Ball Stars Basketball Camp a great tournament for getting recruited into a college in America
I have to start this article with a disclaimer. The last time I attended a Ball Stars basketball camp was in 2001 in Indiana. I attended this camp as a spectator watching my friends team compete; Lincon Trail College Trail Blazers. Even though it was so long ago I still remember the tournament very well. I get how you might be doubting my memory, after all it was 14 years ago that I attended this camp. So I have also asked one of the two kids I sent to the camp to share with us their experience.
Having spent most of the summer in USA with my Aussie friend Senad at Lincoln Trail College one of the events his coach let me tag along to was the Ball Stars Basketball camp held in Indiana State university. Yep, I got to walk the corridors the legendary basketball player Larry Bird did when he was attending the school. The venue the tournament was held at was the gymnasium of the university. Boy was this place massive! I remember the sports hall had 8 basketball courts filled with legitimate ballers.
From the sidelines the camp was very well run over the weekend. Players were allocated to teams and the fixtures were really well set so the admin part of the tournament was A+. But the biggest draw card for up and coming college basketball players was the the plethora of college coaches. I remember sitting in the stands in close proximity to about 20 NCAA D1 basketball coaches. All with note pads taking notes and comparing notes. I have never ever seen in one place a collection of coaches looking at talent for recruiting.
The exposure to US college coaches at Ball Stars camps really impressed me. I have played in pro-ams where pro scouts attended but it was nothing like what I saw at Ball Stars. The coaches were legitimately interested in recruiting. They spoke to players after each game and at times gave them feedback. I’m sure the camp I attended had coaches offer a fair few players full ride scholarships. One particular player all the coaches were drooling over was a 6’10” point guard. Nope, it’s not a typo he was 6’10”!
Luke’s Chapman’s experience at Ball Stars
My first trip outside of Australia was to follow my love of basketball and go to the states. For years I had a dream to play college basketball so it was really awesome when Manage (Manage = Manoj, Manage is my nickname) decided to help me out.
Manoj gave me advice on how to contact college coaches and helped me device a plan that saw me visit a few schools in the Los Angeles area. One of the best pieces of advice I got from Manoj was to attend the Ball Stars basketball camp.
I decided to attend the Ball Stars camp in Burbank Chicago as it coincided with the dates we were going to be in the states. The camp was held at a community college in the suburbs of Chicago and I stayed in a hotel 15 minutes away form the venue which made getting to the games convenient.
The first day of camp was really exciting; this was the first time I was going to play basketball in another country and in a way this was the first step to me being a college player. The camp kicked off with a meet and greet session where Rick Ball introduced himself and all the coaching staff for the camp. Each player did a short introduction which took a long time as there were 50 basketball players in total attending our camp. Out of the 50 attendees my friend and I were the only Aussies, the rest were fresh out of high school Americans.
The camp ran from Monday to Friday 9am to 3pm which was a lot longer than the camp Manoj attended as a spectator awhile ago. I guess the format of it has changed in the 14 years. The camp kicked off each day with warm ups and stretching followed by shooting drills. None of the warm ups and shooting drills were new to us as it was basically what rep basketball clubs do in Australia.
After our warm ups and shooting drills we have our first break which meant game time! Directly after our break we get put into teams and allocated coaches which meant 7 to 8 players per team/ coach. Each team had two coaches whom explained what they wanted from us; for example basic motion principles, on ball screens, full court man to man d and so on. The games were four 10 minute quarters with breaks between games. With the rotation we’d play each team twice in a day.
Between games there’s a mandatory lunch break which enabled me to go and have a chat with players and coaches. It was a good feeling being an Aussie in an American basketball camp. They loved my accent!
Proceeding the games we did more shooting; these were again basic shooting drills. The coaches communicate the drills very well and it’s easy to pick up if you hadn’t come from a rep background.
End of the day the coaching staff would come and talk to us individually. Providing constructive feedback for us to better understand what we could be doing better also what we are doing good. The feedback was very detailed as throughout the day they are constantly making notes in their notebooks.
The camp was very enjoyable and I recommend anyone that is looking to play college ball in the states to consider this option. Playing rep in Australia can be political so getting seen is hard in this country. Ball Stars can give international players the exposure to college recruits all in one place.
Final thoughts on Ball Stars Basketball Camp
Luke’s accounts of the camp mirror that of what I saw when I visited Ball Stars camp in Indiana 14 years ago. It is a great way to gain exposure as the amount of college coaches attending is amazing.
Now, I need to make this clear. Ball Stars is not an affiliate so I am not getting money for plugging the basketball camp. There are many camps like this around the world. They all charge a decent fee including Ball Stars. This is why I am not going to go into the cost in this article.
Is it worth it? Well, that’s something you need to weigh up. But, in my opinion the camp is well run and the exposure to college coaches though all divisions is worth considering.
Thanks Luke for sharing your experience of the Ball Stars camp with all of us. If you too have attended Ball Stars I’d like to hear from you. Please comment below and tell me about your experience.
If you enjoyed this article and know some of your friends that might find this useful please use the social media icons to share.
