Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

Is this year by personal invite only??? A friend of mine in the midwest who's a D1 official got an email from Joe Forte. I've been to Gibbons the last 2 years but i'm not in any NCAA conferences so I doubt Joe Forte has my name on his roladex.

For those who don't know, the reason I bring this up is that Bob Gibbons used to belong to John Guthrie and his interns. Well obviously that's not the case this year. Joe Forte is now responsible for assigning the Bob Gibbons Tourney.

Originally Posted by tomegun

When is the tournament?

Tom, the tournament is held every year on Memorial Day weekend beginning with games Friday evening and ending with championship games late Sunday afternoon. I finagled my way in 2 years ago with the help of friends in the system and I attended again last year legally

For the price (previously only the price of your hotel room, this year add a $75 fee to that) Bob Gibbons is easily the best camp I've ever attended. Every game I worked, except one (i won't get into that long story), was observed by a D1 and/or NBDL ref who always provided helpful and pertinent feedback at half and after the game. Off the top of my head I remember being observed by Lorenzo Bronson, Mike Nance, and Roger Ayers.

Everyone is thrown together. You could be working with 2 other guys from your hometown one game and then with two D1 officials the next. First game I worked there 2 years ago I worked with now NBA ref Eric Lewis (I didn't know who he was at the time) with John Guthrie watching on the side. Last year I worked in Cameroon Indoor Stadium with now NBA ref David Guthrie with a top SEC observer on the sideline. The talent there is the best I've personally seen at any camp.

This year Joe Forte has added classroom instruction and video breakdown (maybe that's explains the new $75 fee). Haven't decided yet if I will try to get myself invited b/c I have my kids that weekend. I brought them with me 2 years ago but there were no classroom sessions so I was able to bring them with me everywhere I went. That was great b/c on the last day my kids got to sit on the floor of the Dean Dome for my last game. My oldest was able to have a couple shoot-arounds with Sean May (UNC players were table personnel in the Dean Dome). Needless to say UNC became my son's favorite team after that , just in time for their National Championship.