Let the Games Begin!

The NCAA 2008 summer recruiting period started yesterday! I spent the day in Ewing, New Jersey attending the Eastern Invitational. Most NCAA institutions had coaches here to see the more than 800 high school players participating in the four day camp. That's a lot of campers, huh? It looks it too! The camp is held at New Jersey College, a small division 3 school near Trenton, New Jersey. There are 4 full courts in the Rec center and 8 courts outside on the tennis courts. The campers rotate on and off the courts all day and mix in guest speakers, lunch, dinner and drill sessions. Oh it's a full day for both the campers and the coaches! The coaches start arriving around 10 am everyday to watch the games and the rotation begins. There are 3 divisions, the NCAA division, the NBA East and the NBA West. The better or more highly rated players are generally in the the NBA West division, I think. It's one of those NBA divisions.The NCAA division is made up of rising eighth graders and high school freshmen and sophomores. The better underclassmen play in the NBA East division. All the players wear the jerseys given to them on the first day of camp and there is nothing negative being number 800 or nothing significant being number 1! There is a packet that the coaches buy for $125 and it has each camper's name, jersey number, camp team, home town, high school and high school classification. There is a daily schedule posted and passed out for each of the three sessions. A camper will play three games a day with coaches from all levels surrounding the courts scowling for the next player to elevate their program. The Fun has just begun!