My boys went to basketball camp prior to starting middle school. They'd never stayed on campus, or with me being in Scouts at and camp each year, been on their own without a parent for that long. They loved it. One had a backup on the football team as his coach.

I offered a return trip as an incentive for grades, and they went again and still had fun. But the "Oh my gosh I'm at BYU" part had worn off. They'd been to other camps and rated the instruction at BYU as minimal-to-not-really there. They had fun in their teams, which were coached by regular college students. Got to play a lot of ball and earned all-camp honors both years--competition was pretty good but not amazing by any stretch. Met some nice kids--one from our local area who is very good was MVP one year. Written feedback was something most dad's could've offered after watching them in the driveway.

They didn't really care if they went again, so we bagged it and kept our money.

They enjoyed getting to see a few players and Coach Rose, but my kids aren't star struck by BYU athletes (like I probably would've been). These camps really do seem to bank on the fact that it's BYU, and therefore, people will want to come.

Also--the first year, we were told we were pretty much hopelessly at the bottom of a long wait lost, but we got a message a month before inviting both boys to the same camp. If you are told it's full, get on the waitlist.