1) Why is it necessary to have minimum levels for camp participants?
3) What if my kid/athlete is on the Jr. National Team? Is it a good camp for him/her?.
6) What if I am… or we have an athlete… 18, 19 or 20 and up?
1) Why is it necessary to have minimum levels for camp participants?
A quality summer camp is designed for all participants to have the “summer camp” experience of woods, lake & fun while building the relationships of new friends. This is certainly the history of Camp Wakeshma and fits in well with our goals for the “camp” portion of our project. However, a successful gymnastic clinic has to meet different challenges. Each athlete should come to the clinic with the goal of improving at their chosen sport. To do this, rotation groups need to be balanced to insure the group as a whole is progressing. The minimum levels picked for each discipline are directed at taking the athletes as they are first introduced to full somersaulting skills. Making this the entry level for the clinic will offer some basic consistency for the drills the clinicians have planned.
2) The dates chosen are late in the summer for us. Why were they chosen and what can we do if they interfere with the start of our school year?
Well, it is a big improvement from when we used to have it! The Camp Wakeshma Board of Directors decided to cancel one of the CO-ED sessions and move us one week earlier. This 1st weekend to 2nd weekend of August is our “permanent home.” This should help a great deal with the camp vs. school issue. However, should this event fall in the first week of school and you wish your child to attend the camp, we will provide protected supervised free time to finish any school work sent with the athlete to camp. We would recommend that the school be notified of this late summer activity and a request made of any school work to be sent to camp with the athlete. Actually, this week of camp is protected on the USAG T&T schedule and designed not to conflict with training camps, Nationals, International Age Group/World Championships team trials.
3) What if my kid/athlete is on the Jr. National Team? Is it a good camp for him/her?
This camp is being patterned after the USA National Training Camps. While a premium will be placed on camper fun, the training is meant to be of the quality found at our National Training Camps. The athlete’s personal coach is invited and encouraged to come, and the clinicians are people with National Team Coach and/or WC/WAG experience. They have been carefully selected to provide high level training coupled with a fun camp environment.
Absolutely not. Our experience last year found that the kids were not intimidated by those of superior ability. Surprisingly, we found quite the opposite. Almost every kid performed better around their new friends and they were challenged to “take it up a notch.” The post camp comments (from kids) on the camp evaluations highlighted their excitement at being able to socialize with those they had seen perform at national meets. On the equipment, we placed athletes in rotation groups in keeping with their ability. This provided the most productive training sessions. While we made every attempt to match up age as well, this turned out to be unimportant to the athletes. Once off the equipment, the athletes socially migrated to their own age groups as one would expect.
The bottom line… regardless of age, gender, ability or upcoming competition planning, the clinic experience will be customized to each athlete to maximize return on their training effort. It is truly amazing, but believe it or not, this all sorts out.
This was not our finding. Numbers seem to solve this problem. We had several athletes in this age group last year and they all participated with abandon. In fact, a highlight was the leadership role our older athletes assumed with the younger athletes. Additionally, most of these kids are used to working out with younger teammates and this camp is an extension of their normal team experience. Last year, placing the older athletes in the same free-time rotation groups provided an excellent social environment with participants their own age from all over the USA. The older athletes played together, trained together, took judges courses and helped the younger athletes. We have aggressively asked for feedback from previous campers and their input was used in structuring the camp’s programs. I think we are getting our arms around this age group, and the feedback has indicated that these athletes want a place in this camp. Please note that 26% of the camp attendees over the last two years have been 15-17 years old. We are committed to making this camp a premier event for the young and the older athlete.
6) What if I am… or we have an athlete… 18, 19 or 20 and up?
This is where the whole counselor program fits in. Please see the “Call for Counselors.”
This would depend on your travel arrangements. While the Camp drop off and pick up times are fixed, the clinic staff is fairly flexible. If your athletes are flying into Kalamazoo or South Bends and being picked by the staff, we will have the campers brought to Dr. Drew’s home (walking distance to the camp gate) and will wait “drop off” time there. At the appropriate time they will be walked into camp by the clinic staff. Similarly, these campers would be walked back to Dr. Drew’ home on “pick up” day and staged to the airport from there. This arrangement will require prior notification (LOTS OF PRIOR NOTIFICATION, THERE HAVE BEEN, ummm, er, uh, PROBLEMS PREVIOUSLY!) Each camper signing in or out of camp without their parent or guardian present will need written authorization from their parents to allow Dr. Drew, their coach who is attending, or other clinic staff to sign them in and out of camp. This really is not as complicated as it sounds and with plenty of lead time, all will go smoothly. Please see the new policy of airport pick up and drop off.
There are a couple of decent motels in Three Rivers. I will contact these facilities and reserving space as our “host hotels.” I would estimate those rooms to go in the 80.00 to 90.00 range. More info to follow.