The Father/Son Camp 2011 Photo Gallery is updated throughout the weekend.

Saturday morning before drills and game playing began, Coach Cal addressed the 600 Big Blue Nation fathers and sons in attendance at the annual kickoff to Coach’s summer camp season.

Here, in broad outline, are some of the topics Coach Cal touched on:

TO THE DADS:

• You can’t teach to frustration. “They don’t think we know what we’re talking about. That’s just how it is. My girls didn’t and my son doesn’t,” Coach Cal said.

• The fathers’ generation(s) were outdoors playing sports, not indoors pretending to. “We used to go out and keep stats and hit game winners in the drivewa. That’s what they’re doing in front of the TV with video games,” Coach Cal said.

• So, you deal with it. “You’re not going to shut it down; they do it in their time,” Coach Cal said.

• Don’t make a fun game torturous for the kids. “When you’re teaching and they get frustrated, which they will, move on to something different. If they’re having fun with something spend a little more time with it,” Coach Cal said.

• As Dad’s get older, they have to stop coaching. “The Coach is supposed to coach them. You’re supposed to love them.”

TO THE YOUNGSTERS:

• If you want to get good at this you start spending a little bit of time every day. “Maybe 10 or 15 minutes before school you are just dribbling. Or doing lay-ups. Then when you get home before homework and video games – and in between “Sponge Bob”!! – do another 15 minutes. Then maybe something – even just throwing socks into your trash can in your room – before bed,” Coach Cal said. “You wind up spending an hour a day of messing with that basketball and in those small bites you start to say, ‘I am getting better at this.’”

• That leads to more confidence, deeper understanding of the game. “Get your buddies over to the park and play some games. Play HORSE. Set up cones, whatever just to be working on your game.”

-RTL-

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