When I was on the basketball team in high school a bunch of us went to a summer basketball camp called Ladysmith in Wisconsin. The assistant coach on our team had been taking players there every few years…and the rumor was it was the best basketball camp.
We didn’t hear why, simply that it was.
Two hour morning session. Three hour afternoon session. Two hour evening session. For three days.
And it wasn’t one big pep talk or feel good inspirational story time. It was going hard. Always doing something with the basketball, always running, always focusing. Playing against taller players, shorter players, players better than you and not quite as good as you. Hours and hours of hard competition.
After ever session we were drained. And at the end of each day we were sure it was impossible to do it all again.
On top of that…Our coach made sure all of us were on the fifth floor of the dorms (the top floor)…no elevators. Nothing like five flights of stairs with jelly legs.
But we all made it out alive. Barely.
We didn’t leave the camp with a bunch of new drills that were going to turn us into Michael Jordan over the summer. And I don’t think the point of the camp was to make us adopt a seven hour per day workout schedule.
It was to show us that we could go harder than we ever thought we could. It was to show us how to push. To show us what it means and what it feels like to work. To max out our focus and our muscles. It was to show us what a two hour practice could look like back home. The coaches pushed our bodies but they knew they were actually stretching our minds much more.
We never would have signed up for it if we knew what it was. But as it turns out…it was the best.
»» Coach Coughlin, thanks for tricking us into that camp. You’re a good coach- Mr. Defense
