Saturday, August 8, 2015

Closing Ceremonies SATURDAY MORNING

Awards will begin at 11:00am Saturday morning.  All parents are invited to join us, however we ask you to leave the seats up front open for the campers.  We should be wrapping up at noon.

Also, please wait to take bags from the building until after the awards.  The camp has been a safe and organized place for the last two weeks, and we would like to keep the organization all the way through the ceremonies.  Thank you for understanding.


The Final Night


This evening we wrapped up camp with a great celebration on the front lawn with an inflatable Sorry game and music from DJ Sounds. Once again, it was a bittersweet moment as camp is coming to an end. It was so great to have the new campers this week fold in so nicely with our two week crew, and that was pretty obvious at how much fun everyone had together this evening with inflatables all the smiles full of ice cream.

Here's to a good sleep tonight before our final games tomorrow and the closing ceremony for SDSC 2015!


Friday, August 7, 2015

Final Afternoon Mountain Bike



On a beautiful sunny afternoon, SDSC departed on our final afternoon activity to Cady Hill mountain bike trails. Thunderstorms cut our ride short there on Tuesday, so the whole camp was pumped to get another shot at it.

I took an ambitious crew of older boys on a long ride at a very fast pace, and I can tell you that they sure tired me out! When I asked if they wanted to go get ice cream or swim, they responded, "Neither! We want to keep riding!" That's one of the reasons I love working at this camp. Even on the last afternoon of a long week, you still have campers who are having too much fun to stop and want to keep going. 

That said, there is no question that many of the groups did it all and made it to IC Scoops in Stowe for a quick recovery cone before swimming on their way back to the Round Hearth. Max sure was a lucky counselor in the picture below!

Tonight we celebrate a great two weeks with inflatables and a DJ, and we will see you all tomorrow!

Featured Coach: Mike Day, GMVS, former USST

This morning I was pleased to introduce Mike Day to the camp as our featured coach of the day.  Mike is currently coaching at Green Mountain Valley School (GMVS), but his path through his ski coaching career is a special one.  Early in his career, he had the opportunity to spend time working at Carrabassett Valley Academy (CVA) and the Park City Ski Team (PCST).  At each of those places, he coached a one-in-a-million athlete.  Later in his career, he coached the World Cup Men's Technical Team for the USST, and coached the same two athletes again... Bode Miller (CVA) and Ted Ligety (PCST).  To have the experience to work with two young individuals who pulled it all together and eventually became the best in the world, including winning Olympic Gold Medals, is as transcending as it gets in this industry.











After numerous agility drills using cones, ladders, and low hurdles, the camp turned to speedball to implement the skills recently refined.  At the end of the session, Mike stayed around for a while to answer questions from the group about his vast experiences with two of the Worlds most dominating skiers of this era.  What a treat to close out the featured coach visits of the last two weeks.




Thursday, August 6, 2015

SDSC Scavenger Hunt

Tonight's evening activity took us back to the Stowe Rec Path for a scavenger hunt where groups had to complete and document a variety of tasks throughout the session. Here are a few samples of the cues and completed tasks: I know I had a ton of fun, and judging by all the talk and giggles after we finished the hunt, I think the rest of camp did as well. 

1. Locate a gazebo and have everyone sing a song while sitting together in the gazebo.


2. Take a team picture. Extra points for good views and creative poses.


3. Spell SDSC in some way and take a picture of your creation. (with campers, rocks, etc). Extra points for good views and creativity.



4. Do 3 BASE Exercises 

 


And upon our return to the Round Hearth, we were all rewarded with S'MORES! Last full day tomorrow!


Hike up Mount Mansfield

Thursday afternoon marked our weekly hike up the Hazelton Trail to the summit of Mount Mansfield.  With an extended time to make the journey, our camp succeeded with an unprecedented number of campers reaching the summit.  The weather was threatening the view the entire way, but the challenge had been accepted and skies began to clear near the top.












In the below videos  you will witness each team had an incredible send-off by none other than our Austrians.

Videos are playable on desktops.  Mobile devices are not supported.



Speed Session with Danny Noyes

Good afternoon everybody!


This morning we once again returned to the Mt. Mansfield parking lot for a skate session with Danny. I was particularly impressed with how Danny structured his session to mirror a day of training on snow. We warmed up with athletic stance and dynamic warm-up, much like you would before you put your boots on for a day of training in the winter. We moved on to review hopping in athletic stance and the transition as warm-up runs, and then began "training" in two slalom and one GS course.












