Local High School Teacher Continues to Blaze Trail With 2nd Year of Coding Sports Camps

Last year, Wil Greenwald, a high school computer programming teacher at Maine Township District 207, was confident of a pent-up demand for something entirely new on the summer camp scene: a full-day program that engages children both physically and mentally.

So along with Dan Kane, founder of Oak Park-based Legacy Sports Camps, Greenwald created Coding Sports Camps in his hometown of Oak Park.

Their hunch was validated when the marriage of Greenwald’s Code Play Learn operation and Legacy Sports Camp was a big hit. Its eight weeks of programming included some sessions that sold out as early as March.

Serving boys and girls currently in kindergarten through the 8th grade, Coding Sports Camps returns for a second year on Monday, June 13th. Its eight-week run, interrupted briefly in the middle, goes until Friday, August 19th. It remains a one-of-a-kind offering, at least in the Chicago area.

“Mind and body—it doesn’t get any simpler than that,” said Greenwald, who has been with District 207 since 2001. “We were pleasantly surprised that nobody had thought of it before, and we are excited to continue blazing this trail with parents and their children.”

Although the camp draws mostly from families in the Oak Park area, it may be an especially good fit for families throughout the region—particularly if their work commute takes them to or through the area, Kane noted. Last summer, families from as far away as Riverside and Brookfield enrolled their children.

Greenwald, a father of three boys between 5 and 12 years old and a volunteer youth sports coach, founded his business at 30 W. Chicago Ave. in Oak Park two years ago. In addition to his work with the school district, he teaches Integration of Technology into Curriculum as an adjunct professor at Roosevelt University.

An Oak Park native, Kane is the athletic director of Ascension Catholic School and co-founded Legacy Sports in 2008. Athletic activities at Code Sports Camps include hand hockey, countdown dodgeball, treasure island, battleship, capture the flag and soccer.

Beyond the athletic component, Legacy Sports instructors emphasize the development of character-building traits like positive communication skills, teamwork and good sportsmanship.

Through Code Play Learn, campers will spend the other half of the day creating, coding and building their own computer games, apps or robotics. Specifically, they will use Scratch Game Development, MIT’s App Creation Tool, LEGO Robotics, VEX and Stop Motion Animation Software.

Greenwald enjoys helping students become technology-literate as they build a strong foundation for lifelong learning, whether in technology or other disciplines.

While Coding Sports Camp promises to challenge and engage children in dramatically different ways, a common thread pulses through the entire day: to enable each child to think creatively, reason systematically, and to work and play collaboratively.

The Monday through Friday program begins daily at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m., with an on-site lunch break in the middle.

Space is limited for the weekly camps. For more information on these and other Code Play Learn summer camps available to children K-8th grade, like Minecraft Modding and Early Engineers, please visit http://www.codeplaylearn.com/summer-camps-2016/ or call 708-374-8286.

For more information about Legacy Sports Camp, please visit www.legacysportscamp.com or call 312-969-0215.

Photo Captions:

Wil Greenwald (right) and Dan Kane are teaming up to bring Coding Sports Camps for a second summer. It remains a one-of-a-kind offering, at least in the Chicago area. (Inside Edge PR Photo)

Wil Greenwald (right) and Dan Kane discuss plans for Coding Sports Camps at Greenwald’s Code Play Learn, 30 W. Chicago Ave. in Oak Park.(Inside Edge PR Photo)

Serving boys and girls currently in kindergarten through the 8th grade, Coding Sports Camps returns for a second year on Monday, June 13th. Its eight-week run, interrupted briefly in the middle, goes until Friday, August 19th. (Photo by Dominika Dabrowksi)