Our NBA Fantasy Camp Experience

Last weekend, my son and I had the opportunity to attend one of the NBA Fantasy Camps in our area. Dove Men+Care invited us to spend the afternoon with other dads and their children, playing basketball and brushing up on our skills, at the ELEVATE Basketball & Performance Training in Concord, California. The real surprise was that also attending the NBA Fantasy Camp was 7-time NBA Champion, Robert “Big Shot Rob” Horry!

We showed up to the training center last Saturday, excited and happy just to be spending the day together, doing something that my son loves most of all: Playing basketball. What we didn’t expect, was how far above and beyond Dove Men+Care was going to go to make the day absolutely unforgettable.

First came signing a bunch of waivers, as one would expect going to an NBA-hosted event, but immediately afterward the Dove folks handed my son and I each a gym duffle bag that had some heft to it. Inside of each gym bag was a bunch of free Dove Men+Care product, Golden State Warriors shwag (shirts and hats), NBA Fantasy Camp uniforms to wear for the days event, sweatbands, and towels.

My good friend, Jim Higley of Bobblehead Dad welcomed us all there and introduced Robert Horry. It’s always strange meeting professional athletes because a lot of the time, they act like being there is the last thing they want to do and you can see them continuously checking the clock. Robert Horry wasn’t like that at all. He was extremely personable, spent one-on-one time with everyone, joked around with us while we were doing basketball drills, and made it clear he was enjoying himself. My son has played basketball through our local YMCA for a couple of seasons and also played on his school’s team last year, so he was completely in his element and had an ear-to-ear smile the entire afternoon.

After a lot of basketball skill drills and some scrimmage games, Dove brought in lunch from the local Jimmy John’s and while we ate, we listened to Jim interview Rob about basketball, the value of hard work, and about his role as a father. We also had the opportunity to get an early peek at Dove Men+Care’s new advertising campaign, just in time for Father’s Day. At the end of the event, everyone there was smiling, laughing, and sweating from shooting hoops with our kids, but then Dove blew us all way by giving each of us vouchers for a free jersey of our choice from the NBA Shop.

Almost a week later, my son is still buzzing about the event and about how he got one-on-one shooting tips from an NBA legend! If you ever have an opportunity to attend one of the NBA Fantasy Camps, take it. Even if you’ve never played basketball before, you won’t regret the experience!