Final Night Cookout and Inflatables!

Inflatables and cookouts are a blast but we're so sad that it's the last night of camp! When we arrived back from our bike ride there was a bouncy house set up that campers couldn't wait to get into. We had a DJ that played all of our favorite songs including some Michael Jackson and Imagine Dragons. The DJ stated a hula-hoop contest which all the campers participated in. Erin, Grace and JP were the champions of each round which culminated in a final contest which Grace championed. After that campers ate ice cream brownie sundaes and sang their hearts out. Everyone is sad that camp is over but we are looking forward to resting some tired legs and of course, family. Please join us at the Round Hearth for our camp award ceremony at 11:00am. We ask that you don't come early so we can fully wrap up camp and hand the campers off to you all safely - Thank You!

Cady Hill Mountain Bike Adventure 2.0

This afternoon camp spun down the rec path for another adventure in the Cady Hill mountain bike trail system. This time we took a slightly different route, ending on a trail called Bear's after doing a loop on the famous Florence trail. Although the trails were a little dusty after little rain recently, it was fun to see everyone push themselves one final time and enjoy winding down twisty trails through the trees.

All the teams got to jump in the river one more time, while the younger groups got to get some ice cream downtown in Stowe. We made one final trek back up the rec path and returned to a grill with sizzing burgers and hot dogs! Well deserved and a great way to end a fun ride.

Instructional Session - Explosion with Justin Sperry

This morning we welcomed Justin Sperry to SDSC to run our final B-A-S-E session on Explosion. Justin is the head coach at Colby-Sawyer College in NH after being the head coach at Clarkson University for the last 2 years. A former Division 1 skier himself at Colby College, Justin returned to camp after serving as a counselor here over four years ago. Since working at SDSC, he has also coached at Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club and Bates College.

Justin compared explosion to coiling a spring, pushing us to absorb any landing and then getting as tall as possible in the top of our jump. He brought us through exercises with boxes, hurdles, parachutes, and medicine balls, and ended with a fun game of Quebec ball. Although it was our last instructional session of camp and everyone was feeling their legs, campers rallied to give a great final effort.

This afternoon we head back to Cady Hill for some more mountain biking, and then we celebrate tonight with a cookout and inflatables!

Rec Path Scavenger Hunt

It wouldn't be SDSC Week 2 without a scavenger hunt! Tonight campers hit the rec path for our famous yearly adventure! Staying in teams, campers have to complete a number of tasks and work together to get the most number of points! There are ten tasks, some of which are easy and others that are very challenging. 

Samples include: 

- Locate the gazebo on the path and have everyone sing a song together there

- Find a heart shaped rock

- Build some sort of small craft to send down the river

- Take a video of your team flossing in Thompson's park

- Choose your favorite B-A-S-E exercise and complete in in a cool location
- Spell out SDSC in some creative way (like Switzerland STEALING the pinnies from Sweden) ... and many more!

After teams completed all of the challenges, we headed to one of our favorite swimming holes on the rec path then back to the Round Hearth for s'mores. Looking forward to our featured coach tomorrow. Stay tuned to find out who it will be!

Summit Push for Mount Mansfield

Did you know Mt. Mansfield is the tallest mountain in Vermont? Well, today after lunch all SDSC campers summited the chin on Mt. Mansfield! We split up into multiple groups based on hiking ability and age. The oldest group of campers made it all the way to the summit and back down, only stopping for a few quick water breaks and a snack at the top. The second group made it less than five minutes from the top but had to turn around to make the bus. The third group made it to the top of nosedive which is a famous ski racing trail and crosses about 80% of the way to the top. The youngest group, Switzerland, usually doesn't get to hike Mt. Mansfield and instead they go on a more manageable hike for their size. This time, however, we bussed them partway up so they were able to hike all the way to the "chin" which is the highest point in the state of Vermont. We even picked up some quartz rocks to share with the camp on our hike down. We got a great photo of almost all of camp up at the summit, Lots of tired faces and legs but we're looking forward to whatever Eric has planned for us with the scavenger hunt!

