Eurocamp Looking Back – A Coach`s Perspective

Eurocamp Looking Back – A Coach’s Perspective
By W. John Grant (a.k.a. Sheriff Braveheart)
It was the summer of 1996 and I was sitting in my office at Arbroath High School when the telephone rang. On the other
end of the line a rather gruff voiced with a strong eastern - european accent enquired “Coach Grant what are you doing
this summer?” – to which I replied that during my six week holiday I would be spending four weeks in the USA, two on
vacation with my family, preceded by two weeks at Basketball Camps in, Cincinnati(Xavier) and Pittsburgh(Five-Star).
“Would you like to come to Hungary for two weeks”? This meant I would spend my final two weeks there and return to
Scotland the day before the new school term began – something I had never previously done. I reluctantly, accepted the
invitation from Dr. Nemeth Laszlo, someone who I knew plenty about having read his excellent basketball materials, but
had actually only met and briefly worked with previously, when one of my players had made the GB Youth Olympic
Team the previous year. The only time he saw me on the floor actually coaching was at a Scotland Junior Men’s training
session on a cold Sunday in February in Falkirk, when he was scouting for players for the GB Team. Must have made
some kind of impression!?
I arrived in Budapest, having been met by Laszlo, who without a great deal of conversation drove me out to the town of
Szazhalombatta, about 20k from the capital - Budapest. I was taken to my accommodation, a small (stalag #1)hut on the
campus which was sparsely decorated but adequate. My neighbours (stalag#2) were two Arab coaches named Salem
Attiq and Hilal Dajani, who invited me to join them in a smoke (I declined). We exchanged pleasantries and then met
other coaches from different parts of the world – including Gutti Gunnarrson (Iceland) who became known immediately
as “Nanook of the North” and Luc Vergussen(Netherlands) who I quickly nicknamed “The Kaiser” for reasons that
became apparent as the week went on but in time became a term of endearment – a truly great guy ! As the week
went on most coaches received nicknames and they were generally well received and meant in the best possible taste –
apart from Brany of course?! He informed me one day that Whisky was invented in Slovakia – yeah right?!That evening,
along with most of the coaches we attempted to ask the local staff where we could get a beer (Sur) but failed miserably
in translation, until late in the evening when I spied a crate of beer in the kitchen on the campus and asked if we could
purchase it. Hastily getting my forints (currency) out, we acquired a case of 24 large bottles of beer costing the grand
total of £2.40!! So when we eventually did find the local hostelries, we paid for nights out each, at ten pence a pint - and
not rounds due to the ridiculously cheap price! Those were the days!
By the end of the first week I had inherited a really good team of mostly Arabic players who won the championship and I
got to coach the Camp All Star Team and participated in the Coaches v Campers Classic in a Gym with no A.C. – I nearly
died. That evening, Laszlo pulled me aside – bought me a beer(he always knew how to get round me !) and asked me if I
would like to come back next year? I did not hesitate for one second to accept and went on to work all eight weeks of
Eurocamp Hungary from 1996-99 – the last two being in the capital Budapest itself – a beautiful, magnetic, thriving and
historic city. I fell in love with Hungary, learned a little of the language and would have worked there for much longer (if
invited) but unfortunately it came to an abrupt end due to the war in neighbouring Yugoslavia. Laszlo had by this time
established Eurocamp in Barrow-in-Furness from 1998 in partnership with Ian “goose chaser” France at the fabulous
Hoops Centre and so the tradition has continued. Also, from 1997-1999, I brought many Scottish players to the Camp
and they too were able to enjoy the delights of a wonderful, cultural and unique experience. I met with and made many
friends there and we shared countless good times, too many to list, except to say that I particularly miss our resident
Doctor Bogosi Tibor – an absolute gentleman, along with my buddies Hilal Dajani and Lajos Varga, with whom I shared a
special friendship.
