Hey, Summer Campers!

In the month premiering the autumn season, I thought I’d write a couple sports-related Celebrities at Summer Camp posts. In the first week of October, I wrote about legendary sports writer, Seth Davis. I picked another Davis for the post today—we’re talking about Al Davis, the previous coach of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders. The principal owner and general manager spanning 39 years, Al certainly left a piece of himself in this football team.

No longer with us, Al lived a long, full life—starting all the way back to the beginning. He was born on the Fourth of July in Brockton, Massachusetts, 1929. Attending Camp Roosevelt in New York, he spent his summer days making friends and putting together basketball games. And, despite his strong affiliation with the world of football today, at that age, he was passionate about basketball.

His desire to play basketball followed him into his high school days when he met Coach Al Badain from Erasmus Hall High School. Turns out, despite his love for the game, Al just wasn’t very good at basketball. Coach Badain barely played him and, instead, Al spent a lot of time on the bench, studying Badain’s coaching technique.

Though he continuously proved himself to be unimpressive as an athlete throughout his college days at both Wittenburg College in Ohio as well as Syracuse Univ., he started gaining lots of interest in the strategy in football. He’d hang out on the football field during practice drills and never missed a game. He even took a couple academic courses for football strategy—classes only ever attended by football players.

To make up for his athletic inability, Al discovered an admittedly arrogant and brash side of his personality that he effectively used to aid his climb to a coaching career in a sport that he had no experience playing. It’s kind of like the opposite of charm—but Al made it work for himself. After graduation, he went for a position on a college football coaching staff.

After a personal meeting with the president of  Hofstra University, he had the position. With his foot in the door and coaching experience, he set his sights on the professional world next. Al struck after the worst year of a team’s history—Oakland Raiders in 1962. They lost their first 13 games and Al gladly stepped in to replace Red Conkright as head coach.

His motto for the team became “Just win, baby” and under his passionate coaching, the Raiders became one of the most successful teams in the entire league. He remained on the coaching staff far into his old age. Al passed away five years ago. Al did what he loved. What will you do? As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We were please to receive somewhere around 30 entries for the ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest we put on here at Everything Summer Camp. And now we’re eager to share each one right here on the Blog! After seven lucky winners of larger prizes, all other submissions got a $15 gift certificate to our online shop! Today’s post is from Ashley L., who wrote in to tell us about her experience saying goodbye to her daughter for her weeklong camp stay at Gwynn Valley.

“Driving through the windy, mountainous roads of North Carolina, the Ramona the Pest audio book was barely audible over the constant chatter of my overzealous nine-year-old. Even though this is her third year to go to ‘sleep away’ camp, she still anticipates the first day of camp with the same fervor as a child waiting endlessly for Santa on Christmas Eve. ‘Who will be in my cabin?’ ‘Will my friends be there from last year?’ ‘I hope my favorite pottery counselor comes back!’ Anna fired off questions like she shoots arrows in archery – fast and spot on.

We arrive at camp to horses at pasture, the mountains framing the scene. As we pull into the camp parking lot, counselors are greeting everyone and helping to unload van after van. One child has a giant suitcase that drags across the gravel parking lot before the counselors swoop in to help. One of the best purchases I made years ago was to invest in a sturdy trunk, a blue one with handles on the side, now covered with bumper stickers announcing places that have been visited. Although our trunk was definitely heavy, it was easily lifted and carried to Babbling Brook, the cabin where other giddy nine-year olds were waiting to meet the other new arrivals.

Anna’s excitement was palpable while my sadness was bottled up – for the time being. ‘Put on a brave face,’ I tell myself. You see, my daughter has a severe nut allergy, and letting her out of my sight is tough. I trust my daughter and I trust this camp to keep her safe. The truth is that I will miss my daughter each and every day that she is away.
Meanwhile, my anxiety grows. As I walk back to the car, I am a little giddy. A week to myself?!! Yippee! What am I going to do? I reach the end of the camp driveway, look back at the horses at bay, and my mood slowly changes. My short-lived enthusiasm waned as I sadly repeated, ‘What am I going to do with a week to myself?’

Four o’clock every afternoon, I check the camp website for pictures. By the sixth day of camp, there are only 10 pictures of my daughter. Wait a minute. Out of 500 pictures, there are only 10 of my daughter? Maybe she’s so busy that they cannot catch her to take her picture.

Finally day 7—pick up day. It turns out that my daughter really was so busy that I am amazed that the camp was able to get as many pictures of her as they did! Anna tried basket weaving, tree climbing, mountain biking, kayaking, yoga, pottery, bracelet-making, and on and on. All handmade artifacts were carefully packed in her trunk and organized in her special trunk organizer. Brimming with excitement as she saw her father and me enter her cabin, she began the same chatter that happened when we dropped her off. ‘Look what I did. Come see this. This is Beth, Sally, and Laura. I climbed this enormous tree!”

After all of the good-byes were said and a few tears were shed, back in the car we went for the long ride home. Ramona the Pest was playing loud and clear, and as I looked to the back to gaze at my sweet girl that I had missed terribly, she is sound asleep, dreaming of the next summer at camp. And the countdown to camp begins.”

