Nigel Cabral Returns to his Summer Camp Roots as DA Summer Interim Director
By Dylan Howlett
Nigel Cabral could safely be forgiven for conflating paradise with summers in North San Diego. It was a young boy’s dream. His father, Ramon, was a chief in the Navy, and his mother, Monette, was a radiation oncology nurse at Naval Medical Center, also known as Balboa Hospital — the largest naval hospital on the U.S. West Coast. Before Ramon and Monette would drive 35 minutes to work and report for literal duty, they would drop off Nigel and his brother at sports camp. They would run and play and get lost in the timeless expanse of childhood competition, and Ramon and Monette would collect their boys at the conclusion of aftercare.
By the time he was 11, Nigel had grown out of camps and spent his summer months with neighborhood friends. He was an ardent fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, and as the brilliance of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal would invariably extend the Lakers’ season into June, the Cabrals would huddle around the TV in their living room. His grandma, Invención, spoke little English as an immigrant from the Philippines. But basketball was easy to grasp. There was a ball, there was a hoop, and the players ran to and fro as they tried to place the ball in the hoop. Invención was hooked. So, too, was Nigel, who eventually helped his high school basketball coach host camps during the summer. It would, in time, become something more than a passion: a vocation, and a calling.
In a little more than a week, Cabral will lead his first season of Durham Academy Summer as interim director, a position he assumed in April after previously serving as assistant director. Since 1982, DA Summer has offered premier summer camp experiences for families across the Triangle, now offering a trio of age-appropriate programs. Little will change under the leadership of the San Diego native who filled his summers with programming both intentional and joyous.
Ahead of DA Summer’s first day on June 10, Cabral — who also serves as DA’s varsity girls head basketball coach — sat down with the DA Marketing & Communications Team to share more about his affinity for Star Wars and anti-heroes alike; his well-timed, and historic, visit to the Staples Center to see Bryant play in person; his cross-country trek from San Diego to Durham; and why he wants all of his DA campers, families and staffers to “enjoy the ride” of summer.
This conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
DA: There’s a Darth Vader figurine on your desk, so we feel obligated to ask: Are you a Star Wars fan?
Cabral: “I’m a big Vader fan. He’s probably my favorite anti-hero. He’s very layered and tough to understand. And now I’m just a Star Wars nerd — not as much as I geeked out when I was younger. Do you remember when Taco Bell and Pizza Hut did all of their Star Wars stuff when Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace came out? I have so many of the straw toppers. It’s unreal. I’m embarrassed. I collected them when I was a kid in San Diego. I would always ask my grandpa to take me down there. I’d say, ‘Let’s buy a meal so I can get my toy.’ They’re still in my garage.”
DA: You were, and still are, a die-hard Lakers fan. Did you ever get the chance to watch Kobe and Shaq in person?
Cabral: “I’d probably get to two games per year. Fun fact, though: I went to Kobe’s 81-point game [on Jan. 22, 2006]. I was in the nosebleeds — center court, all the way up. My friend had gotten me a ticket for my birthday the year before. Tickets were so cheap because they were playing the Toronto Raptors — probably $39, I think, to sit in the nosebleeds. Being in the arena, it felt like a huge game, but it didn’t feel like an 81-point game until the buzzer. And then everyone was like, ‘Dude, he scored 81 points.’ I’ve been to several playoff games, and I would say in terms of excitement, those playoff games were a lot more exciting. It was weird. But 81 points? That’s unreal. When you stepped out of the arena, then you really felt like, ‘OK, he scored 81 points. This is a huge deal.’ My friend and I will still tag each other on Instagram or Facebook when we see a post about the game and will say, ‘Hey! We were there!’”
DA: Your parents have had a significant influence on your life. What stands out to you about their service in the Navy?
Cabral: “Both of my parents served in the Navy and immigrated from the Philippines. My dad, Ramon, was a chief in the Navy. My mom, Monette, was a radiation oncology nurse in the Navy. She worked in radiation therapy my whole life. She passed away in 2009. I like to celebrate her life. She’s done a lot for me, my family, this Earth.”
DA: One of those things that your mom did for you was push you toward participating in summer camps as a kid. What moments do you remember most from those days?
Cabral: “Flag football was my favorite camp. Something that I took from that camp and brought to DA Summer is our Ultimate Sports Camp. We had one of those when I was younger. You’d play different sports: kickball, capture the flag, flag football. Those were the ones that were most memorable. The counselors were memorable, too. They made a huge impact. And that’s why I’m here, and what brought me into what I have been doing the last 15, 20 years of my life.
In my adult career, I was the athletic director at the Boys & Girls Club of Carlsbad [California]. I facilitated sports for their after-school programs for nine years until 2020. That’s when obviously the world shut down, and we ultimately couldn’t hold sports. My wife and I were products of COVID: That’s why we’re here in Durham.”
