Friendships & summer fun at Camp Alameda continues with Alameda Olympians
BUTLER TWP — The New York GOATS, Dino Nuggets, Hot Penguins and Savannah Bananas are taking over Camp Alameda this week, rain or shine, as campers enjoy the summer fun that Alameda Olympians has to offer.
Campers were divided into teams for the weeklong sports-themed session that began Monday, July 10, and selected the team names themselves.
On Monday, The New York GOATS dominated in a foot race, with the Dino Nuggets coming in second. The GOATS remained on top Tuesday as campers emerged from the sandpit in a variation of volleyball called Nuke ‘Em, and points will continue to be tallied until a champion is announced on the last day of Alameda Olympians on Friday, counselor Maddy Albert said.
For adults who pass the campers at the park and remember hot days at summer camp, the scene might offer a familiar glimpse of weaving friendship bracelets, playing Marco Polo in the pool and lining up at the concession stand with friends.
Max Gianneski, a first-time counselor at Camp Alameda and member of The New York GOATS, was a camper himself for several years. He said he still is in touch with some of the friends he made over the summers at Alameda Park. This summer, the Butler Senior High School graduate is experiencing the flip side of camp.
“I try to be as much like a kid as I can,” he said. “I think seeing the kids brings the kid out in me.”
Some children were quiet at the start of camp when they didn’t know anybody, Gianneski said.
“You can tell a lot of them are shy,” he said. They all just pick their own spot. I think as soon as we do activities with everybody, they start talking to them.”
A day into Alameda Olympians, nearly no campers were sitting by themselves, except to cool down from the heat.
Across the sandpit, fourth-graders Ella Norman, Lucy McDougal, Elliana Young and Mary Dellich sat cross-legged in a circle with their notebooks, discussing a bracelet business Ella started to save money for pool concessions. So far, they have raised $4.
Ella, Lucy, Elliana and Mary all attend different elementary schools but met at Camp Alameda in previous summers. When they’re not playing games with other campers or making bracelets, they draw, play “family” or “school” and “just hang out,” they said. There doesn’t seem to be much to making friends at camp.
Sitting in a circle with their notebook full of drawings and bracelet orders, Ella and her friends seemed in their own world, unbothered by the heat or noise of enthusiastic campers hitting a ball across the volleyball net.
Mary pointed to a camper in gray watching the sports game.
“We met through camp, and now we’re like best friends and we talk every day,” she said. “One day, I was at the park and one of my friends wasn’t here, and I saw her and I went up and we just became best friends.”
Camp Alameda will continue weeklong sessions until Aug. 11. Get Soaked week will follow Alameda Olympians from July 17 to 21.
