As a coach, and a manger of the game of basketball for a decade, I would like to show that aside from standard coaching duties throughout a season, one of the most important events you can do in the offseason of any sport is running a basketball camp.
Obviously, much of my expertise is in basketball, but the same motivations that we use, apply to every possible sport, employer, and educational institutions in order to:
1) Market yourself and your Organization
2) Make profit
3) Educate the masses
Depending on the organization, these 3 major points can shift in priority, however for this wiki, the event itself is the focus and I will discuss some of the major points associated with the massive event that is a basketball camp.
Throughout my coaching career, I have been involved in many camps at a variety of levels, both organizing and attending, from middle school, to the college ranks. This past summer I was privileged to be invited to coach at the Greg Buckner Defender Basketball camp in both Plano, and in Dallas, organized by the Greg Buckner Foundation, a very active local charity. This camp’s focus was from 6-16 years old, cost $225, and ran from 9am until 4pm.
Firstly, one of the key factors for any organization is to determine the overhead costs involved. Similarly to athletic tournaments, the most important costs associated with a camp is the facility itself. In Plano, the first week of the camp, the Plano YMCA was the best apparent fit, complete with 6 hoops, storage areas, bathrooms nearby, and a general family atmosphere to promote the activity of the camp. The complications of this week however transpired when over 200 kids registered and without a cutoff, the facility became crowded very quickly and space to run a productive camp became more of a creative issue then if we had estimated the correct number of kids, and potentially issued a cutoff on the first day of camp. The second week, however, adjustments were made, and a psyical pre-evaluation was necessary in making sure that the same problem wouldn’t occur, and in using the ValleyView Sportsplex, a much larger facility, the space needed was a good match for the number of moving bodies.
Staffing:
Staffing was provided to not exceed a 10:1 Ratio, and with 15 coaches brought in from across the country it was a matter of distributing efficiency. The first week each and every coach, as well as some of the extra foundation staff were brought in to help alleviate the extra kids that signed up unexpectedly the opening day of camp, but in the second week the ratio was much more manageable. Staffing is obviously a major factor in that if you don’t bring enough staff in to run your event, you will have increased the workload per staff member, on the other hand, if you bring too many, you will find inefficiency in the operations with people standing around.
Sponsorship
Obviously, sponsorship alleviates costs, in exchange for promoting the sponsor. The biggest sponsor in this camp was Southwest Airlines, and a major advantage of this was the ability to bring in quality college coaches from across the country at a discounted rate on Southwest. Kaufmans sports management group, Crest Auto Group, and Lakewood Orthopedics were also sponsors in exchange for web advertisements and print advertisement in the goodie bag each participant was given.
Celebrities
Another major reason for the huge success in numbers was the promise that basketball celebrities were going to show up for “star potential”. As promised, throughout the 2 weeks, current and former teammates, including Eric Dampier, Jason Terry, Keynon Martin, and Edwardo Najera were brought in to speak to the crowd, and also allowed interaction with pictures and autographs.
Food and Beverages
Lunch was optional and paid for up front by parents. However, on each of the first days of each camp, the foundation paid for lunch and beverages. A problem ensued however on day 1 when a beverage sponsor was supposed to arrive for lunch and did not arrive until the end of the day, which ultimately was a cost that came out of the foundation. Otherwise, in week 1 because the facility had no concession, food was ordered in, and it was ordered based on the best estimate of up front lunch orders. Every day however, there was excess, and a bonus given to the staff. In week 2, the facility had a concession and “lunch packages” were given versus the buffet of pizza and sandwiches in the first week.
Safety
With the younger children in the 6-8 range in a fairly active facility, much care and attention was given to making sure that they were taken care of in all aspects from injury, to bathroom breaks, to “not sharing”. With the older groups special attention was given to injury prevention and making sure that all emergency contacts were in place in case of any major issues. As well all kids were to remain until they signed out, or up to an hour after camp was over if a parent did not show up. The parents signed a waver stating that they would arrive to pick up their kids by that time, however there were supervised waiting areas in the facility that a child could wait if the parent had not arrived by then.
Intangibles
Of course, despite thinking the layouts of a camp sounds simple after you get the facility, the staff, the sponsors, the food, being safe and the celebs. What else is left but the intangibles?
In offering the full meal deal basketball + educational experience, there was a lot of room for disruption and inefficiency. Case in point, offering a smooth transition into the “life skills” section of the camp. Given a small room with over 50 kids in each variable age category, it was a considerable challenge on the staff to try and make sure that the kids were being educated, as well as making sure their motivations were still intact for the rest of the camp. As well, homework assignments were given, and because there was always a small proportion which did not complete it, time was taken during the camp to initiate consequences, which usually came in the place of running.
Overall I can say that the camp was a huge success in reference to my first three points:
1) The Greg Buckner Foundation was marketed very well, with both print and television media appearing.
2) Unknown to me how much was made, I do assume that profit was made based on the large numbers that showed up especially in week 1. However even with the sponsor, I can imagine that the flying in of staff was a major cost, but worth it in order to run the successful camp that Greg wanted his stamp of approval on.
3) With Various testimonies on his website, and throughout the week, it was a very successful camp from the education side in that every participant seemed to improve over the span of a week. The life skills were also something that I believe was appreciated by most people, and which incidentally added to the marketing appeal of the Greg Buckner Foundation.
http://www.gregbucknerfoundation.net/
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