Have you ever struggled with finding the perfect summer sports camp? When kids get older picking activities and time management grow increasingly more difficult. Have you ever asked your yourself, which math tutor is the best fit? Which after school programs to get involved with this year?
At Koa, we can’t try to guide you on all these challenging questions. What we do know, is we can steer you in the right direction for a summer sports camp. All camps with American Camp Association (ACA) accreditation’s have similar safety procedures. Each accredited camp must provide background checks on employees, have fire & health regulations and keep detailed records of campers’ emergency contact information. Sure, some offices are better at keeping records than others, but administratively, they’re all very similar.
The most important aspect when determining which sports summer camp to attend should be simple… Where is your kid going to have the most fun, make friends, and learn new skills! Fun, friends, and skills are basic terms; let’s break it down into specifics to help understand your decision.
– Fun; the staff dedicated for the kids have the best experience. What does this look like; coaches who are bought in will lightly participate with the kids in drills, theme days, bring the energy every morning at drop off, and still have a smile on their face at pick up.
– Friendship; nobody likes playing alone. Your child can be spending summer days with old friends and making new ones! Sports can offer different social situations, and the ability for kids to connect through non verbal movement and eye contact. A great way to make new friends is on the field, court, or diamond. A multi sport camp will allow kids of similar ability to connect through different activities.
– New Skills; coaches who want to get the most out of athletes interacting best by actively demonstrating rather than telling. The best coaches pick drills that provide instant feedback and how to improve right away, for example dribbling a soccer ball in and out of cones. If you hit the cone, it’s obvious you need to improve on foot skills, and continue to practice. Another way to improve skills is communicating to the parents during pick up on how their child performed that day at camp.
We all want our kids to have the best summer possible, focusing on these three criteria will help drive the best camp decision. If you need more information, feel free to reach out to Billy@KoaSports.org and I’m happy to chat about multi sport or sport specific camp options.
