Even throughout the summer, the Oyster Bay-East Norwich School District stays busy. This year, over 150 students are spending the summer at the district’s sports camp. The eight-week program offers various activities and sports clinics for students in grades 1 through 12.
“It’s fun to see the kids throughout [the summer], and as coaches, we get to see them when they’re young, and how they progress,” said Jen Iles, the program’s coordinator. Iles said the program began about 18 years ago.
Iles said that camp enrollment varies from week to week, and that approximately 150 to 200 students participated in this year’s programs. She said programs within the camp have different age requirements, and the majority of sports are offered to third through tenth graders.
Clinics vary from fencing and wrestling to cheerleading and field hockey. Iles said many of the club’s coaches return over the summer to coach their respective sports.
In addition to sport-specific programming, the camp offers a Multi-Sport Camp for elementary schoolers to learn the basics of a variety of activities. Iles said in the Project Adventure Camp, another multi-skill program, campers learn team-building and even get to try their hand at rock climbing.
Iles is a physical education teacher at Theodore Roosevelt School and coaches the high school’s girls’ volleyball and softball teams. She said her favorite week of the multi-sport camp is volleyball week, because she gets to lead campers through the basics of the sport.
Iles said seeing the students over the summer helps her stay connected to former students as they move throughout the district and continue their athletic careers.
“This gives me the opportunity to see them throughout their whole school years,” Iles said.
Athletic director Shannon McEntee said that, as an administrator, her favorite part of the program is watching the campers’ talent shows, which often showcase dances or skills that they’ve learned throughout their time at the program. Students split up into different groups and create routines for a show-and-tell-style competition, she said.
“That’s always fun to watch, for us from the office,” McEntee said.
McEntee said the program is sponsored by the booster club.
“We are super grateful to them, to provide that opportunity for the community,” she said.
