Three Days of Camp. A Lifetime of Impact
Sometimes people dread camp because it’s a string of long days with a LOT of kids running around yelling and jumping all over each other. While these three days were definitely filled with a lot of kids running around and jumping on each other, it wasn’t a three days that I dreaded by any means.
Coming back from Christmas break, my coach decided he was going to put on a camp for kids aged 7-16. It was going on from 10-3 over the course of three days and the expectation was that there was going to be a good amount of kids there. The children were still out of school and their parents had work. There also weren’t any other camps going on at the time, so the opportunity to get a large group together was perfect. The first day of camp started off with a bang. We got upwards of 40 kids there. They were a little shy at first, but as the day and week went on they started to open up as they got to know us better.
The first day was filled with a lot of stations, of which I had rebounding. I taught them how to get opposite when the shot went up and also taught them a little about boxing out. Rebounding isn’t the most luxurious thing to teach, but I’ve learned that if you make them laugh, you can get them to do almost anything you ask. The second day was a bit less station focused, but we mixed in mobility games to promote competition and exercise. The third day was mostly a continuation of the 3 on 3 tournament they started on day two. Also by the third day the campers were completely comfortable. They were making up songs and telling us jokes and it seemed as though they were really enjoying themselves.
I enjoy working camp because it gives you a chance to work with and impact a large number of children at one time. The smiles on their faces, being recognized around town, their excitement for the game, and their parents having a safe place to drop them off made the long days well worth it.