DA: What were those events that eventually brought you to Durham?
Cabral: “It was kind of a perfect storm. Our lease was ending at our apartment, and we were like, ‘Do we just do this?’ It was a soft landing: My brother, my sister-in-law and my dad live out here. They moved here in 2016, and they’ve been recruiting Krista, my wife. ‘Come over here! You’ll have a better life!’ And at the time, in 2016, we were like, ‘We have it good here.’ That was just me being stubborn. I didn’t want to leave California. All of my friends were there.’ And then it just kind of took that push. We have zero regrets.
“In October 2020, we made the big move. We drove coast to coast. It was nuts. We were in my wife’s Nissan Rogue, which we packed with all of the essentials that we needed, along with our 12-year-old dog, Hennessy. We had a lowlight in New Mexico: We were driving behind one of those construction trucks that say, ‘Drive behind 200 feet.’ A rock flew up and cracked our windshield. We drove all the way from New Mexico to North Carolina with a cracked windshield. That was tough. But we made it.”
DA: How did you eventually find your way to DA?
Cabral: “When I ran my own club basketball team in San Diego, it was in parallel with the Boys & Girls Club. I told them I was moving out here to North Carolina. And they had a mutual friend who worked at DA — and that’s how [Director of Alumni Philanthropy & Engagement] Tim McKenna became my contact. I was like, ‘I don’t know anyone. Let me find a way to get back to basketball, which is my love language.’ So Tim gave me an opportunity to be his [varsity boys basketball] assistant that first year in 2020. After the season ended, I didn’t have a full-time job — so I went back to California for three months because my varsity season out there was pushed to the spring. I coached the team and couch surfed with my buddy for three months. I don’t regret it at all. I missed my family a lot, but it was definitely worth going back and closing everything out in California.
“Tim’s my in. He’s the reason why I’m at DA. He’s a good pal and a good mentor of mine. And now our offices are right next to each other.”
DA: And then you made the jump from varsity boys assistant to varsity girls head coach?
Cabral: “Yes: After the first few years on the boys staff, there was a vacancy in the girls position. That’s what I coached in California: I was a varsity girls head coach for five or six years. I interviewed for the job here and was really, really excited to be part of the program. Basketball is my love language.”
DA: What is it about basketball that speaks to you so much?
Cabral: “Part of it brings me back to my childhood. My grandma, Invención, lived with us. She didn’t know an ounce of English. But basketball was easy. They put the ball in the hoop, and that’s it. And my grandma found joy out of that. That’s how I got connected to basketball. So part of it brings me back to that. It’s a spark. Maybe that’s why it’s my love language. It connected my grandma and me. We’d watch every single game, every night.
“I’m a culture person first. Part of my basketball philosophy is, ‘Player before ball.’ I’m big on culture, I’m big on the locker room. If you win there first, then you win on the court.”
DA: How did your opportunity with DA Summer come to be?
Cabral: “When I first moved here, I was working with the basketball team and working with the Extended Day program as a substitute. That summer, when I returned from my three-month sabbatical in California — vacation, really — I came back and I was like, ‘I need to work.’ I inquired with [Director of Extended Day] Dan Gilson about whether they had anything available with the summer programs. He had just left the program, but he directed me to [former DA Summer Director] Katie Kantz. (Editor’s Note: Kantz left DA in April to pursue another career path.) I reached out to Katie and let her know my background. She thought I had what she was looking for, and she brought me on for that summer. That following school year, I was half-Extended Day, half-DA Summer, in addition to basketball. I’m big on auxiliary stuff and non-traditional school activities outside of regular hours. Katie and I just really connected. She’s very big picture, and I’m very day-to-day logistics and operational. Our styles really complemented each other.”
DA: You’ve had extensive experience with summer camps. What sets DA Summer apart from analogous programs?
Cabral: “I think a lot of it is we’re able to serve a lot of families in the Triangle. I know a whole lot of camps do that as well, but that’s kind of our niche. We also want to be able to serve non-DA families and have them feel welcome. We have choices — a lot of choices. I think that separates us from a lot of other camps. Our financial aid component is also really big. We’re able to serve and reward families who are in need of summer camps. And our partnership with Hill Learning Center has been organic over the last few years. If they have kids who attend their afternoon program, they can attend DA Summits at a prorated cost until 12:15 p.m.”
DA: What specifically about this summer are you excited about?
Cabral: “I’m a very experiential and culture-based person. I’m excited to ensure that my faculty and staff are focused on the culture and the experience of the kids. I want them to just have fun. If their tank is full, if their glass is more than half-full, then the campers are going to feel it. I always want to enjoy the ride. I’m not looking to get through the summer. I want to really enjoy it.”