Tip

My Child Plays for a Club Team. Should They Still Go to a Sports Camp?

If your child plays on a competitive club team, you might be wondering: Is a sports camp still worthwhile? They already train intensely throughout the year, receive high-level coaching, and have a tight-knit group of teammates.

Playing on a club team can be a confidence-boosting and meaningful experience for a young athlete—and it’s often a great way for them to take their skills to the next level! However, we’ve seen that camp offers additional advantages for young athletes, making it a great add-on to their club experience.

Think of camp as a way to deepen and extend the work your child is doing year-round with their club. And provide some serious off-the-field advantages, too.

Here are the ways we’ve seen camp benefit club athletes.

Benefits of Sports Camps for Club Athletes

1. Target specific skills.

The grind of the season doesn’t always leave room for going deep on the skill gaps and areas of improvement that will help your child elevate their game. At camp—whether it’s a day or overnight program—your young athlete will get much more time than a typical sixty- or ninety-minute weeknight practice for targeted instruction in areas our coaches identify for improvement.

Camps typically kick off with an evaluation so our coaches can get a sense of each athlete’s skills and personalize instruction accordingly. Throughout camp, we keep a low coach-to-camper ratio so that everyone gets lots of individual instruction. And we create a challenging, supportive environment that encourages campers to try hard and stretch their limits.

2. Experience new coaching styles.

Your child may already have a longtime coach who’s played a huge role in their development as an athlete. We love hearing stories about favorite coaches who have changed players’ lives!

We see our coaches as complementing, not competing with, an athlete’s club coach. For an athlete aspiring to play in high school, college, or even beyond, experiencing diverse coaching styles and approaches can be a great way to add new “tools” to their gameplay toolkit. Their coach at camp will likely use different cues, a different tactical approach, and even different terminology than their club coach. This will strengthen your athlete’s game IQ and overall coachability.

3. Build independence.

For many young athletes, club season means familiar routines: the same carpool, the same practice field, the same teammates, and their parents cheering from the sidelines or the bleachers. Camp (especially an overnight experience) shakes that up in the best possible way.

When your child navigates a new environment on their own, manages their own schedule, and solves the small challenges of daily life without you nearby, they're building confidence and resilience that shows up in the classroom as well as on the field. Many parents tell us their child came home from camp just a little more self-assured. This boost is one of the best things camp provides.

4. Make new friends.

Your club athlete may already have a group of teammates they've bonded with over tournaments, road trips, and long seasons together. But there's something special about meeting athletes from completely different towns, clubs, and backgrounds who share the same passion for the game. Camp creates the conditions for those kinds of unexpected friendships to form quickly.

Beyond the friendships themselves, spending time with athletes outside their usual circle exposes your child to different mindsets, training philosophies, and approaches to the game. They might meet a goalkeeper from another city with a great tip for handling 1v1 situations, or a teammate for the week who inspires them to think bigger about their athletic future.

5. Get a taste of college life.

Many US Sports Camps programs are held on college campuses and led by college coaches. This means your young athlete gets to live the college experience for a week: eating in the dining hall, staying in the dorms (for an overnight camp), and soaking in the atmosphere of a real collegiate athletic program. It’s a motivating preview, whether they’d like to play in college someday or simply aspire to attend.

Whether or not your child has started thinking about where they might want to go to college, camp is a low-pressure way to explore one version of the campus experience. Maybe they've always pictured themselves at a large university—or maybe they've never thought about it at all. A week on a college campus has a way of sparking those conversations. More than a few of our campers have left with a school at the top of their list that they hadn't even considered before arriving!

Choosing a Sport Camp for your Club Athlete

If you’re ready to explore camps for your young athlete, here are a few things to keep in mind.

• All-skills camps are just what they sound like: camps for athletes at all levels, from beginner through advanced. Coaches group athletes by age and skill level so they’ll receive appropriate instruction. Read more about finding the right level camp.

• However, your club athlete may also benefit from an advanced/elite-level camp—or a College ID camp, where they learn about the NCAA recruitment process and meet college coaches. You can browse camps in your area to get a sense of what’s available.

• Remember to consider your options for different sports, too! There’s a lot of research showing that youth athletes benefit from playing multiple sports. If your young athlete is curious about trying a new sport (or revisiting one they used to play), camp could be a fun, low-pressure way to dip their toe in.

Still have questions? Check out our articles on choosing between a day and an overnight camp and what to look for in a sports camp.

Ready to take a look at what’s available? Check out sports camps near you!