A week can feel like a long time, Ashley! Glad you made it through! I’m sure it all feels worth it now. I hope Anna’s future camp stays can go a little easier on you. On the flip side, it sounds like Anna had an awesome time at camp! You can check out Gwynn Valley for yourself right here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Summer Campers!

Everything Summer Camp loves everything about summer camp! That’s why we’re good friends with about 250 camps from all across the country! And I’m happy to tell you all about what excellent camps they are. We’re sliding our swinging our spotlight over to New Hampshire for a good look at this great girls camp who’s worked with us for a quite a while now.
YMCA Camp Nellie Huckins Girls Camp has shown girls the time of their lives with enriching and fulfilling activities that guide them onto a path of subtle but effective maturation. Located on the shores of the lovely Lake Ossipee in the town of Freedom, New Hampshire, these beautiful, remote campgrounds has been the home away from home for girls since 1928!

From third grade to first-year high schoolers, Nellie Huckins campers experience either two or four weeks of absolute fun and serious personal growth simply by being away from parents as well as the reputation that we all carry at home.

Huckins currently welcomes 1300 campers each year for awesome opportunities involving sports like Soccer, Volleyball, Tennis, Softball, Archery, Mountain Biking, Dance and Drama, Environmental Education, Hiking, Horseback Riding, Ropes Course, Swimming, Tennis, Waterskiing, Boating, as well as indoor fun like arts and crafts time, but indoor sports too, like basketball and street hockey or even air hockey, foosball, and ping-pong!

Ten campers are accompanied by two counselors in each of over 20 accommodating and comfortable cabins. With an excellent Dining Hall, Craftshop, Health Center, Program Office, Chapel, and more, Huckins is an attractive space to spend a portion of your summer, but even more than that—it’s a place to find yourself as well as some lifelong friends.

Enjoy checking out everything that’s so amazing about Camp Huckins for yourself. You can visit their website right here and get a good look at their map below. As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Fun Fans!

At Everything Summer Camp, we pride ourselves on knowing what campers will find cool. This new game we started carrying ought to receive some attention and stir up some excitement. We’ve got Spikeball! Maybe you’ve already heard of it. It’s the perfect volleyball alternative for fun at summer camp and trips to the beach!

This game is awesome! A fresh twist for 2-on-2 volleyball, because this game is played with a trampoline for the “net”, it relies heavily on spikes and drop shots that send players diving around. This is an extremely addictive yard game, so when you finally play it, get ready to fall in love.

Here’s how you play the game:

The game really is played the same as four-player volleyball—the only difference being that instead of hitting the “spikeball” over the net, the players hit the ball ONTO the net (a.k.a. the trampoline). When the ball bounces off the net it is the opposing team’s chance to return it.

Just the same as volleyball, the teams are allowed to pass the ball back and forth up to three times before they are forced to return the ball by bouncing it into the trampoline.

Your team loses the point when you are unable to bounce the ball off the net before it hits the ground.

To serve, simply toss the ball up (not very high) and hit it downward onto the trampoline. After the ball has been served, sides don’t exist; teams are able to use the entire area around the trampoline.

Games are played to 21 with each serve registering a point. Spikeball rules state that teams must win by two. That it, the team has to win by a margin of at least 2 points.

If you want to get official about it all, you can check out the official rules to Spikeball right here. Have a blast with your friends when you pick up your own Spikeball game set right here. Be sure to check out the fun video below and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We were please to receive somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 entries for our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest here at Everything Summer Camp and so we’re eager to share each one right here on the Blog! After seven lucky winners of bigger prizes, all other entrants got a $15 gift certificate for our online shop! Today’s post is from Maddie S., who wrote in to tell us about her and her best friend, Lily who she met at camp. “I have been going to YMCA Camp Seafarer for 6 years. My mom went there 30 years ago. When I was 6, my parents sent me to starter camp. Starter camp is a one-week program that introduces you to the lifestyle of camp. There at starter camp, I met a nice 6-year-old girl, named Lily. That week I grew closer to her and we became best friends. We have been coming back together as best friends for the past 6 years. On starter camp pick up day, our parents met and, they too, became close friends. Lily’s parents even invited my family over to their beach house for dinner. The next year we stayed together the night before the two-week program that week. That program lets you go free without a counselor to any activity. You can go out with anyone and earn ranks together. Lily and I earned every rank together. The next year we went for a month. We got so much accomplished during that month. Since then, we have been each others cabin mates for the past 6 years. At the end of every session, we have awards and a fancy dinner. For the two-week and four-month programs that we have done, every year we have earned the Dynamic Duo in the award ceremony. At camp, I truly met my best friend. Now, our families are good friends, but we will always be best friends.

I hope you liked my camp story.”

We do like your camp story, Maddie! We do! How lucky you and Lily are that your parents sent you to summer camp!—And how lucky THEY are! Maddie loved her time at Camp Seafarer. You can check it out for yourself right here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John