I spoke to a lot of kids at the Hoop Group Top 100 camp in Baltimore.

A lot.

And every single kid I talked to I asked why they chose to attend camp. Every single one gave some variety of the same answer: exposure, competition, playing against the best players in the area, getting my name out there.

But it’s also a fact that the kids who come to camp strictly to play in games are missing out. The Baltimore Top 100 provided campers a chance to run through drills with more than a dozen collegiate coaches. And, while the way to draw the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from fellow campers is a vicious crossover or a deep three-ball, that’s not the only way to catch the eye of a recruiter.

Running hard through drills, listening to advice that is given to you, and trying to improve based on the coaching you get are skills coaches look for. A good attitude and a good work ethic are just as important as a good jump shot and a quick crossover.

“The key to getting better is to do things at game speed,” one coach said at the Northern Virginia Top 100. “The hardest thing at camps like these is getting kids to have energy in drills. They have to accept coaching, and they have to want to be here.”

At the Baltimore Top 100, the camp started with a stations session. There was a ball-handling station, a station where players worked on defensive rotations in the shell drill, and a station to work on running the pick-and-roll. In order to see all the kids in camp, I decided to pick the shooting station, where the coaches were teaching the players how to properly take a jumper coming off of an off-ball screen.

One player who caught my attention with his work ethic was Kofi Andoh, a 6’3” junior guard from CH Flowers High School. Andoh took to heart the coaching he was given, taking his first rep slowly to emphasize his footwork and working his way to game speed by the last reps at the station.

After seeing how well he accepted coaching, I made a mental note to keep an eye on Andoh. During the games, Andoh did a lot of things well. He defended hard, he made smart passes, and he made an effort to move without the ball on the offensive end of the floor, something you don’t see much of in camp games, as kids try to showcase their one-on-one ability. Watching him closely, you could see Andoh knew how to play the game. But I never would have been watching him closely – and wouldn’t be writing about him now – if he hadn’t gone through stations work the proper way.

The same can be said for Tay Charles, a 5’9” junior point guard from Chambersburg High School in Pennsylvania. Charles went full-speed during stations, calling for the ball when coaches told him to and emphasizing fakes when he was told to.

Like Andoh, the hard work Charles put in during stations got my attention, so I made sure to see him during the games. Again, like Andoh, Charles wasn’t scoring much, but it was obvious that this kid would be a terrific point guard and leader in a proper team setting. He’s a strong and quick defender, unafraid to work hard for all 94 feet. He has a solid handle and understands how to distribute the ball. But, most importantly, he was always talking – calling out help-side, calling out screens, calling names of the players he was passing to.

Also like Andoh, Charles was not a kid that I would have zeroed-in on had I not seen him working in practice.

The lesson?

Whenever you have a basketball in your hands, play like a scholarship is on the line. You never know who is watching.