The #1 son wants to attend basketball camp in Tennessee in June. The Newmentia team went last year, and the head coach said that this year, they are inviting the JV team to go along. I don't know if there aren't enough varsity, or if there are more coaches going, or what the deal is.
I have mixed feelings about sending my boy out from under my wing. The apron stings won't stretch that far. Who will tell him to "Breathe in. Breath out. Repeat." On the other hand, if he ever wants a shot at playing basketball, he needs to go. It is $160, which is pretty cheap for four days and three nights and 12 meals and activities from 8:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. and 10 regulation games. Players stay in the dorms. He will have to find his own way there. That means he will have to ride with someone else's parent, or one of the coaches. HH will take some vacation days and drive him as a last resort. I said we could all go and make it a vacation. It's in NASHVILLE, by cracky! But #1 does not want me to go. Even though he would be dropped off Wednesday evening, and picked up at noon on Saturday, while HH, The Pony and I go to the Grand Old Opry or something, he has some issue with me going.
Another issue is the fact that it's a team camp. I don't know which coaches are going. There's the one that #1 is picked on by, though he's a girls' coach, so may not be attending. If #1's coach from this year goes, he would just play the same kids he played all season. My boy can sit the bench here in Missouri. He does not need to pay $160 and travel to Tennessee for that. Anybody else would probably mix it up and play kids in a different combination. There are six from #1's team who say they are definitely going. Of course, it depends on how many of the older boys go, too. The registration form says a school can take two JV teams. That means each kid would get more playing time.
#1 is all fired up. He's never been to any kind of sleep-away camp. He's barely spent the night anywhere without HH or me, except for a few sleepovers with his cronies. He found out about the camp in gym last week. They were playing basketball, and the high school coach walked through to ask if he could talk to the players about camp. As he went by #1, he said, "You should go with us, Hillbilly." I don't know if he was just being nice, if he needs more kids to go, if he remembers from teaching #1 a couple years ago that he's a good kid who stays out of trouble, or if he sees a sturdy 6' 1" 8th-grade body that he thinks he can mold into a passable player. As our custodian says at least once a week during basketball season: "You can't teach height."
We have a week to decide if he's going. Right now, it looks like he is.
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4 comments:
Number one son is going on a 3 day camp this May, the cost is $200. It seems to us to be expensive, then again, food alone costs alot these days and don't those boys eat alot!
Cazzie,
Those boys spend every spare moment eating. Last night, #1 was disappointed that I didn't make him a salad. That's a day I thought would never come.
What kind of camp is your boy going to? Isn't it almost winter time in May?
I say let him go. He's 14ish, right? It's time. He sounds like a smart kid with a good head on his shoulders, and everything you've said about your school---well, almost everything---makes it sound like they have reasonably trustworthy people working for them.
I went to my first week long camp when I was 7. Mom packed my gallons of Benadryl and I was fine. I did meet some older, less-sheltered girl who said she had been raped and then explained to me what rape was. That was kinda weird.
Miss Ann,
#1 is 14. And a half. He said, "Mom, if you have this much trouble now, what are you going to do when I go away to college?" To which I replied, "YOU'RE GOING AWAY TO COLLEGE?!!!"
I never went away anywhere until college. And I know how I behaved. That's what worries me. But he IS only 14.
OK, the camp story is just a little creepy. At least you had your Benadryl, in case you broke your arm, or severed a foot, or caught Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
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