As the time progressed, Laszlo gradually gave me some additional responsibilities at Camp, promoting me to “Deputy
Sherriff” a position that I proudly held until I missed a Eurocamp one year at Barrow and was informed the following
year “you no longer Deputy Sherriff – Roy Blake is now Deputy Sherriff” “That’s great I replied, I was going to resign
anyway, “No Braveheart you have been promoted – you now Sherriff!” Laszlo is a very hard man to say no to – so
Sherriff it was. As Sherriff, I tried to carry out my role to the best of my ability and would occasionally speak to Laszlo to
consider suggestions such as the way we did the player draft, the Worm (boy did he like that!) for player punishment
and the introduction of Conference Head Coaches – to try and enhance the already excellent daily routines that the
players and staff followed as devised and set out in the Manual (“read the manual baby”) by Laszlo himself. It was
organised differently from all the other Camps that I had previously worked, mostly in the States, where Station Groups
followed by League Games were the normal backbone of the Camp. Laszlo cleverly organised the day’s training in to
three one hour coaching sessions, followed by a 45 minutes session, all of which had to include a main topic such as
Passing. After that there was team training followed by a Camp League Game, then Dinner, followed by a further game.
It was very intense and extremely competitive and by the end of the day everyone was very tired and retired to bed for
some well-earned sleep in order to recuperate for the next day – apart from the Coaches of course – where at 10p a
pint, the majority could not avoid a nightly trip to the local hostelry – the wonderful Hotel Oktan. On one occasion, along
with Hilal and Lajos, I went to the bar to order three beers when Hilal asked me to get some peanuts as well. I had been
practising my Hungarian and by now could order drinks but certainly not peanuts – so when I said peanuts, I was given a
very cold stare of disapproval from the lovely young barmaid. Thinking that she had misheard or misunderstood me, I
repeated the word several times until I noticed that it was causing a bit of unrest both behind and at the bar, I retreated
hastily and asked Lajos what was the problem and he informed me that peanuts in Hungarian was a word that was
sometimes used crudely to describe a women’s reproductive organs! I rushed back to the bar and ordered peanuts
using the correct word “mojoro” (which I have never forgotten)and attempted to apologise profusely, only to hear Hilal
exclaim that he would rather have one of the “Hungarian peanuts” along with his beer – oh oh !!
In addition to the exciting Basketball Programme, Laszlo also created an award titled the “deflated basketball” which
was presented to the Coach on the final evening of Camp at the Awards Dinner and could only be voted for by the other
Coaches through written nominations, on who had made the biggest faux pas during the week . this honour was also
bestowed on me back-to-back as I remember, the most memorable for directing the players to the fast-flowing River
Danube, for the evening session, instead of directing them to the aptly named “mosquito courts” on the opposite side of
the Camp !! Nanook won the unofficial mosquito bite award with over 100 bites all over (and I mean all over!) his body!
Laszlo’s original mission statement of : Eurocamp where east meets west – come and play and learn from the best –
has certainly stood the test of time with 1000’s of Campers from all over the world enjoying the unique experience of
Eurocamp. Congratulations Laszlo, you are a genius and have created a fantastic learning environment for both players
and coaches – long may it continue. I have always enjoyed and learned a lot from watching your sessions and as you
know have tagged you as the man with more drills than Black + Decker – but you know that I am only joking, as the thing
myself and other coaches really like is the innovative and unique way you develop all your topics from a simple to a
complex setting – no other coach I have ever seen does it like that – there can be only one!? If any coach has not seen :
the Magic Three Passes, The Balloon Drills for Rebounding, The Screening Game, The Bench Drills and The Killing Lanes –
to name but a few, then they are quite frankly losing out? I raise my glass to you my great friend – Egészségere
I would like to finish with my all-time favourite story which occurred at Eurocamp Barrow, when I acquired a player on
my team called Rory Atkiss. His was the first name on the alphabetical draft list and I noticed that he was 22 – the
maximum age for a player – most kids are around 13-18 and so I sought him out during the draft. This was a big mistake
as after ten seconds I figured that he was by far the worst player I had ever clapped eyes on in over thirty years of
coaching! As my late dear friend Skip Prosser would say “he could not play dead in a cowboy movie”
When the traditional drawing of teams took place at the end of the draft on day one – from a cap with numbers in from
1-6 – securely held by Laszlo, I just knew who I was going to get – yep – Rory Atkiss – who greeted me with “Hi ya Bud”
to which I instantly reminded him that he was not my buddy and I was definitely not his friend! He was appalling both on
and off the court where he hustled the younger guys out of their loose change at Pool during the down time each
afternoon and stuffing the coins in to his shorts pockets. When I did try to coach him (an impossible task) I noticed that
he was also cross-eyed, with one eye looking at me and the other one looking for me! I swear he would be the only
person to ever sit at Wimbledon and watch the game without moving his head!
