My kids are athletes. They run fast, throw with accuracy, can dribble, hit, and jump!
To emphasize these strengths…
As we prepare our schedule of summer activities, we investigated a variety of camps and summer activities. We landed on a mixed schedule of the local Elementary School – After Care Program (which provides Weekly themes and field trips) and Sports Camps. See http://www.sjusd.org/school/willow_glen_elementary/info/C3081/
Selecting the After Care program was actually quite easy. We (as working parents) use it during the school year, and have established a good relationship with the program staff as well as many of the kids.
For the sports camps, we are relying on a couple of things.
1) My cousin owns the Skyhawks Sports Academy (http://www.skyhawks.com/). Skyhawks provides kids 3 to 15 years old with a Huge variety Fun and skills-based sports camps to attend around the country. I have personally worked for the organization (years ago) as a coach / counselor and have also sent my oldest son to camps last year.
2) I have done my research. When checking out Sports camps, I checked out a variety of local camps and followed some keen advice found in the “Parents Guide to Sports Camps” article (http://www.active.com/basketball/Articles/Parent_s_Guide_to_Sports_Camps.htm).
- Do your Homework. There are a ton of “camps” out there. From Professional athletes giving back during the off-season to College Kids making a buck, to the local YMCA doing the best that they can, to the neighbor kid who can keep the kids from getting into too much trouble. It is important to understand what you are going into and who will be teaching your kids and what they will be teaching.
- Managing Expectations. Understand what you want out of the camp. Is it just play time? Or is it to improve their skills? Or both? With some camps there can be a lot of pressure on both your pocket book as well as your child.
Luckily for me, my research, experience, and expectations for what I wanted out of the Athletic portion of the Summer Programs worked out well with the selection of camps offered by the Skyhawks Sports Academy (http://www.skyhawks.com/). Now the question is narrowing down the options of which sport (Soccer, Basketball, Lacrosse, Hockey, Golf, Baseball, Track and Field, Football, Tennis, etc.).
