 "Photo: Coleman Morefield")
 "Photo: Coleman Morefield")
At 7 a.m. on Wednesday, 15-year-old Garrett Stockton got up to start the day, and when he reached down to tie his sneakers the sore muscles burned from the past week's events.
But when he stood up, the grimace he was wearing quickly turned into a confident smile, and he proudly marched to the United Spirit Arena to push himself once more.
This may not seem like the atmosphere that normally surrounds a youth basketball camp, but Tech basketball coach Pat Knight runs things a little differently.
The first session of The Pat Knight Basketball Camp took place this week, and both Knight and the young participants, ages 9 to 18, agreed that the experience was the perfect combination between hard work and fun.
Knight took over Tech's basketball camp for the first time this year following in the footsteps of his father, Bob Knight, who ran the camp in the past. Pat Knight continued his father's tradition of making his camp physically challenging in hopes of molding better conditioned basketball players.
"I want them to be tired every night and be complaining in the morning that they are a little sore," Knight said. "I'll encourage them to work through that. The camp is designed to be tiring, and I have tried to keep that the same as dad always did it."
Saro Ntagha, a 15-year-old camp participant from Houston, said he appreciated the challenging format of the basketball camp, and he plans to continue building on the skills he gained this week.
"It has been a tough camp, but I have had a lot of fun," Ntagha said. "I am learning drills that I will be able to take back home to my teammates, which means a lot."
Even though the camp is a challenging week for young players, Pat Knight said it's important they enjoy themselves and learn different aspects of the game.
"I feel like we teach, where a lot of basketball camps just babysit," he said. "A lot of places take the kids to the pool or the arcade, but we wanted to make sure these kids learn the fundamentals of the game, and have a good time while doing that."
Pat Knight, along with some of his coaching staff, worked with players on fundamentals and work ethic this week. He said it was important he spends as much time with camp participants as possible.
"I don't want to be one of those guys that has my name on the camp, but you never see me," Knight said. "So I try to interact with the kids as much as I can. I get to hang out with them and teach them drills and eat lunch with them and everything."
Each camp day was split into morning and afternoon sessions. Players spent their mornings alternating stations and conditioning exercises, while afternoons were spent playing pick-up games and other competitions.
Most of the participants stayed in Murdough Hall throughout the week, and Pat Knight said housing the players on campus enriches the experience of the camp.
"I think it is good for a lot of them to be around kids their own age for a whole week and just play basketball all day," he said. "You can't ask for anything better than that."
The final lesson Knight said he tried to teach the kids was the determination it takes to develop basketball fundamentals in the long run. Knight encouraged the camp participants to continue to improve their fundamentals even after camp ends.
"Sometimes kids take for granted that they will become a good player overnight," he said. "They have to take everything we have taught them and work on it day in and day out. Hopefully some of the kids have a new appreciation for the game after this week."
The Pat Knight Basketball Camp will have one more individual session June 21 to June 25, which is open to third grade students to seniors in high school.
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