As we moved into the courses, Danny also emphasized the difference between the technical elements of skiing - parallel position for the focus of SDSC - and that of tactics - turn shape and line, for instance. And of course, we brought the timing out, and the counselors were leading the charge in pushing people to go faster as well as cheering for them when they beat a previous time.


It was so exciting to see campers of all ages and ability incorporating everything they had learned and practiced over the course of the last week or two into the courses. What a perfect way to end our time on skates, and this afternoon we are returning to Mansfield to reach the summit!


Wednesday, August 5, 2015

MOVIE NIGHT

Built in to the schedule and structure of a 2-week program is appropriate time for rest and recovery.  The camp busted tail in the field this morning with one of the more demanding topics: explosion/power.  Tomorrow we have the most demanding alternate session as we will embark on conquering Mount Mansfield for a hike.  Taking the appropriate time tonight for recovery is important as we repair and look ahead.

Our movie choices were Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and Big Hero 6.  Everyone curled up with a pillow and blanket, and we turned the dining hall and the tv room into home theaters.



Off to the Johnson SK8TE Park!

After our first session on skates yesterday, courage grew in our young campers and perfectly nestled in the schedule we found... the Johnson Sk8te Park.  This Park was made for inline skaters and skateboarders alike, and even has a pump track for bmx riders right next to it.  Even though it is an annual favorite, every time we go there I am surprised and impressed by how much our kids enjoy it.  Alone, it is a an event full of challenges at every level, demanding bravery as well as skill.  But teamed together with our instructional skate sessions that introduce and build fundamentals, the challenges at the park are mere stepping stones along the path of a week full of accomplishments.


We had a new accomplishment today, with a few of our campers riding the arc.  You'll be able to see that in the end of week video!!

Explosion with Andrew Gannon

This morning the Head Alpine Coach from Plymouth State University, Andrew Gannon, joined us to lead the camp through a practice on explosive and powerful movements.  Andrew is heading into his 6th year at Plymouth, and prior to that time he was the Program Director up at Alyeska, Alaska.  While at Alyeska, his program hosted US Nationals three times, and he served as Chief of Race or Chief of Course each time, including in 2007 when the volcano erupted and created avalanches and spread ash all over the hill and town.  Andrew, and coaches like him, are what help take SDSC to the next level.











Building a great foundation for power and explosive movements starts with the feet and works up, and Andrew led the camp through a great progression encountering both lateral and forward and backward movements.  He pulled out some really cool "tools" to incorporate into the workout, like shortened gate shafts, golf balls, and zebra print party balloons.  With youngsters, variety is key for engagement, and at this point in the two weeks kids have seen inside the minds of 6 industry professionals.  Variety galore.

 Hoping the big dark clouds stay away this afternoon so we can head over to the skate park for some bumps, jumps, and ramps.






Tuesday, August 4, 2015

The SWIMMING HOLE



Heading into our night session, I was a little concerned that the altered afternoon session would leave our kids cranked full of energy that we wouldnt have an appropriate outlet for.  Well... after a few flips, dives, slides, sprays, splashes, basketball games, volleyball games, chicken fights, egg contests, and... CANNON BALLS, some energy had been burned.



Quietest night at camp yet.  I think some tired kiddos need some rest.


Avoiding the BOOMERS in the afternoon...

We just missed the thunderstorm after the morning session on skates, and during lunch the radar showed thunder and lightning all the way through dinner.  We hate to pull the plug on a scheduled session, but given the weather at the time, the forecast for the day, and the amount of energy our kids used so far at camp, it was an easy call to move to our alternate plan of SDSC OLYMPICS.

Eric pulled several indoor challenges out of his bag of tricks and organized teams, rules, and a scoring system.  8 minutes at each of the six stations: Spoon Egg Run, Olympic Rings, Leaning Tower of Jenga, Cup Pyramid, Sorry Treasure Hunt, and Team Hula Hoop time trials.  To finish it off, one camper from each group represented their team in the Whipped Cream Pie Eating Contest. The winning team for the entire event won POC water bottles.

The below video can be viewed on a desktop.  Mobile devices are not supported.


While the scores were being tallied, we took advantage of the break in the storm to run our weekly 100ft Slip n' Slide.

Balance and Transition with Danny Noyes



This morning we continued our progression on skates from last week with Danny Noyes, SDSC Director and Head Alpine Ski Coach at Colby College. In the eight years that Danny has been at Colby he has coached 9 NCAA Division I All-Americans, three individual eastern carnival race winners, and four teams have won a carnival's team scoring.  At the NCAA Div I Championships, the Colby Teams have placed as high as 5th several times in the last few years against Division I Scholarship Universities like Vermont, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Montana State, and Alaska.



