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Picking a Summer Sports Camp            

The number of summer camp alternatives to choose from is staggering. While they are a very good idea to help you improve your skills and gain the attention of a college coach, you must carefully select your camp based on the goals you have. As more camps pop up, the overall quality goes down across the board so do your research and consider the following.

1. Day camps- usually a local camp that does not involve staying overnight. Usually run 1 to 5 days. Does not indicate level of coaching, it could be outstanding.
2. Overnight Camps- campers stay in dorms or cabins and are under counselor supervision. Good chance to see what college dorm life is like. These camps often have night functions such as speakers or movies which day camps do not.

1. General Camps- often have ages 7-15 or 16. Strong emphasis on drills, stations and scrimmage. Coaches range from high school and college coaches to current college players.
2. Select or Invite- limited to older campers who are recommended or invited. Emphasis is on competition. Often many college coaches attending. Good chance to gain interest from a school.
3. High Level Camps- particularly in basketball; players invited from a nation wide pool such as Nike Camps, 5 –Star, Adidas. Usually the crème de la crème of the nation. If you can get invited and make some noise, you are in good shape.
4. College Select Camps - A single college will run a camp for high school players and often invite many of the athletes they want to evaluate further.  A popular trend in college football camps is for an athlete to attend just one day of the camp. This one day will likely include testing, position workouts and participation in a 7 on 7 game.  Basically, a tryout.

1. Location- if you are going to a camp for exposure, you need to go where the college coaches are (need to call and ask) or go to the part of the country where you want to attend college and get in front of those coaches.
2. Costs- do not forget the transportation costs associated with going out of state or across the country. Many camps offer a form of financial aid in the form of work detail- usually in the kitchen.
3. Player to coach ratio- regardless of the type of camp there should be enough coaches to provide a high level of individual instruction. In other words, if you want to work extra on your skills after dinner, you should not have to look far for a coach to help you out.

1. Who is coaching- if your primary reason for attending a camp is skill development than it should not matter how many college coaches are there. While it is nice, high school coaches can be superb technical instructors, as good as college. You can get superior instruction at local camps with youth and high school coaches.

If you go to select camps or with the idea of getting in front of college coaches you need to qualify in advance how many will be attending, for how long and from where. Many camps over promise and under deliver on this, or they get the coaches they tout but only for a few hours on a given day.

3. What are showcases?

1. Showcases- differ from camps in that they are set-up to allow rising junior and seniors the opportunity to play in front of college coaches or pro scouts. They can exist in a tournament setting or in a skill exhibition and scrimmage format.

Some are invite or recommendation only such as Baseball’s Area Code Games, Perfect Game or Team One showcases which require a recommendation from a pro scout or coach.

Others are open to anyone who wants to pay the fee and go. BE CAREFULL! There are many cases of showcases being only money makers for the directors who promise that dozens of coaches will attend and deliver only a few. Do you homework and ask around before you pay money.

These events are not a guarantee of anything. Some players have made a sudden name for themselves at showcases and others have been hurt.
 

2. State Area Games- Many states have their own summer Olympics each year such as the Bay State Games of Mass, Empire State Games of NY or the Sunshine State Games in Florida. For these games you have to tryout for and be selected to a team in your state region or qualify for individual sports. While not Showcases, State Olympic games can serve the same purpose; gain exposure to college coaches.

For many, the being seen in several competitive games over a 3-7 day period is a much better evaluation chance than a summer camp or showcase. You will be seen under pressure, playing with teammates, and possibly performing with pain, injury or other difficult circumstances. Coaches like to see how you react in these situations. Also you will be staying in a dorm/college setting. How you behave also makes a mark with college coaches.

Do your homework! Before you pay any money for a camp, find out if it really offers all that you are looking for and most importantly all that it advertises. Call the camp. Speak with the camp director. Call coaches who will be there. Speak with players who went there in the past.

With any camp you want to return a smarter player with improved skills and a knowledge of your weaknesses and how to improve. Gaining exposure is great but if it does not happen do not let it bother you. There are plenty of other ways to be noticed. Ask you summer camp coach for a recommendation or if you can use him or her as a reference in the future. It can’t hurt.