Highschool team camp.

We have been doing one for several years...lots of work...but the kids love it...

e-mail me and I can give you all the specifics

Same here. We've done our own camp for 30 years. I have a folder with a crapload of stuff I could send you: rules, chore lists, menus, schedules, forms, program--a lot of stuff.

We go for 5 days to a state park that has bunkhouses--24 kids/bunkhouse. We do take girls and boys, a total of about 80 kids. Parent help is critical, so we have 4-8 parents during the course of our stay.

Total cost of the camp is about $7,000. I do not get paid.

Email me if interested in info:

aetheridge at ortn.edu

Thanks. I sent you both emails. Hopefully you received it; my work email can be strange sometimes.

I am a 2nd year head coach who has run my own camp the past two summers for my team. I coach only the girls, so the gender thing is not an issue. We rent condos that sleep 8-10 people each. I have 1-2 adults per condo (they are the drivers more than they are actually "chaperones"). We go for 5-7 days.

With a little guidance, the kids are pretty good at helping out with things like food shopping and cooking.

BIGGEST PIECE OF ADVICE: if you assume they have any common sense at all, even the common sense that a kindergartener would have, you will get into trouble. Example: in the first year I had my runners go on a simple out-and-back run. They ran down the dirt road; at a designated time, they ran back up the dirt road. Simple, right? Apparently not, because I had a group of them (even including some upperclassmen!) who took a left off the road and kept on running for over an hour in the wrong direction when they had only gone 20 minutes out, thereby making it obvious, if it wasn't before, that they were headed the wrong way. I think they would have kept going forever if we hadn't rounded them up with the cars. So basically, keep an eye on everyone like you would if you were babysitting, and you will be okay. It makes your runs more boring, as you pretty much have to keep the kids in view, but it beats being fired or sued. Good luck!

Thanks. I’ve taught 7th grade for the past 8 years and know they need everything in simplest terms.

Where do you get the money for renting condos?

Do the owners have a problem knowing so many high school kids will be there?

Do you think this makes a big impact on the success of your season?

Thanks.

try camping. we pitched tents. The kids hated it at first, and grew to like it enough that they bragged about "roughing it" to classmates. It made many of them appreciate what they had at home, and longed for a warm bed. But, the running needs to be done, and games help.

pittman wrote:

try camping. we pitched tents. The kids hated it at first, and grew to like it enough that they bragged about "roughing it" to classmates. It made many of them appreciate what they had at home, and longed for a warm bed. But, the running needs to be done, and games help.

Good call. The team at my high school has camped in the mountains for a week in mid-August for the past five years, and everybody loves it. We cook our own food and pitch our tents, and it's a great experience. We do a bunch of trail runs, games, races, alternate activities, we even hike/run up a 10,000-foot mountain. A couple of parents will come for supplies and whatnot too. It's dang fun.

My kids pay $250 each to go to camp for a week (covers everything from food to transportation to housing). Pretty good since organized running camps cost, at least, nearly twice that for the same amount of time! My school doesn't help us financially with this, so we have to raise the money ourselves. I really have to make every dollar count, but it's doable, and I don't want to raise the price if I can help it. The condo owners don't have problems with us being there-- we keep things quiet and clean, and there's never been any trouble.

The kids LOVE our camp. It is a HUGE deal for them, and I think that's the time when it really becomes a TEAM. Then you go into the season as a team rather than as a bunch of individuals who happen to run together. So yes, I think some kind of camp is important for the team aspect.