I just got back from John Calipari’s Basketball School, father & son camp, and it was an awsome experience for a life long wildcat fan, if you ever get the chance to go $3oo bones is a small price to pay for the experience, if you dont have your own son borrow one.

I have a ton of  pictures and stories from camp, and ill post them over the next few days, im having a little trouble uploading some of the pics, when i get them fixed ill put up a scrapbook. but here’s a quick rundown.

Let me start with a little story, about 3 years ago my wife and I took a trip to Hollywood CA, we went on the Price Is Right and saw Bob Barker before he retired, at CBS studios she saw some Stars from the Soap Opera’s she likes, we went to the Mission Impossible 3 Premiere and stood by the red carpet on the Walk Of Fame, we saw Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, We saw Will Smith, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and many more Movie Stars, and although I thought it was cool, I thought it was a little silly she was so star struck, well now I know how she feels, as a life long Wildcat fanatic these guys are the stars to me .

On friday afternoon about 4pm the LittleCat and I arrived on campus, and after we registered and got settled in our room, we went to a cookout outside our complex where Scott Padgent and most of the current team were there signing autographs and just hanging out. The first player I talked to was Matt Pilgrim, I was surprised he was still on campus, but we talked several times over the two days and ill have a story on his situation later. One thing that was so cool was that the players and coaches were so accessible, they would just hang out and talk as long as you wanted, everyone was really cool and great with the kids.

At 6 pm we all met at the Seaton Center, which is a great complex, with an aquatic center, a state of the art strength and weight traning center and five basketball courts, and thats just what i saw, all the Assistants and players were there, except the freshmen who cant work the camp because of some crazy NCAA rule (but they got to play in the pickup games we watched and sign autographs, I will break down the pickup games in a later post).

Over 500 father and sons were gathered in the gym mingling with the players and former players, John Robic who has a killer New York Accent, was running the show, he explained the camp schedule and activites, then divided the campers by age group with Rod Strickland (super cool guy), Martin Newton, Orlando Antigua, and Scott Padgent all having a group with several players in each group working as counselors. We then all headed on a two mile trek to Memorial Coliseum, where Coach Calipari addressed the group and showed one of his new tapes that will be released soon, then the groups were split up in five different gyms, Memorial,the mens Practice Facility, the womens Practice Facility, and the Seaton Center. let me say that all the Complexs are a sight to see, and I doubt that any program in the country can match UKs facilities. We were with  John Robic, Josh Harrellson, Matt Pilgrim, Ramon Harris, and Jared Prickett.

I know im a proud father but honestly out of 90, 8 year old kids, my son the LittleCat was far and above better than any player there. JUST SAYIN.

We ran some drills and had some skill competitions, and then had a father and son shoot out where we broke in to teams, with the winners rotating between 10 goals and the losers staying at their basket, if you even need to ask, the BigCat was stroking it. JUST SAYIN.

At 9PM the players held the Pickup games, and really put on a great show for the kids, Dunks Galore.

After the game we were headed back to the Blanding Tower to clean up and for some pizza, coming up the side of the building I heard a distinct voice and looked over and sitting on a golf cart next to some picnic tables was John Calipari, we took some Pictures and hung out and talked for about 20 minutes just us and two more guys from Somerset, I even called my brother the Love Muscle and Cal talked to him on the phone for a couple of minutes, which was pretty cool, Calipari is just a down to earth guy, and its really easy to see how he lands top recruits, he is just the kind of person who has an aura about them, and can relate to anyone. some more folks started gathering so we went around front and sat in a golf cart with Rod Strickland, I was always a fan of Rod In the NBA, he was one of the scrappiest guards ever, and he is a really cool guy. We then went to the room which was pretty nice, but its a community bathroom so that stunk. but no one dared take a shower around the BigCat for fear of embarrassment.

The next morning we had breakfast and went to the gym, my son had been sick with a stomach virus the whole trip and got to feeling really bad about halfway thru the morning session, he was kind of upset and needed some air so we stepped out a side door, then the coolest part of the whole trip happened, Coach Calipari was walking up the sidewalk headed to the front entrance, we were across a yard about 100 yards away, he saw my son was upset and crying a little(he’s competitive like his dad and was mad he felt so bad), Cal asked if he was alright and walked all the way across the field and gave the LittleCat a big hug, he stood with his arm around him and talked for a few minutes then hugged him again and told him if he didnt get to feeling better he could just hang out with him. When a guy is genuinely that caring towards a little kid you never forget it, Cal is a terrific guy and I will always respect him for how well he treated my son, in the picture below you can see the tears welled up in the LittleCats eyes .

The rest of the day was some teaching drills and games, then a autograph session and another pickup game.

Overall it was an awesome trip, and I would highly recommend any Wildcat fans who would like the chance to see the team in a up close and personal setting to attend next year. I made memories with my son that I wont ever forget. I Know I sound like a Fanboy but when it comes the the Cats thats what I am.

Ill break down the Pickup games and have some more stories in later posts.