Game On! Sports Camp, a Dream for Girls
By Ilana Solomon
A dream… a dream for girls of all ages, girls from near and far, Lake Forest to Northbrook, Highland Park to Deerfield. But now this wasn't just a dream, it was a dream come true.
Game On! is a truly amazing place. The first summer was in 2007 just last year. The camp was located on the Lake Forest college campus and run by Barb and Julie, two sports lovers and teammates throughout their lives. The camp was great. I mean how awesome is it to play sports all day, make new friends, and improve your skills? I learned a lot that summer and made so many new friends.
At camp, I was one of the oldest, my last year as a camper, but my first year at camp. I played the sports I loved, but also tried new ones. I was never really good at soccer or volleyball, but I learned. Besides soccer and volleyball, I played more familiar sports like softball, basketball, lacrosse, and tennis.
Playing sports was a lot of fun at camp, but practicing and learning was even better. A great staff as your counselors and station heads really made camp enjoyable. I made a lot of friends not only with the other campers, but with the counselors too. I really liked Sara aka Hokin who taught so much about softball, and we even went to each other's games. She had played college softball at Tampa and was now going to play in the McCabe games. Besides Sara, there was Emma, basketball Emma. She was going to play at Lake Forest College, coincidentally, in the upcoming year. She was a point guard, like me and she helped me with both my shot and moves. She even had a nickname for me, A-Town. Finally, another great athlete, Carrie, who wasn't a station head, but another counselor, helped me with both my basketball and softball skills. It was a lot of fun to both play with and learn from her.
One more awesome thing at camp was how everyone had great sportsmanship, effort, teamwork, and most importantly, the love of the game. You never went to a game where you didn't hear teams cheering on their own or the other team and there wasn't a game where there wasn't a good hand shake at the end. Everyone always put in 100% effort, and that made the games great.
At the end of the session, there was a Game On! awards ceremony. They had each team get an award, and some individual awards. I got "camper of the camp" and it was truly an honor not only to get the award, but just to have the great opportunity to attend Game On!
Awards and winning were not everything at camp though; it was more the friendships you made and what you personally got out of it. I know I made a ton of friends and improved my skills and sportsmanship. I hope any girl that goes to Game On! can say they had the time of their life, just like me.
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