[BballRookie]

- I hope this isn't out of place in this thread:

I know that camps have been brought up previously, but as a newer official, I go out of my way to promote camps with my peers(I just attended one), because sometimes they can be presented in the wrong way. I have encouraged friends to find an instructional camp where they will get a lot of feedback and have the opportunity to sit in sessions covering important topics. For instance "If you totally blow a call how do you respond to an irate coach" or "at what point does an emotional coach shift to a disrespectful coach" etc etc. For a new official, this may be a completely demoralizing situation to think about and those situations can ruin your game. Not all clinicians are the best, but there going to be things that you'll learn in a very intense 3 day period that you won't during the season, primarily because you have paid to have a talented official watch and give you feedback.

My mentor told me that a camp is worth 3 seasons. I found that to be accurate in my experience. Even though I felt lost at camp, I felt very confident when I got back home. It was almost like a steroid for my confidence level.

The only camp I went to was instructional, although assigners were acting as clinicians. Many of the guys had attended other camps where the feedback was less frequent, and they didn't learn as much. We had very candid conversations, so there was no reason for them to sugar coat their opinions.

Bottom line: not all camps are created equally, but some are very helpful. Ask a number of people their opinion, since bias exists with the recommendations you'll receive.