One afternoon last week in San Francisco, Amanda Weber, the mother of Jake, a scruffy haired 12-year-old, was shopping for dehydrated lamb curry and other meals for a family camping trip in the Sierra. Jake was in the car, sulking. Instead of hiking trails, he wanted to do what has become de rigueur for many young athletes in the summer: attend a sports camp and boost his game a notch.
“The school year is pressure filled enough,” Amanda Weber said. “I want my son to relax during summer and for us to spend time as a family, so we said no to a three-week basketball camp where several of his friends are going.” She conceded Jake was not happy. “He’s afraid he’ll be left behind.”
Specialty sports camps are on the increase as young athletes focus on playing one sport year-round, and the competition to make the best teams stiffens. In spite of holdouts like Amanda Weber — and the concerns of some exercise experts and psychologists — many parents, children and coaches say that these camps are essential for benchwarmers looking to start or for aspiring players desperately seeking to make varsity.
Going to an athletic camp is “no longer simply a fun alternative,” said Evan Heltay, the president of Mysummercamps.com, a directory. “Instead, they are almost a requirement for serious players.”
Paul Ratcliffe, the women’s soccer coach at Stanford, agrees. “Every player is trying to get an edge,” said Ratcliffe, who runs four camps for first through 12th graders. Their intense focus on technique, he said, “helps kids at every level meet their goals, whether it’s getting off the bench or on their select or varsity teams.”
But improving one’s game comes at a cost, critics say. Added time on the field only exacerbates overuse injuries, said Jordan Metzl, an author of The Young Athlete: A Sports Doctor’s Complete Guide for Parents (Little Brown, 2003).
Some parents and psychologists argue that pushing children to hone their athletic skills is not the best use of their time.
No organization tracks the total number of camps for specific sports. But Mysummercamps.com lists 2,100 sport specialty ones in the US, up 500 since 2003. World Cup Soccer Camp, based in Sunnyvale, California, has 47 camps, attended by 2,000 kids, 10 times as many as in 1992. All West Lacrosse camps, directed by Matt Ogelsby, a pro player, have grown more than 20 percent a year for four years.
Perhaps it is not surprising then that some young athletes and their check-writing parents say one camp isn’t necessarily enough. Many kids have double and triple booked this summer, according to camp directors and parents, and the truly devoted register for five or more camps.
Marcos Danner, 16, a lacrosse player from San Francisco, has attended a sleep-away lacrosse camp this summer in Colorado, is now at a day camp in Marin County, California, and plans to go to another week of camp in San Diego in August. “My school team is really good, incredibly competitive,” Marcos said. “I’m doing everything I can to make varsity this time.”
His father, who ferried him to camp on his way to work, shrugged. “He’s passing up a chance to go with the rest of the family to Italy,” he said. Whether day or sleep-away, single-sport camps are a far cry from traditional summer camps, where a child may play a little baseball between arts and crafts and fishing. At Cal Ripken Jr.’s baseball camps in Aberdeen, Maryland, and the UCLA Tennis Camp run by Billy Martin, winner of multiple NCAA titles, kids play their sport of choice before, between and after meals.
Not everyone is convinced that it is worthwhile to turn a child’s summer over to training six to nine hours a day. But if the goal is improvement, many coaches of the most competitive teams at schools and youth leagues say these camps are effective.
Part of the reason, instructors say, is that participants can work on weaknesses and specific skills as much as they want.
“I’ve seen a player’s game turn around in the course of a summer,” said Ruedi Graf, a coach for two youth soccer teams in Santa Clara, California. “Summer camp is when a child has the concentrated time and instruction to learn to bend shots, put spin on the ball or do more advanced and faster fakes.”
Multiple-camp attendees, in particular, improve, said Steve McNamara, a baseball coach for a community team in Marin County. “Come fall, you see a vast difference between them and the ones who have been sitting around all summer.”
Roger Anglum, 14, a high school freshman from Novato, California, credited summer basketball camps with helping him make his league’s most competitive team last year. “My shooting percentage wasn’t great, but all the practice, as well as the coaching, changed that,” he said.
For college-bound athletes, camps run by NCAA coaches have an added benefit: They can give a player invaluable time to leave a good impression. “We absolutely use these camps for scouting and recruiting, and the kids know it,” said Ratcliffe, the Stanford soccer coach. “It’s an opportunity for them to show us what they can do.”
Still, some parents feel sport-specific camps are a misuse of their kids’ vacations. “I like that summer is a break, not only from academics, but from football,” said Mark Nelson, the father of Joshua, 16, who plays on a varsity football team in Bethesda, Maryland. “Joshua has a summer job and hangs out with his friends.”
Other parents find the cost of camps prohibitive. “A bunch of the girls’ friends on their team are going to tennis camps, but we said no,” Margaret Swanson said of her twin 15-year-olds. “These camps aren’t cheap for one child, let alone two.” (A day camp is about US$300 a week while an overnight one can be more than US$1,200.)
Experts also point out that kids who already have injuries from too much pitching or too many backhands should be wary. “Kids need an off-season,” said Michael Bergeron, an assistant professor of physical therapy at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. “My kids in junior tennis could play all year, but I force them to take a break during summer, both to prevent overuse injuries and to give their bodies a chance to recover, which all children need.”
Nor will more time on the mound or court necessarily buy happiness, if that is a parent’s ultimate goal. “Children may become better soccer players, but what about developing other parts of them?” asked Madeline Levine, a psychologist and the author of The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids (HarperCollins). “There’s no evidence that this kind of specialization leads to happier kids. On the contrary, there’s evidence that too much pressure improves a child’s chances of depression or other psychological problems.”
Whether you love these camps or not, even very young children register for them. Last week at one in Mill Valley, California, two boys, seven and eight, were hidden inside helmets, masks and absurdly large shoulder pads. They lay on their stomachs, lacrosse sticks at their sides.
As soon as Ogelsby, the director of All West Lacrosse Camps, threw a fast grounder, the boys leapt to their feet to chase the ball. The younger one snagged it, causing his opponent to unleash a series of persistent and fierce whacks to his stick. The seven-year-old persevered, perhaps because he had an advantage: this was already his fifth camp this summer. He passed to Ogelsby, who cheered loudly.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” he said to his rapt audience of 60 boys. “When you get to college, it’s not easy to get on the lacrosse team. Who gets on? The one with heart and desire. And the one who gets the ground balls.”
The campers in their gladiator gear nodded solemnly.
In addition to interminable drills and scrimmages, pearls of wisdom like this, imparted by pro players like Ogelsby, or college players, like his assistant coaches (who hail from Harvard and Duke), are what proponents believe justify the time and expense of sports camps.
Roger Anglum, the basketball player from Novato, hopes his training at camps will help him earn an athletic scholarship. So this summer, he’s crisscrossing the country to attend three. “It definitely beats sitting around making lanyards,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Or gathering around a campfire singing Puff the Magic Dragon.”
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