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Dear Parents,
I hope you are all doing well and are enjoying your summer. Here at NCSY Camp Sports, we keep the days filled with meaningful and fun activities!
As we head into our second Shabbos in camp, it has been wonderful watching friendships develop, sports teams compete, and especially seeing each camper enjoy the fabulous days at camp, even with some small bits of rain mixed in.
Last week I emailed you as we headed into Shabbos, and I must say we had a great first Shabbos here in camp! The dancing and singing at the Shabbos meals and davening was memorable. We are all looking forward to another great Shabbos which we hope will be even better.
Last Shabbos, after an inspiring davening and Shabbos meal, each league team joined together for an Oneg where we got to know each other off the field. On Shabbos Morning we heard an amazing Dvar Torah and later in the day a shiur (class) about Anti-Semitism from Dr. David Luchins. Dr. Luchins is a former assistant to senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and is currently a Dean at Lander Touro University. Dr. Luchins and his wife Vivian, who is the founding chair of NCSY’s Summer Committee, joined us for Shabbos and spoke to the NCSYers. It's always a pleasure having them join us for Shabbos in camp! The Shabbos day meal was also inspirational and full of the famous Camp NCSY Sports Ruach. In the afternoon we caught up on some much needed sleep, we ate the third meal, and joined together for singing and inspiration. As Shabbos ebbed away, Rabbi Fried spoke about getting the most out of camp and not missing opportunities. On Saturday Night, we had a blast bowling and enjoyed late night pizza.
Sunday had a late wake up from our busy Shabbos. After some learning in the morning featuring Rabbi Avi Landa, LMHC., on Emunah, we headed out to sports and played one league game before the skies opened up. We took a break, ate an early dinner, and with the hard work of the Camp grounds crew, we played the second game in the early evening. Later that night we had our first evening of Super Seder in the beis medrash!
On Monday after learning groups we traveled to Guppy Gulch aqua water park for an awesome time in the sun! Monday was a super weather day and the NCSYers had an incredible time on the water. Afterwards we had a delicious BBQ, corn hole, camjam and a beautiful bonfire with a great kumzitz and some good laughs.
On Tuesday after we enjoyed our learning and some crazy fun league games, we were surprised by a delicious ice cream truck.The ice cream truck was a treat because at every trip we have taken this summer we have been complimented by the staff and guests about how great our boys are behaving! Following this already packed day we had a crazy night of Zucker wars! This is a night activity that our NCSYers never forget! Zucker Wars is a competition between four teams that is filled with zany and entertaining games. A few examples of the games were: finding a penny in a bowl of flour without using your hands, drinking a full baby bottle of soda, watermelon eating contests and more! Check out our Instagram and photos online because words cannot adequately explain this wacky night activity.
Wednesday we started off our day with meaningful learning groups and then headed to our nation's capital, Washington, DC! The boys enjoyed some free time by the National mall and many teens got to check out the various Smithsonian museums in the area. From there we headed to Gaithersburg, MD for a minor league game of the Giants vs the Bethesda Big Train. Our guys divided into two teams- each one cheering for either the Giants or the Big Train. The teens had a blast cheering on their players and even getting to know the sem-professionals on the teams. At one point we got them to play "Thank You Hashem" on the loudspeaker in the field! Needless to say- fun was had by ALL.
Going strong on Thursday with learning groups and "Throw Out Thursday" where NCSY'ers received tons of incentives for learning prizes. We also had a special visit from Rabbi Micha Greenland, the International Director of NCSY. He shared some words with the NCSYers and your son’s learning in the morning “blew him away”. He was joined by Rabbi Moshe Hauer and Rabbi Dr. Josh Joseph the Executive Vice Presidents of the Orthodx Union and Mitch Aeder, the president of the OU. They all commented about how amazing the NCSyers are this year.
Later on that evening we had a booming Mishmar program. Mishmar is optional late night learning, but most NCSYers showed up and got rewarded with late night cholent and kugel. We ended the night with a kumzitz led by Rabbi Zucker. Thank you to the Yarsky and Chelst families for sponsoring the food and prizes at Mishmar.
We are totally pumped for another great shabbos this weekend. Today we will play a league game and go to the kosher supermarket or Walmart to restock and get ready for Shabbos!
Thank you for trusting us with your son this summer.
As always, feel free to reach out to us here in Camp at any time and make sure you follow us on Social Media where you can “see” what is happening in camp.
Jon Green
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