The summer of 2016 is upon us and we will be blogging about it all summer long.

Come back here often for updates.

 

Monday, June 27th

Today  was our first program day of the 2016 season at New England Golf and Tennis Camp. It was an incredible first day of fun-filled learning for all the campers. The counselors and leadership team have been working hard the past few weeks to make sure the camp is in tip top shape for campers so they have the best summer of their lives. Between setting up the cabins, planting flowers, “taste testing” the food (the best part of all), and getting all our campers settled into camp life, we have accomplished a lot in a very short time!

The weather has been absolutely amazing as it makes all appreciate what makes Maine a perfect camp setting.

We started off today with breakfast and then moved on to our traditional “Council” meeting with Bob. The day ran smoothly and those eager to get their golf and tennis instruction going definitely had a full day of it! There were many other activities to choose from in the afternoon including tennis, golf,  the waterfront (water-ski, wakeboarding, sailing, canoeing, swimming etc.), soccer, flag football, arts & crafts, and fitness.

As day turns to night, campers are getting ready for dinner, evening “Council,” twilight activities and a campfire with sweet, gooey s’mores, skits, and guitar players!

Today has been an important day as the kids adjusted to camp life and being away from home. We look forward to the continued fun with our campers and counselors!

Tuesday, June 28th

Tuesday was a super active day and ended with an active night. The evening activity was nothing other than the notorious game of tug-of-war. Four teams were made out of the campers, counselors, and staff members. Every single person was up and smiling while cheering their friends on. After a long day of practicing golf and tennis, it’s so important to have a fun and competitive game to end the day on a high note.

These first couple of days will be very important. Not only with learning how to play sports, but also with adjusting to camp life and being away from home.

Everyone is super excited now that the campers are here. The absolute best feeling is to see a smile on every camper’s face. We can’t wait to see what adventures are ahead of us!

Wednesday, June 29th

Wednesday started with a little rain. Luckily, the weather cleared up by lunch and we were able to resume our regular schedule. The kids got all their tennis and golf instruction in and campers swam. kayaked, wake-boarded and fished in our beautiful lake!

At night, we had a Boys night out and Girls night out activity.  The boys had an intense game of  glow dodgeball and the girls had a SWEET night creating candy sushi! All of the pictures are on the smugmug website and we encourage everyone to check it out.

Thursday, June 30th

We had our first camp trip today to Splashtown in Saco, Maine! The whole camp had an amazing time sliding, tubing and swimming! Our pictures tell the whole story of our great day! Check them out!

We came back for an awesome dinner prepared by Chef Carlton that included Crusted Parmesan Chicken, mashed potatoes, noodles with either marinara or alfredo sauce, mixed vegetables, fresh baked bread and salad bar.

After dinner, we had our traditional movie night. Everyone gathered in the theater in their pajamas to watch Zootopia . It was a fun-filled road trip kind of a day! Looking forward to  another winner tomorrow!

Friday, July 1st

As Bob likes to say, there was not a cloud in the sky today. Some of the golfers took a trip to Belgrade Lakes to put their skills to the test on a challenging golf course!

Tennis instructors conducted fitness warmup stations for the campers to work on their endurance before getting busy with instruction.  

The waterfront was a popular place this afternoon as campers had the opportunity to swim, tube, kayak, wakeboard and water ski . In arts and crafts, everyone got a chance to make their own personalized dream catchers with  colored yarn, string, beads, and feathers!

Tonight was a fun little competition between the entire camp called “Battle of the Bunks.” The competition was to see who was the fastest, strongest, and smartest. There was a t-shirt relay, Name That Tune, hoola-hoop pass and poetry contest. The winners were boys cabins 2 and 6!

Saturday, July 2nd

It was a beautiful Saturday here in Belgrade and many of our golfers played at Belgrades Lakes Golf Course, Maine’s premier course.  Other campers got an opportunity to play at the Pine Ridge Golf Course and had a blast.  All in all, it was a great day on the links.

On the tennis courts, small group and one to one instruction kept our players busy. They  were also paired up for matches to practice skills being taught.

We had our first cookout tonight that consisted of hot dogs, hamburgers, barbecue chicken and and all the fixings! Dessert was make your own sundaes!

Tonight’s evening activity was called “Night At The Races,” which is a series of events with campers and counselors as the “horses” and bunks “bet” on who would win. One highlight of that activity was the sibling egg toss. Brothers and sisters from near and far enjoyed this event…especially when the egg broke!

Tomorrow begins Week 2 and we are excited for our new campers to arrive!