Final Instructional Session - Speed with Danny Noyes

This morning we had our last skate session of the camp! Today was the final phase of our skate progression which ultimately ended in multiple courses that really resembled actually being on snow. Some groups that were still mastering skills continued to do so and everyone was encouraged to try something they hadn't done before. It's always amazing how far these campers come each year with their skating. Many that come to camp have never even skated, and by the end almost everyone is jumping over hurdles and going through courses that mimic being on skis. 

Danny watched video with campers last night so they could see exactly what they were doing well and what they needed to work on. The session was productive and every camper had a chance to ask Danny questions and also watch and learn from one another. One of the key tactical elements we discussed was elevation both in video and on skates, which is the act of moving the turn shape vertically up the hill so that they can pressure their skis (skates) in the fall line and generate the most speed. We use a lot of ski lingo when we're skating so campers can translate our discussions into their skiing easily. For those that were ready, we moved the start of our GS course up the hill a bit so they could get more speed, resembling real life GS. Everyone improved massively and campers can't wait to test out their newfound skills on skis this winter!

Relaxing Evening at the (home) Theater

Tonight we enjoyed our weekly evening in with showings of The Greatest Showman and Zootopia.  The camp was split almost in half with their choice, so we gave them both! 

The quiet night will hopefully lead to a little recovery and stored energy for tomorrow as we enter our final TWO FULL DAYS at SDSC... and they are huge days!  Tomorrow morning we have our final skate session of the week followed by our hike up Mount Mansfield (highest peak in VT), and Friday we have our box tests during our explosion session followed by our final bike into the Cady Hill trail system. 


What a week!

Johnson SK8 Park

This afternoon we escaped the threat of rain showers as we bused over to Johnson for our weekly trip to the Johnson SK8 Park.  The multitude of challenges we find there makes this session a camper favorite and may be one of the main reasons kids come back to SDSC.  While the quarter pipe, ramps, rolls, and bowl elicit mountainous courage from our young athletes, the foundation each of them build with our progression through Basic Athletic Stance and our BASE curriculum places each one in a prime position to find success. 

A huge thank you to our coaches and counselors for their endless support and encouragement as they guide each child through each obstacle and previously unsurmountable challenge.  They are making a HUGE difference!

Agility with Micaela Holland

SDSC returned to the Stowe Polo Fields this morning for our usual instructional session on Agility. That said, the session itself was anything but ordinary. Micaela Holland, head alpine ski coach at Bates College in Lewiston, ME, is incredible at creating activities that incorporate technical elements of agility, engage campers minds, and are simply very exciting. Today's session was a perfect example.

As much as we saw great focused work while everyone was in ladders or hurdles, we also challenged each other in mirror agility boxes and even had a Tic Tac Toe race. We finished with agility squares where campers had to memorize a path through 5 cones by "inspecting the course" and then run through as fast as possible like at a ski race. Micaela emphasized through all these elements that we needed to focus on accuracy and quickness rather than power or balance, and we thought constantly about positioning our bodies so that we stayed on the balls of our feet or even our toes.

Thanks Micaela for a great session and this afternoon we head up to Johnson, VT to visit the 

skate park and try our luck at some ramps, bowls, and boxes!

Evening Activity - Bike, Super Speedball, and Swim

For our alternative session tonight, we jumped back on our bikes and headed to the fields behind Stowe Motel. We introduced a new version of Speedball where each team has two goals to defend, as well as a game called Quebec Ball. Team Sweden in particular played long into the evening. There's no question that they could have played until it was completely dark, but we had to cut them short.

It was a beautiful evening on the rec path, with Mt. Mansfield in the background as the sun was beginning to dip over the horizon. After working up a sweat in Speedball, we all made our way to a swimming hole along the rec path where kids can jump off a series of rocks into the river. Even though we had swam earlier at the Waterbury Reservoir, we all were itching to get back in the water and cool off. Overall, today was a hot one, and the more we could refresh in cold river water the better!

Tomorrow we look forward to Micaela Holland's agility session in the morning, and then we head to the Johnson Skate Park in the afternoon!

