The most wonderful time of the year

Yeah that's right, I'm talking about K Academy. No one really understands why I take a week of vacation from my real job to go work at my old job, but I love it. I mean really, what's not to love about watching basketball, planning and attending awesome dinners, hanging around Cameron with the Duke crew and the Circle of Trust. The week is unbelievably exhausting, but that is just a minor detail compared to the awesome time we have and the amazing people there. The attendees are guys that are 35 years old or older and are from all over the country, Canada and India. They all have different backgrounds, have extremely diverse careers, and some of them even graduated from different ACC schools. I love meeting the rookies and getting to see the returning attendees every year, it's fun to keep up with their lives and families through the camp. Of course I love going back to work for my former bosses, seeing the Duke family, and the coaching staff.

Besides getting to see some of my absolute favorite people I think my highlight this year occurred at the Washington-Duke bar. As we were all hanging out in the bar on Friday night there was a wedding party there that recognized a couple of the former players we were with. The bride-to-be was a Duke grad and all the guys were so pumped to take pictures and get autographs, to buy drinks for us, and even invited us all the wedding reception the following night. I think the best part was when they decided to oust the best man and replace him with a former Duke star. That night concluded with some hilarious shenanigans and some great stories that will forever be omitted from this blog.

The week ended with an amazing dinner on Saturday night that included a wine tasting hosted by the owners of Pavi Wines, and then an auction benefitting the Emily K Center. The auction was hugely successful and will allow the Center to continue to work with and help the underprivileged children of Durham. On Sunday we have the championship tournament, which is really the day we get to watch the most basketball. Here is a picture of me with the K Academy Championship trophy, which I did not shine with gloves like I did last year.

Gene Wojciechowski - no relation to Coach Wojo - was a rookie at K Academy this year and has posted a short video and pretty funny story on his times at camp on espn.com. Here's the link to his story; it chronicles the day to day activities better than I have here. I'm so thankful I still get the chance to go back and work this camp and I'm already looking forward to K Academy IX.