Campers started by reviewing or solidifying their basic athletic stance, before moving to focus greatly on our transitions. They worked their way through 6 skating lanes, each emphasizing different aspects of transition. I think the kids would agree with me when I say that the session structure really helped bring out Danny's session's goal.

Us coaches were really impressed with the questions posed to us as all the campers kept looking for more things on which they could improve. I know personally I also heard many people mention how the feedback they were getting from coaches related to the things they have been working on in their skiing. Props to Danny for setting up another great skate session that emulated much of our skiing!



Dark clouds curling over Mount Mansfield threatened to end our session early, but we escaped just before the first rain drops. And the smiles kept coming :) 

Evening Activities - Field Games and a Cold Dunk

Good evening, and you're tuning in to the SDSC blog updates! So glad you could join us. This evening's program features highlights from our final session of Day 2 here at the Round Hearth!

For those who are just joining us, we use the evening sessions to build cohesion within our teams and within the camp at large, expose the campers to as many games as we can, and reiterate coaching points made in the instructional sessions or prime them for future sessions. Tonight we mixed up all the countries so that each new team had multiple ages represented, and then rotated playing speedball and team handball. We emphasized body control this morning in the instructional session, and we reintroduced that concept this evening to great effect. 

After playing, we all made sure to cool off. Some went to the river, and some...well, I'll let the images tell the story: 

The video below can be viewed on a desktop.  This format does not support mobile devices. 


Monday, August 3, 2015

Just a Passing Thunderstorm...

This afternoon we set out for the Cady Hill mountain bike trails on a bright and shiny day, but suddenly found ourselves under a very dark cloud as soon as we entered the woods. We had a great climb up the initial ascent before all the groups retreated towards town at the sound of a first thunder clap.


One group had made it farther than the others, and rather than working their way back up the hill they had just come down, they hunkered into the woods and built a superb lean-too while they waited for the storm to blow over. The rest of the crew took refuge in The Swimming Hole lobby. 


The storm definitely didn't ruin the day, however, and we had a beautiful return to the Round Hearth with a great view of Stowe on the way.


First Instructional Session

This morning our very own Eric Barthold was our featured coach for the first instructional session of the week.  Eric skied for me at Colby College, and he was also the leading scorer on the soccer team.  After graduation, he spent a year coaching at Killington Mountain School, and then shipped off to Africa to work for Grassroot Soccer, an organization that uses soccer to educate kids about HIV.  Upon his return to the states, he returned to Colby to coach with me while also coaching soccer at the University of New England.  A great role model and a great athlete, we are lucky to have Eric full time at camp.


Today's session was developed to give us an introduction to athletic fundamental movements and utilized the elements of Balance, Agility, Speed, and Explosion.  Those four elements will be revisited one day at a time as the week progresses.  We loaded up on the equipment for this one... using all of our dyna discs, agility ladders, speed parachutes, and plyo boxes.  Its fun for these young athletes to use equipment that they might not have at home, and Eric did a great job of working it all in.




















A lot of fun and A LOT OF EXERCISES, the kids are off to a great start thanks to Eric.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

OFF and RUNNING... and playing and swimming

Week 2 opened with an explosion of activity.  After going over Camp Rules and several team building games before dinner, we took to the field after dinner for games of speedball, Quebec ball, and tank.


Getting our feet wet on night one (literally) has everyone excited to be here and ready for some activity this week.  We open the instructional sessions tomorrow morning with our own Eric Barthold leading Session 1 titled Introduction.  He will touch upon the four areas of balance, agility, speed, and explosion with a focus on body awareness and control.  Speed chutes are coming out!!

Cool Shades


Saturday, August 1, 2015

END OF WEEK 1 Ceremony and Pick Up


Saturday marks our final day of week 1.  Our closing ceremonies start at 11:00am, and should be done around 12:00.  All parents are invited to join us, and we just ask that you leave the benches open for the campers.  There should be plenty of space to fill in behind.

ALSO, we ask that you reserve moving luggage of the rooms until after the ceremonies.  Our site at the Round Hearth has been a very safe and controlled/organized (believe it or not) space this week.  We would like that organization to extend right up to the end.  Thank you for understanding.

LAST Night PAA AAA ARTY

1 DJ
2 Inflatable Bungee Runs
3 Hours
4 Different Kinds of Ice Cream
...
85 Kids
...
UNLIMITED FUN


The Swimming Hole

For our alternate session today, we traveled to The Swimming Hole, a fitness center complete with pool, water basketball and volleyball, and a water slide. Textbook dives, cannonballs, flips, and belly flops were all on display, and the hour and a half that we spent there simply sped by.