Having just finished another summer season of Sports Camps, I have been reflecting on Sport Culture, Camps Culture and those things within them which seem complimentary and others which seem counter-productive. These comments may step on some traditional camp toes, but here they come.
Determine your target audience for the camp and program directly to them, without apology or regret. If your camp is aimed at impacting mostly recreational, novice and even spectator oriented campers, make sure it’s fun and not overly competitive or demanding upon them athletically. However, if you intend to make an impact with serious, competitive, highly achieving athletes, be sure to program their direction. These two groups are widely different and one size will not fit all.
Think about who is in front of your campers. Is your camp’s main speaker someone the campers will respect? If it’s a sports camp with highly achieving players, this person had better be able to speak their language and to connect with their competitive mindset or little will be accomplished.
Think about who is leading your campers in small groups. In FCA language, Huddle Leaders. With recreationally minded campers, former athletes, recreational players and even charismatic non-players can lead effectively. For camps that aim higher on the competitive scale, be sure that your group leaders are at the same or higher level as your campers. Intramural boy will not have the same measure of respect with his campers as will a collegiate athlete and that will diminish the development of his group. We don’t have to like that, but it’s true. Do not, under any case, fail at this. These people have more face-to-face contact with the campers than anyone. They are the most important people in the camp process.
Think about how your camp uses music. What is its purpose? If it is to promote worship, then be sure those who lead it worship rather than perform. If they perform, the campers will become spectators and it’s a concert. If they worship, they will draw the campers into that experience and it will open their hearts in a dynamic way. Some of us have decided to not use music at all during camp. In doing so we’re seeking to help the campers see their sport experiences as a form of worship.
Think about how you program camp large group meetings. Are you simply replicating church services? Why? What are you trying to communicate? What best enables you to reach the hearts of your campers? It may be use of video rather than a song. It may be a discussion of today’s competition is more effective than a testimony. It could be that a few minutes of raw game film communicates better than a high profile player’s self-promoting talk. Is it better to encourage decisions and commitments being made in an altar call or in smaller groups with trusted teammates? Please think these things through rather than simply following the flow of camp culture.
Think about the use of skits, goofy costumes, cheers and such. Who is our audience? If these were drama camps it would make sense to do skits. I stopped doing skits in camps ten years ago as I found they communicated poorly, wasted my huddle leaders’ time in rehearsals and created more discord between them than harmony. What’s with the goofy costumes and cheers? If our target is spectators and recreational players, it may be fun. If our target is the more highly competitive player, they’re just annoyed and start the camp wondering, “Why am I here with these goofy losers?”
Here’s the bottom line – think critically about what you’re communicating with every facet of your camp. Who is our audience and how can we most effectively speak to their hearts in every moment of the day? When we find things in our schedule or methods which don’t fit, let’s have the courage to change them. They may run cross-grain with our organization’s camp culture, but the campers are worth it. Being faithful to communicate the truth of Christ’s love with the people of sport is worth the potential conflict.
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