Waterbury Reservoir

For our afternoon activity we suited up and hit the Waterbury Reservoir! The reservoir is only a short fifteen minute bus ride from the Round Hearth and is always a favorite because SDSC campers love to play in the water. A multi-ball game of keep away, hand stand contests, shark, sand castles... what more could you want! We played around in the water for about an hour and our session culminated with an all-camp 'egg contest.' In their perspective teams, each camper rolled up into an egg at the same time to see how long they could float for. The top two contestants from each group were chosen compete in the final round. Brady from team USA was our winner!

After the
 reservoir we returned to the Round Hearth and made a slip n' slide in the Vigneau's backyard! While we owe so many thanks to the Vigneau's as the owners and operators of the Round Hearth, they really went out of their way to create a fun and safe environment for the slip n' slide. It was also only possible with the help of Johnson's baby shampoo, a lot of tarps, duct tape, a hose and plenty of water buckets. SDSC campers all tried their hardest to make it down as far as they could go - but it as sooo loooong that only a few could make it to the very end. Everyone had a blast!

We hope the fun continues tonight in our evening activity for Super Speedball and a swim in the river!

Instructional Session on Skates - Balance

This morning SDSC campers took to the parking lot of Mt. Mansfield to work on the first pillar of BASE: Balance! Before skating up Danny took campers though a warm up in their sneakers to get heart rates up and introduce them to the fundamentals of balance and its importance in ski racing. Next, campers participated in a jumping progression to reinforce basic athletic stance and how to jump over bamboo gates, small hurdles and large hurdles. Learning proper technique with sneakers on helps campers develop proper habits for when we are on skates, and helps them feel the stabilizing muscles we use while skating.

We then geared up and began the skate portion of Danny's session. Campers had the chance to familiarize themselves with skating and stopping before we broke into groups and practiced our basic athletic stance through the parking lot in lanes. Once everyone was comfortable we began a progression which challenged campers to practice knee and ankle flexion, hands and chest forward, eyes forward, feet and knee's shoulder width apart. We progressed through the same bamboo, small hurdles then large hurdles on skates, and then finished off the day by applying those balance skills to both SL and GS courses. Danny talked a lot about how linked the tactics and technique in skiing are related to rollerblading and therefore how all of the skills we tested on skates will translate directly to our skiing. Through tactical discussion about line and elevation followed by a chance to test their knowledge, campers could understand what body movements really work for them. We will follow up with some video analysis later in the week. Thanks Danny for a great session and for making us balance pros!

Night Swim at THE SWIMMING HOLE!

Tonight we took our campers to The Swimming Hole, an indoor pool that is equipped with a diving board, basketball hoop, kiddie pool, and water slide.  The kids had a blast on all and even after 1.5 hours we heard a lot of "awwwww'" when it was time to leave. 

 

 

 

What a great cap to a Monday!

Afternoon Adventure - Mountain Biking!

On our first full day at SDSC, the camp traveled to Cady Hill for an afternoon adventure through a fun network of single track mountain bike trails.

While all campers had the option of staying on the rec path and get ice cream in town, an unprecedented 70% of camp chose to go in the woods! It was so impressive to see how many campers were itching to push themselves even if they had never biked on trails before. Members of all teams (Switzerland, Sweden, and USA) climbed up Cady Hill Connector to Florence, then back up Snake to finish on Charlie's. Florence in particular is a camp favorite, as it takes riders down a very smooth and flowy series of switchbacks, rolls, and even a few jumps. As different as mountain biking and skiing may seem, the basic athletic stance we focused on during this morning plays a huge role in both. We also talked a lot about the many parallels in how we look ahead in mountain biking, just like we need to when on skis.

Campers at Green Chair

The campers who felt more comfortable on the rec path traveled into town to get ice cream at Stowe Ice Cream and see a really cool beaver dam at the end of the path. The rec path from Round Hearth to Stowe is 4.5 miles, so even that group rode at least 9 miles...wow!

After spending two hours on the trail or rec path, we had some hungry mouths to feed for dinner! Tonight we get to swim at the Swimming Hole for some much deserved time in the water. 