In a play-off game against Nick (Strip) O’Leary, a team we had lost to before dinner in the regular season and now had to
play back-to-back in the evening, we were again losing by only by two points with around 45 seconds remaining. I called
my final time-out, sent Rory to the scorer’s table to find out if the score was correct (which I already knew) and told the
players whatever you do: DO NOT PASS THE BALL TO RORY!! Well guess what some moron did and as soon as Rory
caught the ball, he launched it from deep in “coffin corner” in a direction towards the basket. I was by this time, going
apoplectic and about to march on court and squeeze the life out of him, when after what seemed an eternity, the ball
hit nothing but net to put us up by one point but still enough time for the other team to score. As I screamed at our
players to get back, including Rory, all the loose change fell out of his pocket and on to the floor but instead of ignoring
it, he stopped to pick it up, by now the red mist had fully descended and I cursed (did not swear) him out big time!
However, we miraculously hung on to beat a higher seed and advanced to the next round and my dear friend Nick had
the embarrassing honour of being knocked out by the worst ever player to come to Eurocamp! At the end of the game
as I walked out of the gym, I saw a 10p coin on the floor and indicated to Rory – when he bent down to pick it up I could
not resist a bit of payback and placed my size 12 Nike right in the middle of his butt and said “that’s from all the little
kids out there you hustled money from this week” The Rory Dome was born!! We shook hands at the end of the week
when he received - against my better judgement, my special (needs in his case) player award and thanked me in his own
imitable way “thanks bud”!!
In conclusion, I have many, many wonderful memories from all my Eurocamp experiences in: Szazhalombatta, Budapest,
Barrow-in-Furness and Bradford – for the record 22 weeks in all – only bettered by the main man himself: Dr.Nemeth
Laszlo. It has been an absolute honour and a privilege to be part of this wonderful institution – my thanks and best
wishes for continued success Laszlo.
W. John Grant
Eurocamp Coach 1996-2009
Clockwise from top L to R: 1.1997 Coaches Team with Don Lyons (USA ) in forefront. 2.1997 Awards Dinner –L to R: Hilal
Dajani, Lajos Varga, John Grant. Laszlo stalking in the background. 3. Budapest 1998 – Keith Ritchie, Hilal, Pete Barry
(USA), John Grant. 4. Eurocamp Coaching Staff 1997 in C+A snazzy uniforms ,except Laszlo, including funky Speedo
Shorts!?
Clockwise from top L to R. 1. Famous mosiquito courts during the day. 2. Eurocamp 1999 Scottish Party with Milan
Rozanek, Hilal and The Kaiser. 3. Lake Balaton 1999 – a great day out, including future Eurocamp Coaches Gareth Murray
and Laura Macfarlane? 4. Yankee Boy, Braveheart and The Kaiser – Szazhalombatta 1997.
The Original Eurocamp Staff and Players, Szazhalombatta, Hungary 1996
Laszlo – you must have taken this picture?