With “Training” in our camp’s name, we often get the question: How Competitive is ISTC?
This answer has changed drastically throughout the years. Before the All Sports and IXTC programs, we previously offered individual sport programs. Soccer, cross country, wrestling, field hockey, baseball, basketball, cheer, and so on each had their own week; with everyone chasing the same goals in these programs, the sports were extremely competitive.
Presently, the competitive nature of our sports programs have relaxed significantly given a few changes.
- Co-Ed Groups
While our campers are housed by single gender, their sports groups during the day are co-ed! With everyone playing sports together, our coaches prioritize a balanced approach to sessions. This involves mixing teams of boys and girls, but also scaling activities to all athletic abilities.
- Sports Sessions are Not Always Team Sports
Our recreational atmosphere stems from the types of sports and activities we offer. Specifically, every session is not a field or team-based sport! We jet ski, banana boat, rock climb, zip line, and mountain bike in sports session times. With these adventure activities, we don’t track how quickly campers climb or how fast they complete trails; the true objective is to expose campers to new things and build confidence in these environments.
Even with our field sports, the goal is not always to score a goal. Our goal is to focus on the fun and socialization of sports while learning new skills. We want to introduce our campers to new sports like cricket and rugby, and international sports like Aussie Rules Football. Additionally, we love mixing sports and creating new games! Hunger Games has become a classic ISTC activity, which is combination of tag, dodgeball, and water balloons.
- Where Competition Happens at Camp
Competition isn’t the overall focus but you can’t have a sports camp without fun and friendly competition. As part of the Cabin-of-the-Week activities, cabins earn points for their group by partaking in events like relays, swim races, and more. Cabins also earn points by cleaning their cabins, dressing in theme for the Wednesday night dance, and creating cheers. Our recreation department crowns a winner; however, placing well or poorly in these cabin-of-the-week activities does not stop campers from laughing, playing, and cheering their way to the end of the week.
In short, ISTC is full of healthy competition! It is about campers being outside, socializing, and trying different things.