The Golden Eaglettes huddle around coach Lynn Burkey during a time out earlier this week during Shelbyville Team Camp No. 2. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Camping is a time for small armies of people to venture out in unison to get away from everyday hassles to enjoy the more relaxing parts of life.

Basketball camp is not entirely different. There aren't any roasted marshmellows or ghost stories but there are plenty of late-night giggle sessions and bonding experiences to go with fundamental growth on the hardwood.

Today marks the beginning of the TSSAA's summer dead period for all sports and it's in place until July 5. From the time school is out until today, coaches had 15 days to work out with their teams and up to 10 of those could be used for team versus team competition. This is where Shelbyville Team Camp No. 1 and No. 2 come in.

Girls basketball teams from all over the state flood to Bedford County to participate in these camps. The action is spread across five locations -- Shelbyville, Cascade, Harris Middle, Thomas Intermediate and the Recreation Center.

The construction taking place on campus at Shelbyville has made some things tough to juggle. Their main floor was not at their disposal a year ago. This year, for possibly the first time ever, they're not providing any meals.

"We've worked hours and hours preparing for this so it runs smoothly," Shelbyville coach Lynn Burkey said. "We get wonderful cooperation from every other high school in the county.

"We emphasize teamwork with our kids, but it takes a lot teamwork from a lot of people in this community to make this camp work."

The first team camp contained 23 varsity and 23 junior varsity teams. The second had 36 varsity and 33 JV.

The purpose

After the regular season is completed, teams automatically enter a three-week dead period before spring practice. Then, the summer becomes invaluable as coaches put in new offenses and defenses, gauge the loss of graduation and try to mesh the players returning.

Community coach Allison Layne goes over instruction with Courtney Vassar during a contest at Thomas Intermediate School. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

"You get the repetition. You get to try new things," said second-year Community coach Allison Layne, whose team played 22 varsity games at three different camps.

"For us, we didn't lose any starting seniors. So, we basically came with the same amount, but we did have people that were hurt that didn't get to play at the end of the season. It's a good thing to see everybody back in the rotations, see what you're gonna have and see what you need to work on in the future."

A rookie coach like Lebanon's Ashley Johnson pointed to the summer as a chance to asses what she has to work with come October.

"Team camp is very, very important because it gives me a chance to see ... my team's weaknesses and strengths," said Johnson, who won Miss Basketball as an Eaglette in 2002. "It also gives me a chance to see what kind of players I have, how they play under pressure, how they play in adversity, how they play when they're tired."

After seniors leave, so goes their leadership. Someone has to speak up in the huddle, quarterback the offense and point younger teammates in the right direction. Roles become defined.

That group of young ladies seen at the end of the bench last season get to take their warm-up suits off, show their progress and compete for more playing time as the next season approaches.

"We're working our younger kids in," Burkey said. "We've got some JV kids that are moving up to varsity and playing some key roles.

"We've got a great freshmen class this year. It gives us a chance to start to work them in and let them learn the Eaglette way of doing things and learn our system. This is very valuable time for us."

Blending chemistry

Players live out of suitcases and sleem on air mattresses on campus at Harris Middle (pictured) or Shelbyville Central to build team chemistry. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Listen carefully during the state tournaments in Murfreesboro and there are always stories about how that particular team has players that have been playing together since they were in elementary school. There's something to be said for teams with athletes who truly care for one another and compete as one cohesive unit.

Not everybody has that luxury. Larger schools get players from a variety of backgrounds and middle school programs.

Staying on campus were 21 teams this week. Several coaches admitted that they enjoy bunching the air mattresses together in a corner of a school cafeteria and see their girls get to know one another.

"The girls work better during team camp because they get to do more communicating," Layne said. "They're here all day. All you think about is basketball for three days. It's good for them."

Why Shelbyville?

The length of time coaches get with their teams has shrunk from years past and almost all camp play takes place in June. Thus, there are more options in a condensed time frame. Nevertheless, Shelbyville's camps remain well-attended.

"You get the best competition for the best price," Burkey said. "We're not trying to make a killing."

Burkey and his staff are in charge of scheduling some 190 varsity contests, which he admits is a stressful task.

The staff tries to rotate teams so that they're not always in the same gym. The games need to be spaced out. They try to get commuting teams finished earlier than others since they have a drive ahead of them after a long day of action. District opponents never face one another and only occasional region foes play. Lastly, they try to match the teams evenly.

"A blowout doesn't help anybody," Burkey said. "The competition here is the very best and regardless of what we try and do, probably one of our toughest jobs as a coaching staff is to do the scheduling."

Lebanon also camped at Middle Tennessee earlier in June but Johnson had high praise for the level of play her team has seen here. "This team camp definitely has the best competition in the state," Johnson said.

Burkey enjoys seeing schools like Wilson Central, Oak Ridge and Mt. Juliet coming to town to raise the bar.

"It's all the difference in the world," he said. "You never know how good you are till you get tested in the fire.

"I can't think of a year that's gone by that there weren't at least five or six teams from Shelbyville Team Camp that wound up in the final four in their division of the state, sometimes more than that."

Getting everybody there

Just getting the whole roster to the summer workouts is a challenge in itself. The typical family maps out their summers well in advance in order to break away from school and work. Those schedules don't always mesh well with basketball.

Families go on vacation. Churches host their camps. Other sports compete for the athlete's time. Summer school classes are in session.

"There's almost always somebody that has a conflict of some kind," Burkey said. "You can get down to the mulley grubs and worry about who's not here or you can choose to work with who is here."

Economic impact

Most teams bring 15-20 players. Multiply that times 35 and you get a good idea as to how many players flood into Bedford County.

Not all the schools stay on campus. A half-dozen teams or so choose to stay in local motels.

They have to eat somewhere too. One local restaurant manager said Shelbyville Team Camp No. 2 marks his biggest week of the entire year.

"We're bringing revenue into Bedford County," Burkey said. "That's not our primary purpose, but that's a pretty good secondary purpose.

"It's tough times for our businesses, and it's good for us to help the community for all the times the community helps us."