By Carol Brzozowski-Gardner
Carol Brzozowski-Gardner is a freelance writer based in Coral Springs, Florida.
Coaching Management, 9.3, April 2001, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/cm/cm0903/coolsummer.htm
For some coaches, conducting a summer camp is not a top priority. It’s nothing more than an easy way to get some coaching in during the offseason and maybe add a few dollars to the volleyball program’s coffers. After all, it’s hard to think about a summer camp when surrounded by the demands of the regular season, recruiting, or offseason activity.
Jenny McDowell, Head Coach at Emory University, has taken the opposite tack, however. In building what has become a wildly successful summer camp, she has taken a page from the business world’s playbook—the page titled “customer service.”
“Anytime anybody calls about the camp, we respond that day,” she says. “That’s a priority for us.”
McDowell and her staff always attempt to accommodate every request, from answering simple inquiries to changing roommates at the last minute. “We try to be as flexible as possible and go the extra mile for the kids and the parents,” McDowell says. “For example, we try to get our camp brochures out as quickly as possible so families can work it around their vacation schedule.”
McDowell started her program’s camp five years ago, after gaining experience with camps as an assistant coach at the University of Georgia. The Emory program pulled in 45 people during its first year and over the subsequent four years has attracted over 500 participants.
“Most coaches will tell you those two or three weeks in the summer are hard work,” McDowell says, “but I think it has paid off here. Our camp, at a Division III school, has been selling out for the past four years. We’re competing against a lot of Division I schools around this area, so that says a lot.”
But, beyond running your camp as a business—with good service at the top of the list—what are the other keys to running a successful summer volleyball camp? In this article, coaches who double as summer camp directors provide advice on making a camp worthwhile for both the campers and the intercollegiate program.
Starting Points
As with any business venture, the first step is figuring out your camp’s mission. Is the first priority to make money? Or is promoting your program—or the institution—the main objective?
Cecile Reynaud, Head Coach at Florida State University, favors a camp that emphasizes positive public relations. If a camp’s mission is just to make money, she says, people will sense that and most likely not return.
“For public relations,” says Reynaud, “it’s very important that the students who come to the camp are taken care of, that it’s organized, and that they leave feeling like it was worth their time and money to visit your campus.”
Eva Windlin-Jansen, Head Coach at Gonzaga University, shares a similar philosophy. “If you do it to generate money, you’re starting at the wrong end completely,” she says.
Windlin-Jansen prefers to focus on making the camp the best it can be for the athletes, then letting the positive PR take care of itself. “I think the main thing that makes the camp successful is that the players who come have a good experience,” she says. “Obviously, some of the side effects of that are having a great public relations tool for your university and your volleyball program.”
Knowing your mission can then help you decide what type of camp to offer. If positive community relations is the aim, you probably want to offer a more traditional, general camp, such as a day camp for varying ages and levels of play. If several other camps are offered nearby, you might want to develop a specialized camp, with a different focus. And many programs have found success providing more than one option. (See Sidebar “Mixing It Up” at the end of this article for some examples.)
Staffing
As Windlin-Jansen notes, no matter what your ultimate mission, the key to achieving it is giving the campers a great experience. And, all coaches agree, that means putting together a good staff.
“It’s great to have concepts and philosophies about what a camp should be, but if you don’t have the staff to implement that, it doesn’t really mean anything,” says Mike Welch, Head Coach at Idaho State University. “The staff is the most important part of your camp because they’re the ones who are going to have the direct impact and influence over the kids.”
“I think every camp director will tell you it all comes down to how the coaches coach the kids,” McDowell says. “I try to find a staff that not only knows volleyball, but loves to interact with kids.”
Welch hires only staff members with whom he has a direct relationship. “That way, I can ensure all my campers that I know the philosophies of these people, and they are doing what I would do if I was their court coach,” he says.
McDowell taps into a network of coaching friends whose style she has observed at other camps and doesn’t hesitate to line people up well in advance. “People laugh, but I ask coaches almost a year ahead of time if they’ll come work my camps,” she says.
