Basketball Training Camp

For four days this summer (August 24-27), I was immersed in laundry and Poccari Sweat and digital photography in the mountains of Sugadaira, Nagano, Japan. Each day began at 5:45am with waking the 26 Junior Highers and watching them run for an hour until breakfast. Two of the mornings involved climbing up to the ski slopes so the kids could run those. After breakfast it was 4 hours of practice, lunch, 5 more hours of practice, dinner and then 2 hours of 5 on 5 scrimmages (coaches against kids). I went along as one of 3 moms to do laundry, refill sports drink bottles and party in the evenings until 1 or 2am. Okay, so on the last night I fell asleep in the middle of the party.....but I was up at the crack of dawn each day and I pulled my weight in beverages and sweaty clothes!!! And I didn't make any huge cultural mistakes--at least none anyone will tell me about!
Seriously it was an excellent camp and I was impressed with the effort of the coaching team to work to develop each child--physically, emotionally and in character. They were not put off by bad attitudes or low skill levels. I watched each child change. They started saying please and thank you and clearing tables and they started noticing that they could do more than they thought they could and so could their teammates. They even started cheering for each other. It was amazing and I really enjoyed the experience. Takeshi joined us for most of the time so our whole family was there which was a special bonus. The coaches pronounced him "most improved player". (It was his first time to actually play basketball!!)
I would do it again in a heartbeat....after I have caught up on some sleep!!!