Dear Parents,

I hope you have enjoyed having your son back! We certainly miss everyone and it has been pretty lonely in Baltimore the past two days.

Thank G-d all the NCSYers made it home safely from camp on Wednesday but we have stayed busy here in Baltimore cleaning up and beginning preparations for Camp Sport 2018.

I am grateful for the success we had this summer and I already miss the NCSYers but to be honest it was nice getting a full night’s sleep. Hopefully the rest of our NCSY staff and campers have caught up on some sleep as well. I hope they have shared with  you some of the great memories from Camp NCSY Sports 2017.  Camp ended with much excitement and I want to share with you a glimpse into the last days of camp. I know that we sent home a “teenage boy” and the odds are that they may not have told you so much about camp yet, so let me fill you on the last few days.

Friday afternoon we had a trip to Walmart and the three on three basketball tournament.  We then prepared for Shabbos  with great spirits. Shabbos had only gotten better as camp progressed and we knew this last Shabbos was going to be incredibly uplifting. Friday night we had a large camp Oneg run by our advisos and the singing and stories were even better than the chulent  and General Tzao chicken. Shabbos morning we had a Bar Mitzvah for an NCSYer who never had one, it was incredibly moving. He spoke to the camp about his life story and I can only say that it was clear to our staff that he spoke better than Rabbi Frand who spoke marvelously the week before.  Shabbos day had its regular schedule of classes and we ended with our most powerful Shalosh Seudos. I shared with the boys some thoughts, specifically discussing that they are the next link in the chain of Jewish mesorah (tradition), but to also remember that they are their own unique link. I wanted them to know that each Jew has their own special purpose in life and they need to strive to be their best and not to be anyone else. Aim high was how they should set goals, but slow and steady wins the race. After Shabbos, our final bowling trip of the year was followed up by our regular pizza.

Sunday found us once again playing sports, but this time it was to determine our final playoff seeding. After dinner we rushed to Four Seasons indoor athletic center to get in a last swim and to play some pick up sports. Monday was a serious sports day, full of playoffs and last minute trips to Rita’s Ices, which is kosher here in Baltimore. We then packed onto the buses for our last trip of the summer to an XP Lasersport, one of the best Lasertag spots we have ever visited. The NCSYers had fun running around and regular laser tag, Call of Duty laser tag and just hanging out with the new friends they made in camp.

Tuesday our last day in camp started with a bang. The learning was full or power as the NCSYers knew it was the last chance to learn with the advisors who worked so hard to learn with them daily. In the afternoon we played the championship round of the playoff and crowned new champions of the Kiddush Kup and Toilet Bowl for 2017. Congratulations to the all the winners. Everyone joined in a celebratory Siyum barbecue and headed back to camp to prepare for the video, t-shirt and kumzits. Special thanks to Noah Shapiro and Sammy Aaronson for putting together a great video to sum up a great summer. Special Mazel Tov to Joseph Fink and his chavrusa and ten year camp sports participant on making the siyum based on the learning they did together since camp last year.

Although we have sent all the boys home and packed up the sports equipment, camp truly never ends. We plan on a reunion and the friends, campers and counselors from camp will get together all year long in person and online. Our biggest reunion will take place 11 months from now when we start Camp NCSY Sports 2018. Registration will begin in early Fall, you will receive an e-mail as soon as that starts. This past year we unfortunately had to say no to people who applied late, so make sure to apply early. One of the reasons we had such a robust year was the special offer NCSY sends out for pre-registration, I encourage you to take advantage of this offer.

We appreciate your sharing your son with us for the summer. I hope you enjoy having him back. We always let our NCSYers know that for more than the past 40 years camp sports is more than just July. Once you come to Camp Sports you are part of our NCSY family and we are there to help in any way we can. This includes you as the parents of our campers.  My e-mail is jdgreen18@gmail.com, feel free to contact me anytime.

I want to end by thanking my entire staff. They went above and beyond to insure we had a great summer. They made this year possible and they did it in a professional and responsible manner.

Have a wonderful summer and this week you can ask your son to clean his room for shabbos, we have done it the past four!

Jon Green

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