Youth Camps Offer Fun – and Fundamentals

The name of the game at summer sports camps is fun. And it's easy to tell when young athletes are having a good time.

"You know they're having fun when it's time to leave and everyone's like, 'Aw, it's time to go already?'" said Jerry Vessichio, who coached track and field at the Patriot Pride Summer Sports Camp at Ward Melville High School. "You know things are going in the right direction when that's happening."

The Patriot Pride camp, held June 28 through July 2, is one of many summer sports camps on Long Island. The camp featured Ward Melville varsity and junior varsity coaches — with help from college and high school athletes — instructing students in grades 4 through 8 in several sports, including football, lacrosse, fencing, basketball, field hockey, volleyball, and track and field.

The popular camp was sponsored by the Three Village School District in conjunction with the Three Village Athletic Booster Club, and was aimed at providing younger athletes with the skills and concepts needed to be a success on the field (or court).

Vessichio, who coaches the varsity boys' cross country and track and field coach at Ward Melville, said he had 26 kids in the track and field section. The kids learned the basic fundamentals, like taking three steps between hurdles, or learning how to lengthen their strides.

Vessichio said the elementary-to-middle school athletes make up in enthusiasm what they may lack in experience.

"They're more eager, and they're willing to learn things because they really don't know anything yet. They have a bundle of energy," Vessichio said. "It was fantastic. The kids were great, very enthusiastic."

"You can only teach them so much because you're going to go past what they really understand," Vessichio added. "So we try and keep it real basic and fun, a happy medium."

The camp received rave reviews from several attendees, including Andrew Standridge of East Setauket, who took part in the lacrosse camp.

"I liked it," he said, adding that he "learned a lot of different things," including face-offs, shooting, passing, and face dodging.

Michael Vicari of Setauket also played lacrosse and said he would recommend the camp to a friend. "I would tell them it's fun, you learn a lot, and you definitely see improvement," he said.

Matt Vicari of Setauket, who participated in the basketball camp, said the games they played at the end of the sessions made it enjoyable. "I learned how to dribble a lot better, and my shooting form got a lot better also," he said. "It's really fun."

Ward Melville fencing coaches Jeffrey and Jennifer Salmon ran the fencing group at the Patriot Pride camp, and will also host two introductory fencing camps, July 26-30 and Aug. 9-13, at Mission Fencing Center in Rocky Point, which they opened several years ago.

Dennis Kolakowski, a coach and manager at Mission Fencing, said the intro camp is for beginners ages 7 through 18. They learn the basics of form, balance, footwork, stretching and weapon work in sabre, foil and epee.

"Being able to move well is important," Kolakowski said, adding that games like dodgeball and "steal the bacon" help making learning enjoyable.

"We use a lot of games that we incorporate into the drills, so they think they're playing a game and having fun, but they're really learning how to move," he said. "They're doing fencing motions and actions in those games."