Summer camp gives district kids a look at activities

GOOD IDEA

I just thought that was a good idea and said, yeah, we’re gonna do that here.”

Jeff Lamb, FMHS Activities Director

FORT MADISON – He may have picked the hottest week of the summer, but the rewards for the Fort Madison School District and it’s families may be felt longer than the current heatwave.
Fort Madison Activities Director Jeff Lamb took a page out of a state college’s playbook and took on a summer activities camp that kicked off Monday at Pollmiller Park.
“Today they're doing baseball, softball, soccer, and volleyball,” Lamb said on his way across the Baxter Sports Complex in close to 100-degree heat.
Part of the program included a little cooling off with a water balloon fight on the soccer field at the sports complex on the city's west side.
"Loras College has a sports camp and they do a week-long camp where they have kids pick sports they are interested in. I just thought that was a good idea and said, yeah, we’re gonna do that here," he said.
"For them its pretty cool."
Lamb’s son got to go to the college for five days and was able to try a wide array of sports, so Lamb wanted to try the camp locally.
"Our kids here will get to try everything, too."
The students were broken into different groups. Lamb said they had about 76 students Monday at Pollmiller Park near West Point where they did activities like canoeing and archery.
On Tuesday about 85 students were at the Sports Complex from about 8:30 to 4 p.m.
Lamb said the idea is to not only produce additional athletes in the system, but more importantly to give kids exposure to activities that they may want to expand on in their future, not just in the district.
The program will run through Friday and features the district coaches and high school students as camp mentors. Lamb said more than 170 kids signed up for different days and activities.