Advice Needed on Lake Owen Camp

[Mom2Gymgirls]

Hi. There are a couple of my dd's teammates who are sisters that are going to Lake Owen for the last week of camp this summer. Their mom is also going along as a cabin mom and will be in the same cabin with them. I'm debating about letting my dd go with them. We will be out of town the week our gym is doing their summer camp, so we have been looking for something else instead. Now that my dd knows these girls are going with their mom, she really wants to go along too. The camp is far from us, so I would probably only be giving her a ride one way and would not be staying for the week. My dd is young, but she's a very independent and out-going girl, so I think she would do fine at camp, especially if she has friends and their mom along with her for the week. It's just a lot of money and long ways away for us, so I guess I'm wondering if it's worth it since she's still so young.

Therefore, I'm looking for any feedback any of you can give me on Lake Owen, especially from parents who have had kids go that were in the 7-9 age group. What is the typical schedule at LO? Are there 1 or 2 required gymnastics sessions, and then what else can kids do? If they are younger, are they accompanied by the cabin moms or other personnel for optional activities such as swimming, etc.? I've read some of the previous posts and am a little nervous about some of the apparent lack of structure and too much free time and options to not really do gymnastics at all. The facilities do look awesome, and I think it would be a great experience for her. As a child, I went away to a regular summer camp for 2 weeks when I was almost 8 and loved it so much that I went back 4 more summers after that. I would love to hear your opinions of Lake Owen. If we don't go this year, then I'm definitely looking at sending to her to Flip Fest next year. It's considerably closer to us, looks just as great, and is a little cheaper too.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

lake owen is a great camp. with that said, and being a father and a club owner and coach, my opinion is that she is to young. today, things are happening at younger and younger ages. gymnastics camps can now be included in this thought. again, just my opinion.

 

[gym law mom]

My gymmie went last year(LO) for the 1st time and had just turned 12. She went with a whole group of girls from the gym, several coaches and a couple of moms who were the cabin moms. The girls are broken up by age for cabins, so your dd would be with girls close to her age. Also the younger girls don't have as many hours of practice as the older ones. I can't speak for how closely the younger ones are monitored during free time, but there is plenty to do with the lake, arts/crafts and other outdoor activities.

My gymmie will be heading back again this year and can't wait!!! She had fun working with other coaches, thought the food was great, made friends with girls from other gyms and really made some progress on some skills she had been working on.

It comes down to how much you think your dd would get out of a week long gym camp at this age and if you can afford it. What level is she at right now? How would she feel working skills with coaches she doesn't know? Just some things to think about.

 

[mom2kazkids]

My DD who is 8 will be at Lake Owen for her 2nd time this summer, but I am also there with her as the nurse for the week. Our gym last year had the youngest girls at camp (3-- 7 year olds) one of the level 5 girls mom was in the cabin with them. I was not really around my daughter much in the week as the action sport kids kept me off site quite a bit. I know that for the first few days she really only ate off the salad bar for lunch and supper as she was too short for the real food serving area, and she did not want to ask for help.

As far as her days went, she woke up, had breakfast, did 3 45 minute work out rotations, had lunch, hung out at the canteen for awhile, went to open gym, hung back out with teammates, had supper, did 2 45 minute work out rotations, then showered and got ready for bed. The younger girls really did not take part in the evening activites, as that is when their cabin mom had them shower and get ready for bed. I did she her off and on in the afternoon as she would come visit me sometimes. I did kidnap her on Wednesday and made her take an afternoon nap because the crab in her was coming out.

I think looking bad it was the older younger girls that we had more homesick problems with. I think the younger ones were too tired to think about it. Also we had a team of 20+ there from age 7 to 18 and the older girls did a great job looking out for the younger ones. Also her coaches were great with everyone.

This year we will have 30 or more at camp for the week. I will be nurse, a level 4 mom is in the cabin, a level 5 mom is in the office, a level 4 mom is coaching, one of the girls that graduated last year will be in the cabins, another will be coaching and all three of the team coaches will be there also.


I cannot wait to go, it was such a blast last year, tiring but fun.

Barb