THE CAMP LIFE

What’s wrong with this picture? Absolutely nothing! I hardly went to basketball camps as a kid and it seems like I’m at several every summer. But it’s probably a different feel than if I had gone as a 14-year old. Camp has all the things society has on microcosmic levels. There’s people in the real world who think themselves superior and similarly, there are bullies at camp. There’s the opportunity to be a part of a team at your job and obviously camp aims to foster the team mentality.

But this summer, though it’s still considered late spring I think, I’m already in the middle of my first summer camp. It’s called NBC Camps and this one happens to be held on the Island of Maui, Hawaii. So here’s a camp log entry from yesterday that epitomized how camp can accomplish what society leaves to chance.

Our lead coach was in the middle of instructing when he said, in commanding voice, “IF YOU’RE ONE OF THE TOP 10 PLAYERS AT THIS CAMP, RUN OVER AND GET IN THE FIRST LINE.” What do you think happened next, a stampede of teenage boys thriving in delusion? If this was Los Angeles you’d be right. But this is Maui and hope, as I’m told is in short supply. Kids don’t aspire the way they should apparently and if it’s one thing camp can address, it’s the lack of inspiration among young people. I think that’s why I go so much now though I never did when I was the “camp age”. Isolation, unity of purpose, a camp theme, and love from protectors (coaches) who stand against injustice is provide a necessary framework that a kid needs to see that society and potential seldom coincide. If soldiers need basic training, are we to think that we don’t? The camp life makes perfect sense.