Simon Price is one of Table Tennis England’s Young Ambassadors. Here, Simon speaks about his recent involvement with Camp Monroe in America:
On the 15th June I travelled to America to work at Camp Monroe in New York as an adventure instructor.
Camp Monroe is a summer camp for kids aged 6-16 where a range of activities are available including: archery, volleyball, go-karting and much more! My role at camp involved leading rock climbing, zip-wire and high/low rope sessions.
Upon arrival I was pleased to see eight outdoor table tennis tables located directly in the centre of the campus. Since table tennis is not so much a scheduled activity at camp, and more for free-play, I saw an opportunity to make the most of the equipment camp had to offer.
Every day there is a scheduled slot called “Horizons” where campers sign up to an activity of their choice. I decided to approach the activities director and offer to run table tennis sessions during these slots.
There was great turnout to the sessions in which I included fun games such as “around the world” and “top table”. The campers (and even some of the staff!) loved the sessions and enjoyed challenging me to a game.
The sport was also incorporated into the annual colour war – a four day competition between 2 teams including multiple sports and activities.
Before camp, I wasn’t expecting to hold a bat for 8 weeks so it was great to still get to play over there!