, if you do what my English Teacher once said to me, “Read between the lines.”

Certainly the campers statement says a lot about the effect the Advanced Camp was having on her/him as a person.

Tale Two

The camp is on.  It’s mid afternoon.

Across the gym walks one of this years graduates from the High School.

S/He’s come to say thanks for the year(s) of basketball fun that Hoops has provided.  S/He expresses how much it had meant to her/him personally.  How it made life better.  Baskets are shot with the campers.  Good byes shared as s/he walks out of the gym and on into a new phase of life leaving behind a warm glow with all of us about the community values and life values Hoops is providing through its openness to all in the Community to take part in its many activities.  The future is so much better.

Tale Three

The game started on Monday morning.

The game was played every day before the camp began formally.

The game was who would score 20 free throws first.

Multi games were played each morning.

Mike Young won them all.  He shoots between 75 and 80% on free throws.  He’s got 10 years of practice.

Stephanie Giugovaz lost all the games she played trying to get to 20 first.  She’s only got a few years of practice.  She started on Monday shooting between 55 and 60%.

Steph was determined to win a game.  The game was fun.  To win was a personal challenge.

All week she practiced, practiced, practiced.

She got better and better.

This isn’t a fairy tale.  She never beat Mike, though 20-19 was an awesome game to watch while big time fun was had.

(The names in this story were used with the participants’ permissions.)

Tale Four

Obviously, as you know, Erin Hoops has a web site.

What you don’t realize is how risky it is to offer to post individual accomplishments on the site.  Typical individual accomplishments include such things as who won at the game of Bump, or how many lay-up were made in a row, or free throws made, or...the possibilities are limitless.

Risky this posting is.

Don’t put up the wrong number...You’ll be corrected within 24 hours.

Don’t miss someone telling you their data for posting in the hustle and bustle of basketballs everywhere in a gym.  (Writing data down is essential – IF you hear it in the first place.)  If data isn’t up you’re asked quite promptly when you are putting it up.  Putting what up.  Oops! You forgot to write it down.

Or miss posting data for a day because your life is a bit hectic.  Well I can assure you will be challenged to soon get the data up.

The “drag” of doing basketball activities to be put up on the web site is an incredible performance incentive for developing players, and fun for all of us.

Tale Five

Growth.

Wow, what growth.

It is day one of the Camp.

All campers as a team do Drills 1, 2, and 3 together.  (These are three performance based, stop watch timed drills.  Miss your shot, fumble your ball in these drills – start over – do it perfectly.)

Time to do the three drills on day one – 8 minutes 24 seconds.

Jump – it’s now day five – growth, oh yes.  The time to do the three drills perfectly is now 5 minutes 14 seconds.  An awesome time when this coach figured on Monday that we’d break 7 minutes before the week was over.

Well seven was broken, and broken soundly.

Growth.

Pride of accomplishment.

Oh what will next year bring.

There are more tales, some to complex to write, some to private to share, some so special and private, they remain unknown as personal experiences.

In this year of the volunteer Erin Hoops Slam Dunk Camp was blessed.  The camp had one volunteer coach for every three campers.  No coach was recruited.  Each one individually and at different times asked if they could help.  These pure volunteers were Lenny Bergeron Chisholm, Bailey Drennan, Fredd Eyles, Mike Gravelle, Stephanie Giugovaz, Blake Kaitting, Melissa Sarra, Dan Snowball, and Catherine Stokes.  For many of them this experience of being a volunteer camp basketball coach was a peak life experience that they are glad they had and would do again in the blink of an eye.

Then there’s the “Big Galloot”, Mike Young.  All six foot six of him, who gave and gave and gave to the kids.  What a great teacher he is going to be when he completes his year at Teacher’s College, starting this fall.  May Erin be so blessed to see him join our Community once he has graduated.  The camp would have run without him but it would NOT have been nearly as successful.

Then there’s Jeannette and Michael Wozniak who just seemed to be available to help the camp flow smoothly through its five jam packed days of action.  They are special to Erin Hoops because of the depth of sharing help they provide to all of us involved in Erin Basketball.  More huggable, likeable, people I know not of.

The “thens” don’t end here.  There’s the Community support from Steen’s Dairy, Dial-A-Show, Erin Knechtel’s Food Mart, and David’s Restaurant (which provided a sumptuous dinner for all the volunteer coaches to celebrate each other and the end of the camp).  Their expertise, their inputs, their support remains with all of us in untold ways.

Wow.  What a week.  Erin Hoops Slam Dunk Basketball Camp will live with all of us for years to come.

May joy, and peace, and happiness go with all of us.

Patrick Suessmuth

833-2058