Tag: skyhawks

Try “everything” this summer

MiniHawk

We are firm believers in kids trying all sorts of activities to stimulate their interests and find their passions. One of our main purposes in the business of Parks and Recreation is to provide a wide variety of introductory opportunities for people of all ages to experience, learn and grow! Summer is an opportune time for parents to dip their children’s toes into the water of multiple activities, and one area where diversification is becoming increasingly important is sports. We asked Brett Gardner, owner of our local Skyhawks Sports Franchise to share her thoughts on this topic. 

Much has been written over the past several years about specializing in one sport vs. letting kids play as many sports as possible. There is all this literature that benchmarks what age kids should be when they specialize. I come down firmly in the camp of NEVER. Unless your child is an elite gymnast or dancer, there is no argument to be made for specializing in a sport. Ask professional athletes how many of them “specialized” in the sport they now play. I’d hazard a guess that the answer is none.

burnoutBut, sports have gotten really out of hand thanks to the business model behind competitive sports. Coaches are hired to develop players for college sports programs. That’s what they are paid to do. I hear parents talking about this even with a team of eight-year-olds!

If you are reading this and you have teenagers, I hope you’re nodding your head in agreement. Parents of younger children, read on. Sports is not a career for your child. It’s an activity and it should be one of many.

But, more importantly, not all kids like sports. As the parent of two very athletic children and the owner of a company that runs sports camps, I should be shouting from rooftops about the benefits of sports. But, I have also seen what happens when kids are pushed too hard.

Girl getting ready to leave the baseI am a big believer in the “try everything” model of parenting. You never know what’s going to stick. When my kids were little, we tried it all — from ball sports to gymnastics to theater to martial arts to dance.  Some of it stuck and much of it didn’t. The questions we asked our kids were, “was it fun?” and “did you learn anything worthwhile?” Next, we asked them if they wanted to do that activity again.

With child number one, the answer was invariably, yes. With the other one, it was almost always, NO! Different kids, different interests. Even though child number one seemed to like everything and child number two seemed to hate most things, I still think the try everything model was good for both of them.

With limited time during the school year, we often used summer camps to let our kids try different activities. Many families didn’t understand why we would do this. If my daughter was “an athlete,” why weren’t we sending her only to sports camps? She plays ball sports nine months out of the year. Does she really need more sports at age eight? We thought it was far more important for her to experience different things. So we encouraged her to try science camps, cooking lessons, etc. She loved some of them and was less enthusiastic about others. But, she got to try something new, which was the most important thing.

As summer is looming, think about things your kids have never done before.  It could be a new sport, like flag football. Or, it could be dance or robotics. Try everything. You just never know what will stick!

SkyhawksTo sign your child up for one of Brett Gardner’s Skyhawks Sports Camps in Redwood City, click here. there are full day and half day camps available. Many are scheduled to coincide with Bridge Care and After Care. For registration info visit www.redwoodcitycamps.org

Brett_GardnerAbout Brett Gardner

Brett Gardner considers herself a bail-out from Silicon Valley after having been involved in the early stages of several companies. She is a coach at heart, having both played and coached soccer and basketball for several years. She currently owns Skyhawks Sports for the Peninsula and spends her Sundays with 70 of her favorite preschoolers teaching t-ball, soccer and basketball.

Guest Post: Things That Make For a Terrific Camp Counselor

This post was contributed by Brett Gardner, Skyhawks Franchise Owner and local resident. I was elated and relieved by her passion for kids and health as well as her keen insight about youth sports on the Peninsula. We have already seen great improvements to the program and are looking forward to our future working relationship with Skyhawks! You can still register for Summer Camps either directly through Skyhawks or through our website at RedwoodCityCamps.org, some are starting NEXT WEEK!
 

 

A wise employee from the Redwood City Parks and Recreation Department once told me, “Your camps are only as good as your worst staff member.” And, she was so right. Kids can spot a lame camp counselor a mile away. So, parents, when you are looking at summer camps, be sure to consider whom will be staffing them. It is not unreasonable to expect a camp to be able to provide you with at least a summary of who will be coaching your little (or big) ones.

Here are three rules to live by when evaluating camp staff.

  1. First, if it’s a sports camp, do they know the sport they’re teaching?  Just because someone played football when they were in third grade doesn’t mean that they know enough about the sport to teach it. Same goes for art camps, dance, theater, etc. Look for staff that did that activity at the high school level. Better yet, see if they are currently doing it in college. The more camp staff knows the activity, the more they can teach your child

  2. Second, have they worked with kids before? A great sculptor does not ensure that they will be a great teacher. But, there are lots of them who are truly gifted with kids. Find them – they are out there.
  3. Third, is the camp staff full of counselors who, in some ways, are still kids at heart? Working at a camp is a labor of love. In a perfect world, they are there because they want to pay it forward to the next generation of kids. To do this, they have to remember what it was like to be seven and just learning how to play golf, flag football or do ballet.

An official recovering Silicon Valley “executive,” I now own Skyhawks Sports Camps  Mid-Peninsula, which serves kids in Redwood City, San Carlos, Belmont and Half Moon Bay starting June 11th.  When I started recruiting coaches and directors for my camps, I kept in the front of my mind the advice that sage Parks and Rec employee gave me.

When I started my interviewing process, I already had in mind what the ideal camp coach and director would be. I remember when I went to camps as a kid, my coaches were like rock stars to me. They were the local high school sports heroes that we all followed as if they were in the pros.  But, not only were they terrific athletes, they made me feel like I was the most special kid at camp.

And, the truly outstanding ones made an indelible mark on me that carried me through to adulthood.

Fast forward to today and I started looking for my staff with those characteristics in mind. I was lucky enough to find 100% of my coaches almost in my own back yard.

In the course of interviewing potential coaches, I found lots of sports-minded kids from the local community who are excited about the idea of instilling the love of sports, and sportsmanship, to others. Our summer staff, many of whom are current or former students from Sequoia High School, is amazing. Not only do they have wonderful sports backgrounds, they are outstanding people who want to help and encourage the next generation of up and coming athletes. I’m certain each and every one of them will have a positive impact on the kids coming to our summer camps.  I can’t wait to see how our participants respond to this group of counselors who are eager to give them the sports camp experience of their lives.

The end result? Happy kids!