Kenora Catholic District School Board's first ever Multisports Camp wrapped up on Friday after a very successful week. Students in Grade 4, 5 and 6 signed up for the morning camp, which saw them give basketball, volleyball and soccer a try.
"You see a huge push right now behind multisport athletes. More and more kids should try different sports and in turn that will help them in many things," said Megan Derouard, Healthy Active Living Lead for Kenora Catholic. "We wanted to introduce kids to different sports, these three sports are the kind of staple sports in grades 7 and 8. We wanted to start them young so they're not intimidated to go out once they go to St. Thomas Aquinas. When they come into Grade 7 they're so nervous to come out and we don't want that, we want them to feel welcome."
The camp ran from 9:00 in the morning until noon. It was divided into three time slots of 45 minutes with nutrition breaks in between. Derouard said for this age group getting to change sports throughout the morning was a hit.
"With children at this age, their attention span is short. A volleyball camp for four hours is too much. So we decided this was the perfect way to keep them interested. They never get an opportunity to be bored, they go from one sport to the next and they're excited to go to the next sport," she said.
Lyle Wiebe and Clint Fenelon from the Kenora Athletic Soccer Club ran the soccer portion, PJP II teacher and volleyball coach Jared Ralko organized the volleyball training and STAHS basketball coach Lauren Penner was in charge of basketball.
Derouard said having children in multiple grades actually had a great impact on the social aspect of the camp.
"It's a really different range of skills but it's exciting to watch because you see some of the older kids working with the younger kids and some of the younger kids inspiring to be like the older kids," she said.
The Multisports camp was the final camp of the summer under Kenora Catholic. Basketball and volleyball camps took place throughout July and August. Now, the gym at St. Thomas Aquinas will remain quiet for the next week and a half before school starts.