LET'S BEGIN

Week two is upon us and we couldn't be more stoked about it! After our closing ceremonies campers that were staying enjoyed some well deserved downtime which included lots of sleep, a pizza party, mini golf, laundry and swimming. Today we welcomed 14 new campers to the SDSC family. We spent the afternoon getting to know each other and going over the weeks schedule. Next we enjoyed a dinner of grilled chicken, peas, salad and rice with boston creme and apple pie's for dessert. 

After dinner we loaded the bus down to the fields for our evening activities. We split the camp into half, one group went to Foster's swimming hole to jump in the water while the other group played some field games, then both groups switched. At the field we played speedball and Tank. Speedball is a mixture of soccer and handball and campers love to play when they're here. Tank is a super fun game where two groups have to communicate with a blindfolded teammate, directing them towards flags. The blindfolded teammate must listen, find one of the flags then throw it to tag their opponent out. It sure is a fun game to watch! 

Tomorrow morning we will start the day with a field session led by Coach Eric Barthold. Eric was a division I skier at Colby College and the leading scorer on the Colby Soccer team as a senior.  After he graduated, he coached at Killington Mountain School before returning to Colby where he worked as the assistant coach for a number of years. Eric is going to introduce basic athletic stance and we can't wait!

END of Week 1, and Middle Weekend

Week 1 ended on a high note with a great round robin of mixed team speedball.  Its nice to get the campers active one more time (and tired) before sending them home with their parents.  The Closing Ceremonies were concluded at noon on Saturday and a special thank you to our sponsors Marker/Volkl/Dalbello, Swix, and POC for sending product for the campers.  We even had several COLBY SKIING tees to hand out.

The afternoon and evening on Saturday and the morning on Sunday were many hours spent relaxing and recovering from an overloaded week of activity.  A trip to the river to jump in (Foster's), pizza from Piecasso (18 campers polished off 7 pizzas and salad), quiet time with a movie, and a short bike to mini golf led to a group ready to roll into Week 2.  A special thanks to camper Alexandra Bouchard's mother Sarah for delivering a special SDSC cake for desert!


We are ready to hit Week 2!

Final Evening - Cookout and Inflatables

Tonight we enjoyed one of camp's highlights, the last night cookout, inflatables, and dance party! Although campers were exhausted from a tough yet fun-filled last day, we still mustered up the energy to dance and bounce around on the inflatables. The Round Hearth Staff treated us to a cookout followed by an ice cream social. With full bellies and happy faces campers danced the night away to some pop hits, classic rock and inevitably the cupid shuffle and cha-cha slide. There was a camp limbo contest, some inflatable jousting and multiple games of tag, soccer and football. The night was filled with fun, treats and some last moments of memory making. Rooms have been packed and campers are feeling bittersweet about saying goodbye tomorrow. We will certainly miss those who are leaving us and looking forward to another week with those that are staying! 

We have some more fun planned tomorrow morning so we kindly ask parents to wait until 11:00 before arriving for the awards ceremony. That way campers can soak up every last moment of camp and we can make sure dorm security stays intact. Looking forward to seeing you all!

Explosion with Micaela Holland

This afternoon Micaela Holland led camp through our final instructional session of the week, focusing on explosion. Micaela is the head alpine ski coach at Bates College in Lewiston, ME. This year is Micaela's fourth year as an SDSC director, and we are always very lucky to have her with us.

Micaela structured her session around a series of explosive movements, emphasizing how explosion is so central to how we finish our turns in skiing. The session included box jumps, single leg bounding, and sprinting with parachutes among many other exercises. The session culminated with a camp favorite activity, in which teams work to complete a series of exercises that correspond to suits in a deck of cards. If one team randomly picks a 10 of diamonds or 7 of clubs for example, they do 10 jumping jacks or 7 tuck jumps, respectively. Even though we all were clearly feeling the end of the week, the competitive spirit of the group picked up big time!

It's hard to believe that we are now at our last night of camp, but we look forward to our cookout tonight with ice cream and inflatables. It's been a great week with a great group of kids, and now it's time to celebrate!

See you all tomorrow for our closing ceremonies at 11:00am!