“It’s nice to step back and help the younger kids,” said Gaby Javier, a varsity volleyball player at Country Day. Javier, teammate Samantha Grabb, and other players were running elementary school girls through a scrimmage in the LJCDS gym.

For Javier, 16, the four-day summer camp was a relaxing break from school and club workouts. Yet it still was related to her main sport as a Torrey and kept her in touch with the game.

“There are things you only learn by playing the sport,” the rising junior said, explaining how her “insider’s knowledge” helps her too, in turn, help the young campers. Another thing affecting how she assists as a camp counselor is her own coaches: “We have coaches who are influences,” she shared. “Not everyone learns the same way. Sometimes something clicks when a certain coach works with you.”

At the private school, Jennifer Turner is overseeing summer camps, not just in sports, but in cooking, Spanish, rock climbing, keyboarding, “fashionistas,” art, robotics, and many more. On the Lower School quad, students from first through fourth grade were measuring out ingredients and opening containers to prepare some scrumptious peach bread pudding (which this reporter sampled), all the while practicing math skills, working together, and following directions under someone who is not a relative, putting a little twist on the kitchen competency scale.

“Before COVID,” said Turner, “we had many international families who were going to spend the summer in San Diego, and enrolled their kids in summer camp. That has been dampened due to COVID, but we still have families doing so.”

The camp director, who emphasized the academics/extra-curricular connection, cited the school’s Global Youth Leadership program for grades 5-8, which connects students around the world to discuss timely issues appropriately for the age level.

Grabb, Javier’s taller teammate who plays opposite hitter at the net on the right side as a lefty, said, “We try to emphasize camaraderie and teamwork in the camp. We have skill levels, so with some girls, it’s more finesse (shaping their volleyball skills). For others, it’s a way to introduce them to the game.”

Assistant coach Allan Jeffrey oversaw the two scrimmages in the gym, as in one group some girls wore tutus in a sort of dress-up day on the last day of camp. Everyone had a good laugh, and the campers seemed to be having a fun time while they also sharpened their skills.