Sunday, July 3rd

This morning, we started off another beautiful Maine day with a delicious breakfast followed by our morning council. Later on in the day, new campers arrived! Everyone was so excited to meet the new campers and welcome them into our big family.

There’s no better way to top off a great day of activities than with an outdoor BBQ.  There were burgers, hot dogs, barbeque chicken, and every other essential piece to a hearty, outdoor meal. After dinner, the waterfront staff assembled to give everyone a sweet treat from the ice cream sundae bar.

For evening activity we played “Night at the Races”.  Teams were divided and challenges were assigned and accomplished. The challenges included the egg toss, the chug-a-lug contest, the dizzy bat contest, and a free throw challenge. Every cabin took bets on who they thought would come out victorious, and whoever had the most winning bets won the game.

We ended this wonderful day by heading down to Myers Lodge for some foosball, billiards, board games and refreshments.

Monday, July 4th

Wow another beautiful day! This has been an incredible string of days with perfect weather.

There’s only one way to begin celebrating the Fourth of July, and that is obviously to sing “Happy Birthday” in multiple languages! Our campers from the USA and abroad came together to celebrate one of the best holidays around. The dining hall was decked out in red, white, and blue and so are the campers and staff!

Off to activities on this beautiful day.  Our golfers and tennis players have been taking advantage of this great weather with incredible dedication, focus and hard work in order to improve their skills.

The golfers worked on the range with our pro staff, Bob Campbell, Allen Terrell, Bryan Maurais, Pietie Loubser and Elliott Cox.  We are incredibly lucky to have Allen Terrell back with us again this summer.  Allen’s prized pupil is Dustin Johnson who currently is the #2 player in the world and winner of the last two PGA tournaments including the US Open.  Congratulations to Allen and Dustin!

Our tennis campers have been working hard with lots of individual instruction from our tennis pros Greg Burnett, Eddie Matthews and Nino  Sujashvili as well as our talented college tennis players.  Tomorrow we start our tennis ladder and kids are looking forward to the competition.

We are all extremely lucky to celebrate this day at a place as beautiful as the New England Golf and Tennis Camp.

The night ended by having a “July 4th Recess” where the campers were able to tye dye shirts in red, white and blue, make their own patriotic cupcake, take an Old American Fishing trip with Bob, play backyard games, sing some Karaoke and do some chalk drawing.  The night end by seeing fireworks complete with a great soundtrack of American songs.  Wow! What a day!

Tuesday, July 5th

Today is a new day, which means it’s time for more tennis and golf. Some of our golfers took off early this morning to compete in a tournament. About 15 of our campers are participating in the tournament, and we’re sure they’ll come back with some well-deserved awards.

While some of our golfers are out, tennis will continue like any other normal day. Nino Sujashvili, one of our awesome tennis instructors, took me through what a normal day up at the court is like.

As soon as all of the campers show up to the courts, warm ups start. Warm ups include jogging around the courts and stretching to make sure every single muscle is warmed up and to increase heart rate. After warm ups are done, drills begin. Tennis instructors start feeding balls to kids while they hit them for about 45 minutes. After drills are done, campers can play games. When games are completed, single matches and double matches are played.
Tonight, the evening activity is to see who can set records for the camp!

On Sunday July 10th, we welcomed new campers and two golf professionals arrived to NEGTC! We are so excited to welcome them in to our family.

The new golf professionals, Drew Kayser and Ryan Peffer, are golf coaches from Boston College.

Drew Kayser has over 20 years of experience with teaching and coaching golf, and he truly rebuilt the entire golf program at BC. Kayser is a PGA of America Master Professional of Instruction, one of 3 in New England and one of only 37 PGA Professionals out of 28,000 to successfully complete Specialty Certification in Instruction. Kayser has won many awards, such as Golf Digest’s “Best Teachers in Massachusetts” from 2011 to present, PGA’s President’s Plaque Award Recipient in 2001 to 2002, and Massachusetts Golfer’s “Top 10 Golf Instructor” from 2011 to present.

Ryan Peffer has been coaching NCAA Golf in all division levels for 12 years. Before joining the Eagles, he was the assistant coach at the College of William and Mary from 2011-2014. Peffer began his collegiate coaching career at Franklin and Marshall College. During that time, the team earned five tournament wins and improved their team scoring average by nearly 57 strokes per round between 2004-09. In 2014 and 2015, Peffer was named a Top 50 Teacher by US Kids Golf. He has also earned certifications from the PGA of America in the instruction and golf operations.

We are very lucky to have both Drew and Ryan here to help instruct and improve everyone’s golf game, and can’t wait to see how great of an impact they have here!