Programs designed to combine younger children or adolescent sports players with high school sport/team members has been a common tradition for many years. “I did camps through Burke when I was in middle school, but when I went it was different from the kids camps we are doing (now),” senior varsity volleyball player Kyla Hauschild said. “When I went, we just played games and now we are working on making the younger kids better and working on specific skills,”. 

These programs have proven to improve not only the performance level of young athletes, but the comfortability of them as well. “It gives the children insight on what cheer is like in high school and makes them excited and gives them a lot more confidence because it takes a lot of confidence to perform on the field,” said senior varsity cheer member Navie Rutten. Junior Ashtynne Frahm has done both the volleyball camp and the cheer camp, and states that it has “developed and strengthened” her skills now. “My confidence has improved immensely from when I used to go because I’m more comfortable with making mistakes since I am able to figure out what I did wrong and how to fix it,” said Frahm. 

These camps are offered through a variety of activities including cheer, football and volleyball. They focus on specific skills that each individual child could work on and offer various solutions that are applied directly to their sport. “Our coaches now focus a lot on playing the game rather than doing a bunch of drills, so then you can out in what you learn directly into a game rather than just only ever practicing that skill during a drill that doesn’t have the same speed as a real game,” said senior varsity volleyball player Megan Wiggins.  

Not only does it help the children participating in the sports improve their skills, it allows the high school students to apply their current skills and exhibit their knowledge of the game by teaching and offers an innovative way to bond with the team. “It’s fun to help the littler girls help improve their skills and awe all get to hangout on the weekends,” said Hauschild.