NYSP Sports

My experiences working with the kids participating in their sports activities at the NYSP were exciting as well as educational.  For the first two and a half weeks of camp, I was working as a staff member on the field playing soccer with the children.  These two and a half weeks were undoubtedly hot and at times frustrating but they were also very fun and enlightening for me personally.  From 10:30 to 12:30 we would see two groups that had an average of 35 participants and we would have about an hour with each group.  These hours went by so quickly because of the fun we were having and also because of how engaged the kids mostly were during that time. 

It was overwhelming at times during these weeks because the groups participating in soccer weren’t the only children that were out on the field.  There were also children playing football, running track and field, as well as playing softball at the same time.  This created a lot of commotion during the changing of periods and also generally throughout those hours.  The commotion, however, I enjoyed because it was exciting for me to see so many kids so eager to participate in sports and athletics.  Even though it got somewhat chaotic at times, there was never a dull moment out there on the field, and it made me happy to have the opportunity to teach the children some soccer skills that they may not have ever learned otherwise.