Out of Control

So I finished up yet another week of NBC basketball camp last Thursday and thanks be to God...no kids were lost...not one. We ended with the same amount we started with and the older I get the more phenemonal the feat appears to be. Statistics and pop culture pundits scoff at the good in our world illuminating with cynicism how kids are inundated with messages that encourage hate, haplessness and a sense of entitlement. It always sounds like there's little to no hope for the 9-18 year old. If I didn't run basketball camps from time-to-time, I might agree that America's youth are doomed.

But I didn't lose one camper last week and here's why it's a big deal. At camp, there's 1 staff member/coach for every 10 campers. While we're in the gym during the day, kids frequent the bathrooms, visit the training room in the event of injury and are generally exposed to visitors who sporadically show up on the campus where camp is held. At night, when the staff and campers retire to the dorms, 7-to-8 hours lie between night and the next day's roll call. There were at least four other groups on campus while my staff and I managed 66 athletes of mixed gender with various medical needs and levels of socialization. Why isn't there more bedlam amidst the camp? The answer has to be linked if not rooted in the character of young people who are not yet sullied beyond salvation.

To think that there are still young people who value authority and respond to it is a stern refutation of the notion that freedom is "doing whatever you want." The kids at camp didn't seem to believe that. They wanted to be challenged. We trained from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and each camper completed an hour-long circuit trainng regimen called "Intensity Night" on Tuesday, June 23. Camp is Camp. Girls look across the cafeteria at the boys and vice-versa. Yes, someone tried to flush another boys shoe down a toilet. And Yes, kids put trail mix in one of my staff member's beds but out of control the youth culture is not. They are waiting - waiting to have their convictions excavated and their resolve tested. I didn't lose one kid at camp last week because they didn't want to be lost. It's as simple as that. Name one person you know who wants to be lost, aimless, and untethered? I'm convinced that people don't mind following if the leaders know where their going. Kids aren't out of control. They're out of patience with adults who abdicate responsibilty. You want to reclaim the youth? Be a model worthy of replicating.