Camp Friendship, Where Have You Been?

It seems I’ve been slacking. We have been back from our Tri-State Conference for a week and I’m just now sitting down to tell you how it went. Sam our Assistant Director, Sherri our Registrar, and myself the Marketing Director headed out to Atlantic City for the annual Tri-State ACA Conference. Let me simply say we had a great time. We met with some old friends, made some new friends and attended some great sessions. Great speakers such as Dr. Wendy Mogul author of “The Blessing of a Skinned Knee” and Erin Gruwell educator and author of “The Freedom Writers Diary” took some time to speak to us during the four day event. It really was an inspiring event but this is not the part that’s important to our camp families the important part is that we learned a ton and we are back with a million new ideas to make camp even better.

Speaking for our Assistant/Program Director Sam, she has some great new program/activity ideas to incorporate with some old favorites this summer. If I know Sam she’s been planning some new and fun activities since the end of last summer but now she’s really ready for anything.

Did I mention we saw GIANT snow flakes in Atlantic City!?

This summer will be the first summer we require our new staff to start their training prior to their early arrival at camp. This is something we are very happy and proud of doing this year. Our staff members will be working on a series of tests to prepare them for what to expect and what we expect from a camp counselor. This is all on top of the on camp training they will receive prior to their arrival at camp. While this little project has been in the works prior to our visit to the conference this is something that was reinforced by other camps. We all expect great things from our staff members, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Our Registrar has been looking into way to streamline our registration and online registration process and we are certainly making some headway in that area. We hope to have some news before registration opens for our 2010 summer.

Well in the spirit of keeping short and to the point let me close by saying that we are very excited for the upcoming summer. We have a large amount of high quality returning staff and we are all ready to make this one of our best summers ever.

Cris

Note: Next month we will be sending out an April edition of our Friendship Times Newsletter but only by email. So if you’d like to receive it please be sure to visit the Camp Friendship website and sign up to receive email messages from us.

The Power of The Experience!

Chuck and I just returned from ACA National Conference. ACA stands for American Camp Association. Each year hundreds of camp professionals, educators, child psychologists and business partners gather together to share knowledge about issues related to camps and youth development. This year the conference took place in Orlando, Florida. The theme of the conference was “The Power of the Experience”. The speakers included Ned Hallowell, M.D., Psychiatrist and author of 14 books, Peg Smith, CEO of American Camp Association, Pat Williams, Senior Vice President of the Orlando Magic NBA Team and many others.

At the conference I was reminded once again that the experience our children can have at camp is indeed very powerful.

I personally worked with children for almost 20 years. I’ve been teaching in different settings, such as schools, athletic clubs, afterschool programs, camps. In my opinion the most impact we can make on children today is by having them attend camp, which is without a doubt the most natural environment a child could experience, free of stress, pressure, and overwhelming technology.

Just consider the following things:

-Did you get to perform on the stage and receive an overwhelming cheer and applause from 300 people when you were 7 years old?

-Do you remember feeling a great sense of accomplishment for mastering a real skill in just a one week period? If you attended a camp you would remember making bowls from raw clay on a pottery wheel, then glazing and firing it and having a complete art project in just one week? Now, what about mastering canoeing, learning to fish or picking up on new tricks from your basketball instructor.

-Can you remember a time when on the same day you could meet people from 5 different countries and learn that they are different but they are so cool that you definitely want to be their friend and maybe even become a life-long friend with someone from France, Russia, Japan or Mexico?

-Do you remember a time when you felt shy or scared or homesick but you had kids just like you and friendly counselors to help you overcome those feeling and become a more confident person. They are the ones who helped you climb a 30 feet wall or make it through another day at camp without missing your home or included you in a game or a project when you were too shy to ask.

CAMP is a POWERFUL EXPERIENCE! I can relate to this on a personal level too. My daughter Nika was five last summer when she spent a few weeks at camp. In the fall she started Kindergarten and I was very pleased to have her come home on the first day and tell me how much she enjoyed her first day at school. She told me about new friends she made and the teacher she liked so much and the activities she did. Then I asked her: you didn’t feel homesick or scared or shy on your fist day? Then she said: Mom, why would I? I just spent my summer at camp.

When I talk to other parents who think about sending their kids to camp I hear the comments about the cost and the state of the economy and the expenses it would involve… then I think to myself that the value of camp can’t be measured by the dollar, it is an important investment into your child’s all- around development as a successful and confident person. So I encourage you to BELIEVE in the POWER of CAMP!

A Tennis Update from our Pro

I just returned home from a three day tennis conference hosted by Emilio Sanchez, who runs three tennis academies in Spain and United States. Emilio is also known as former number one ranked doubles player and a brother and a coach of Arantxa Sanchez, former top ranked female player in the world. For three days 150 tennis professionals from USA, Mexico, Argentina, Singapore, India, Spain and other countries gathered together in Naples, Florida to learn about Spanish coaching system. As of today most of top ranked tennis players including #1 Rafael Nadal come from Spain and it is obvious that the Spanish training system is the best in the world.

Judging by what I saw during our conference the Spanish coaches pay a lot of attention to movement on the court. As the racket technology improves and tennis players become more physically fit they are able to produce a lot of power on their shots, measuring in 100-140 miles per hour. This is why it is significant to be able to position your body on the court in such a way that you are always prepared to return the balls coming at you. Spanish coaches also teach so that the player can use any defense shot as an opportunity and not as a disadvantage. It was a great pleasure participating in the conference and I’ve brought home a nice collection of new drills and techniques that I can’t wait to share with everyone who participates in our tennis clinics this summer.

In case you are interested in signing up for tennis clinics here is some more information, all tennis clinics run Monday through Friday for three hours each day. They are available for tennis players of all levels, beginners through advanced. We keep the ratio of 1 Tennis Instructor to 4 students while on court. We customize our program for each player to ensure individual progress for each camper.

During the tennis clinics campers participate in daily drills designed to improve campers stroke production and movement on the court. Campers will play some singles and doubles matches and get to play a mini tournament at the end of the week. Even a beginner can play a tournament as we use an Easy-Point-Score system for beginner players. Advanced players will work on movement, strategy and tactics on the court. Campers will also learn basic information about fitness and nutrition for athletes. Each camper will receive a personal evaluation and a progress report at the end of the week. And most importantly everyone will have tons of fun playing tennis at Camp Friendship.

If you have any questions about our tennis clinics at Camp Friendship, please email me at alina@campfriendship.com

See you in the summer!

Alina