Reynaud says she’s had success hiring coaches from colleges, clubs, and high schools, giving each court two or three coaches. She also oversees the coaches carefully, keeping an eye out for any who might fit future staffing needs for her intercollegiate program.
Coaches also suggest employing current players as coaches and counselors. Although they are sometimes limited in what they can do as coaches, their ability to demonstrate skills and act as mentors for the campers is priceless.
“We try to have as many of our players as possible stay here and work our summer camp,” McDowell says. “Campers love to interact with the players. They obviously like the instruction from the head coaches and assistant coaches, but we talk to our players all the time about what a positive role model they can be for these kids.”
Welch concurs that using current athletes as counselors or coaches is a great attraction for the campers. “I think the campers enjoy working with the players even more than they enjoy working with professional coaches,” he says. “The players are great role models and they foster greater coach-player bonds.”
“Your players are probably the best ambassadors you have for your program and getting them involved is really important to having a successful camp.” says Windlin-Jansen.
Make it Meaningful ...
And Fun
Coaches know their camps are effective when they start seeing the same faces return each summer, joined by a batch of new enrollees. There are two keys to making this happen, say coaches. First, the camp experience must be meaningful. Second, it must be fun and memorable.
At St. Edwards University, Head Coach Debbie Williamson makes her camp meaningful by giving campers a lot of personal attention. Her camp maintains a ratio of one coach for every 10 players and she keeps the campers moving.
“We don’t have the extra time for all that ‘froufrou’ skit stuff,” Williamson states. “We coach volleyball. We do a lot of competition-type games and drills. We keep the pace up. There is no standing around time. It’s got to be a good pace for these kids.”
Welch also believes in providing campers a lot of individual coaching. “From the moment we walk in we tell them that we’re there for them,” he says. “By paying their registration fees, they have hired us to help them reach their dreams. We want to make sure they come to us, ask us questions, and spend time talking with us. We really try to create an environment where they feel very welcome to just come up to us and sit around chatting.
“We also try to create a family environment in our camps,” Welch continues. “We make sure our college players stay in the dorms and go to meals with the campers. We have all of the staff use the meal plan and require them to be at all the meals. That way, we’re sitting around talking with the kids and joking with them while they’re in line waiting.”
Katie Weismiller, Head Coach at Indiana University, says she makes her program both meaningful and fun by offering something a little different than the usual camp fare. Her campers room in a sorority house, offering them an experience different from a dorm. “It’s more of an overnight slumber party atmosphere,” she says.
At Bentley College, Head Coach Sandy Hoffman also tries to offer something a little out of the ordinary. “We always try to put some aspect of fun in the camp and diversify it so they’re not just learning skill progression or team strategies every single day with the same group,” she says. “A lot of times, we’ll split them up into specialty groups so the setters will be training with the setters and the hitters with the hitters. Or we’ll have lectures on nutrition, recruiting, or weight-training.
“Then we have little fun competitions—doubles, triples, and hometown team games,” she continues. “We mix it up a lot so it’s not the same routine every day.”
A final incentive to ensure that your campers come back next year is providing mementos. This should include awards (focus on skills improvement instead of MVPs), team photos, and apparel. Reynaud gives out Olympic games T-shirts; others suggest college/university apparel.
Hoffman does a little more. “We give out camp balls as something they can take back home,” she says. “That’s big. A lot of them don’t have the opportunity to purchase balls.” Hoffman also gives the campers books for taking notes on coaches’ sessions.
From Camper to Fan
While a main objective of most camps is to get the athletes to return the next year—and tell their friends—many coaches also want to see the campers that fall, as fans in the bleachers.
Williamson does a lot of marketing to her day campers in an effort to get them back to watch some games. She makes sure the day campers leave with game schedules in hand, and part of the camp fee can be applied toward admission to the games. Wearing their camp shirt also admits them to home contests—then serves to promote the camp to other spectators at the match.
