Thursday, August 27, 2009

High Altitude Training Camp


Our 12th Harlem Ambassadors pre-season training camp will open a week from today on Thursday, September 3. This is always the most exciting time of the year as we prepare for another season of Harlem Ambassadors basketball.

Our core group is solid with Coach Lade Majic returning to the court after spending nearly all of last season recovering from a torn achilles tendon injury. Majic will be performing on the Red, White, and Blue Tour and directing that tour as well. Veteran Jesse "Nephew" Whintly will manage the Stars and Stripes Tour and Ashley Wilson returns as the show player on that tour.

We are excited about the potential of the group that we have coming into camp. We are expecting two big men (over 6-8), two show speedy dribblers, two understudy female players, and a collection of high-flying dunkers. They all have great potential. What our training camp is all about is converting that potential into production.

The first step is conditioning. We hold our camp in Fort Collins, Colorado. The community is at nearly 5,000 feet along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Since nearly all of our performers arrive at Training Camp from low altitude locations, the first few days of camp finds them gasping in the thinner mountain air. But there are no oxygen masks dropping from the overhead compartment. Players who thought that they were in great shape discover that they aren't. Within a couple of days, most players adjust and by the end of camp our team is in excellent cardiovascular condition.

Much more on Training Camp in the coming days.