Many States, Many Kids

Before this summer, I had rarely left the Midwest. But as I was looking around at possible internships this past Spring, I learned about an internship with a company called We Are Camps. This company provides many different summer camps for kids primarily age 9 and older. The specific camps I signed up to do was a sports camp program that took place at Air Force Bases all over the continental United States, far out of my usual area of work.

Right after school ended in mid-May, all coaches for the program including me got together in Champaign Illinois (where our supervisor lives) to have a week of training. This training was to teach us about the rules of the sports, how to teach them with various lessons and activities and how to keep the kids involved. The reason we had to learn how to do the sports is because the sports that we were going to teach each day of the week were sports that are not considered 'traditional' American sports. These sports were: lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, handball, badminton, fencing and shallow-end water polo.

Once the program started I was paired up with another coach and we took off together with a rented truck and trailer filled with the necessary equipment for the sports we were teaching. All through the summer we would spend a week at one base, teach a new sport to the on-base kids each day and then at the end of the week, we would pack up and move on to the next base. Our first camp started on June 10 in Salt Lake City, and our last camp ended on August 16 near Columbia MO.

At first, I had strong doubts about my ability to be a good coach and I'll admit the first couple weeks were a little rough because this was a type of teaching/instruction that I had never done before, and I often struggled with pacing, volume of voice and speaking in terms that younger kids could understand. But as the summer progressed, our lessons greatly improved and my partner and I got into a good rhythm of coaching.

Along with the equipment, we brought a binder with a script that showed us the order of lesson points and activities to do each day to ensure that the kids were learning. My project for the summer was to develop a script for the sport of field hockey which is a sport our supervisor has wanted to add to the program. As I was putting it together, I was considering what I was learning throughout the summer such as methods to keeps kids paying attention and how to ensure that they were enjoying the sport. Once I finished the script I was given the chance to practice it with one of the group of kids we were teaching, and it went rather well (with room for improvement).

What I learned over the summer and with this project is that teaching or coaching younger kids is a challenging but often rewarding experience that requires many things such as patience and understanding. You have to realize that some kids are more than willing to put in the effort while others may not do the same. You also have to remember that you show the kids in your instruction that you are enjoying being their coach, because if they get the impression that you are not enjoying being with them, they notice.

This past summer was an amazing adventure. From coaching kids of all kinds from all parts of the country, I learned many things about myself and accomplished things I didn't realize I was capable of. My time as a coach for these military kids is definitely an experience that I will never forget.