Could This be the End of Traditional Summer Camps?

Could this be the end of summer camp as we know it?

Have traditional summer camps – where kids enjoy horseback riding, archery, nature hikes, and s’mores around the campfire – seen their final days?

Probably not. But compared to the way specialty camps are gaining popularity among today’s youth, traditional camps may be losing traction.

Theresa Torrone, a volunteer for the American Camp Association and the owner/operator of Aloha Beach Camp, a beach and surfing specialty camp in Malibu, California, “Specialty camps appeal to kids who’ve got very specific interests. Rather than participate in a wide variety of general activities, like they’d rather spend their summer focusing on just one camp activity instead.”

Torrone cited cooking camps, art camps and surfing camps as among the top three fastest growing specialty genres in the summer camp field.

“As a volunteer for the American Camp Association, I visit various types of camps each summer, and I’m intimately familiar with many others. I can tell you that the specialty camp sector is growing like gangbusters.”

Given the fact surfing camps – where kids not only to learn how to surf, but also about surfing etiquette, wave judgment and selection, ocean science and water safety – are becoming more prevalent, is Torrone concerned about the inevitable added competition for her own camp?

“No way!,” she said with a smile. “The more kids who experience camp at the beach, the better. If they come to my camp, great. But the most important thing is that they experience the ocean somewhere. I’m glad there are so many available opportunities for kids to enjoy the learn to surf experience at camp.”

Most likely, the traditional summer camp experience will last forever, principally because many parents view sending their kids to traditional camps as a virtual American pastime.

But specialty camps are gaining on them … of that there is no doubt.