Director Jud's Blog

SMA Session 1 All Camp Day Blog Post

The start of the SMA summer 2017 went off like all sessions do- an evening meeting in the barn, complete with a mix of both excitement and nerves. During our first full day of camp, we started off with our masters programs going out and since then they have been super busy each day-the Horsemasters in the barn each morning- working on position, rising and sitting trots, and going on trail rides through the woods. While, the bike masters are killing it on the Allegrippis- biking miles and miles of the winding, wooded, hardest single-track on the East Coast and learning bike maintenance as they go.

On the first day we also have belay school and swim check for all our campers, just to get everyone heading to kick SMA into high gear. Since then, we’ve had SMA biking, wakeboarding, tennis better than Wimbledon, freezing headlong sprints into Greenwood Furnace, games of ultimate, successful fishing trips (catching fish, sticks, and the occasional super secretive boots), soccer better than the pros, volleyball and ‘nuke ‘em’ tournaments, campers climbing conquering rocks, Power Hour games of basketball, knock-out, pool, touch rugby, keep-away, cuddle-puddles, ukulele jams, and many a relaxing afternoon doing SUP and sail on the shores of Raystown Lake.

Anyone else out of breathe yet? Because we are! Running around all day, into the evenings and then back up again in the morning to do it all over again!! BUT, we haven’t even gotten to our overnights yet! Due to our own Fourth of July celebrations, the overnights went out a little earlier than other years, causing this session to gain a closer bond even faster! We sent out a climbing overnight, a biking overnight, a canoeing overnight, and two wakeboarding overnights within the first five days of camp. Each wave over overnights sends over half of camp out, having fun and sleeping in tents or under the stars, leaving the campers at home to have bonfires of their own and the occasional movie night in the barn.

On the nights when the SMA Summer Camps for Teens camp is home, our evenings are just as action packed as our days. Our beloved Jud games and ice cream set the tone for the rest of the session for the enthusiasm and fun that the evening activities bring. You will be happy to know that our own staff member Simon won the games after a heavy battle against other counselors and the campers alike. Invention Convention continued a night later, once everyone came home from the first wave of overnights. In this activity, the campers are given a box of random things to make an invention out of and then to create a short informal about their amazing new product which can, obviously, be purchased for the reasonable price of 10 installments of $99.99.

Disco bowling, in which the entire camp wears as a ridiculous outfit as possible and then bowls, went as amazingly as one can imagine. The friendly competition over slices of pizza made for a lively night before today’s All Camp Day.

The campers (and counselors) are allowed to sleep in, to catch up on all the previously-missed Zzz’s from the overnights and other activities. They are then met with bagels and donuts and all things good for a fun morning of bunk cleaning and clearing and skit making. The cabins are then ranked and the winner gets ice cream this evening! In the afternoon, the campers go off for their community service activities with Alex’s Lemonade Stand being a favorite as always.

Tonight, we’ll have a BBQ out on a lake with almost all you can eat hamburgers, veggie burgers, and hotdogs.  It’s one of the best nights of camp- good food, good company, fresh summer watermelon, and some kick-about and swimming included.

In the next couple of days we’ll have our camp dances complete with the worst dancing possible just before heading out to the Lower Yough for nature’s best rollercoaster of rapids before coming back for the last few magical days of activities. Then sadly, we will be sending some of your fantastic children home after spending these amazing two weeks with them. They will be brimming with tears and stories to be sure, just as we will, before welcoming the next set of campers and having the best two weeks all over again.