Williamson adds that having her student-athletes serve as camp counselors also helps bring the campers back to campus. After bonding with the college players, the youngsters are eager to see their role models compete on the college stage.
McDowell’s staff continues to communicate with the campers long after the summer ends. Campers are placed on a mailing list and receive newsletters and invitations to games. As campers become fans, it’s common for them to e-mail their favorite players, visit the team’s Web site, and go to the games.
“We try to keep contact with them throughout the whole year, not just the one time in the summer,” says McDowell. “We send our campers away assuring them they will hear from us again.”
Putting It All Together
Whatever the mission of your camp, it always seems to take a little of this and a little of that to make the program a success. “We really try to emphasize the total experience for the kid,” says McDowell.
That means mixing fun with growth, having a staff keenly aware of campers’ needs, and providing each youngster with something to remember you by. “When they leave here,” McDowell says, “we want them to not only think they’ve become better volleyball players, but that they’ve had the time of their life.”
sidebar:
Diamond in the Rough
While it is against NCAA rules to use your summer camp to recruit players, it can certainly plant the seeds for future recruitment efforts. Each camp session provides an opportunity to spot a terrific player before anyone else does. And a great camp experience can lead a player to want to play for your program.
Katie Weismiller, Head Coach at Indiana University, views camps as a “great way to see potential and get an opportunity to work with younger athletes. A lot of our former campers are playing in the Big Ten right now.”
But keep in mind that the talent pool at most camps will be pretty shallow, especially for coaches of the top programs. However, finding that player who can fit into your program is a real thrill, says Mike Welch, Head Coach at Idaho State University. He tells of one girl who had been coming to his camp ever since she was 10 years old and always dreamed of being an Idaho State Bengal.
“I learned that through the camp,” he says. “I didn’t know that she had an agenda. So it was a real neat matching situation that she had dreams to come to our school and her dreams happened only because she came to our camp.”
Cecile Reynaud, Head Coach at Florida State University, believes more student-athletes are going to camps at universities they hope to attend. Thus, the students are scoping out the university as much as coaches may be unofficially scoping out players.
“Obviously their resources are limited and they can’t always get to as many schools as they’d like to,” she says, adding that the two students she signed last year both attended her camp.
sidebar:
Mixing It Up
Some of the most successful summer volleyball camp programs have found diversity in offerings to be the key to getting more campers to sign up. Here’s a sampling of what some programs provide:
• Emory University offers an individual camp, two team camps, and a special three-day camp for setters.
• Florida State University hosts the Nike High Potential Camp aimed at older students seriously pursuing a college volleyball career. FSU also offers two camps open to all abilities: an individual camp as well as a team play camp.
• St. Edwards University operates day camps for local children in the Austin area. All are individual camps for children from ages eight through high school. It also offers a camp for high school players only that focuses on conditioning and occurs right before school begins.
• Bentley College runs overnight league camps, where campers live on campus and eat in the dining hall. It also offers a night camp for high school teams prior to the start of high school preseason.
• Indiana University has a specialty camp, a middle hitter camp, and a day camp geared toward younger grades. The university has seen the popularity of volleyball grow thanks to offerings such as its “Hoosier Hitters” program for children as young as first grade.
• Idaho State University has three different camps: a player development camp, an advanced positional camp, and a team camp.
• Gonzaga University runs a fundamentals camp, a specialization camp, and a team camp.
Sidebar:
Publicize It!
For publicizing their summer camps, coaches find that tried and true methods still work best. These include:
• Ads in national volleyball magazines (which may offer campers free subscriptions in return, keeping the momentum up year-round).
• Ads in the local media.
• Distributing brochures on recruiting rounds and through direct mail.
• Networking with local high school volleyball coaches.
• Posting a Web page on the Internet, which allows prospective campers the opportunity to view information from the comfort of home at any time.
But, by far, the most effective method is still word of mouth. “Once the kids come in and have a good experience, they go back to their high schools and junior highs and talk with their coaches and fellow players,” says Cecile Reynaud, Head Coach at Florida State University. “We found we get a lot of business that way.”