Being outdoors at a cool skatepark with friends is Hayden Hoekstra?s idea of the perfect way to spend a summer?s day.
It?s the 13-year-old?s favourite part of NAIT?s weeklong Rad Camp Extreme, which also includes paintballing, bowling, laser tag, rock climbing, and a day at the waterpark.
It bills itself as the camp for kids who love ?active fun.? Camp counsellor Morgan Gahler describes it ?as a camp that doesn?t make you feel like you?ve been shipped off to a camp. It?s more for risk takers.?
It?s the third time Hoekstra?s taken the camp. He?ll take it yet again later in the summer after he gets back from a family vacation.
?I asked my parents if I could come to it because I like the skatepark,? he says. ?I like hanging around with friends and meeting new friends.?
It?s also the third time for 13-year-old Jackson Howden, who is sharing the experience for the first time with his cousin Duncan Jowett, visiting from Winnipeg.
?These are sports that I know what I?m doing, and it makes it more special doing them with my cousin.?
Both boys are tackling the bowl at the Millwoods Skate Park, (72nd St. and 28th Ave.) with scooters.
Howden actually likes paintballing better ? Tuesday was Jowett?s first paintball experience and he had fun ? and that?s what?s great about a multi-activity camp like this, says camp counsellor Chris Aubrey.
?Maybe you didn?t like Tuesday?s activity, but Friday?s just around the corner and everyone loves the waterpark,? he says. ?If you don?t like the waterpark, or you don?t like to swim, well then, we have a day of rock climbing.?
By comparison, if your parents sign you up for a single sport/activity camp and you don?t like it, it?s going to be a very long week, Aubrey notes.
Eleven-year-old Anastacia Lalonde is relishing the opportunity to roll around the skatepark in her rollerblades.
The camp has introduced her to different activities, some of which she does with her family, but this morning at the skatepark is allowing her to do something she usually can?t do with them, ?because I have a younger brother and he?s not old enough to do paintballing and stuff like that.?
Lalonde also likes being outdoors.
?I?m more of an outside person,? she explains. ?If I watch TV too long I get bored and I just want to get outside.?
Eleven-year-old Matthew McMurdo says the RAD camp is like a camp of all your favourite things to do.
?It?s just a bunch of fun with cool activities,? he says. And unlike having to stay close to home when his mom?s working, the camp is more freeing by allowing him to be out and about with supervision.
Tyler Empson is taking the camp for a second time and likes everything about it. It?s his first time skateboarding at the skatepark. And it?s another chance to do something like rock climbing which he usually only gets to do at birthday parties
?I like being outdoors way more than being inside,? the 13-year-old adds, ?and it?s fun being active.? Skateboarding is also inspiring him to go home and build some bike ramps.
Some kids may balk at having to spend some of their summer in structured sport and activity camps, but Hayden Hoekstra likes all the different things he gets to do. ?It makes your summer feel longer.?
ferris state hockey mary poppins john derbyshire kinkade thomas kinkade paintings navy jet crash virginia beach isiah thomas
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.