Dan's Papers - July 3, 2009

Sending a child to camp in the Hamptons almost seems redundant: Isn't this place already a camp ? But summer comes, and kids get antsy (and adults get antsy) and camp sounds better and better.

There are a lot of good reasons to send your kids to camp - stimulation, meeting new people, learning new skills, et cetera. Some kids go right to the camp offered by their schools. Others venture farther afield.

We opted for the latter with our son, even though this year is full of change for him. We're moving next week from East Hampton to North Haven, which means our son will go to a new school. He's a very outgoing child who loves new people and situations, but even he is a little nonplussed by the idea - not so much of making new friends, but of losing the old.

So we thought it would be a good idea, for the sake of continuity, to send him back to the camp he went to in East Hampton for as long as possible - that is, as long as we can bear making the drive. But for this week and next, we're at our "old" house, and he's back at East Hampton Sports Camp.

Since he's young, we've tried to avoid camp jumping - the two-week stints here and there. One entire summer he went to Stella Maris camp, the next, Sportime. After each summer, he wanted to return to the same camp. But when we moved him from Stella Maris to Sportime, he was happy. And when we shifted from Sportime to East Hampton Sports, he was elated.

Friends who knew our son advised us that it would be the best place for an active boy like him. After Sportime, with its pool, tennis court and multi-building complex, we were intrigued by East Hampton Sports at Neighborhood House - basically one building with a gym and classrooms, and a huge field. But it turned out to be perfect.

The camp was started 18 years ago by Eric Scoppetta and Mark Crandall. Scoppetta, whose father is the NYC Fire Commissioner, is a graduate of The Dalton School, Cornell, and Fordham Law, and Crandall went to East Hampton High School before getting advanced degrees from the University of Vermont. He's also the founder of Hoops 4 Hope, a non-profit organization dedicated to youth development in southern Africa.

The city mouse and country mouse met as five-year-old boys at a camp in the Hamptons called "The Boys Camp," which they attended through high school. Remaining friends, they decided to recreate that same experience for a new generation of children. Thus, East Hampton Sports Camp, for kids 4-13, came to be. The curriculum is right out of The Dangerous Book for Boys which covers classic childhood experiences - in this case, baseball, soccer, basketball, hockey, kickball, dodgeball, capture the flag, and crabbing on Fridays. Older kids go boogie boarding and out for more field games in the afternoon. Kids are taught basic sportsmanship and teamwork through the most classic games and activities. The goal, according to Scoppetta and Crandall, is to build character, instill self-esteem, and learn skills in a non-competitive, supportive environment.

Our son is happy to be back at the camp and see familiar faces as well as new ones. He feels at home there. And as we prepare for a fresh start in a new house, new neighborhood, and for him, a new school, it's a relief to know that he has this camp as one of the through-lines to his life. If we need to make the schlep to give him that, we will. It's nice to know that we can, for years to come, because the dangerous boys Eric Scoppetta and Mark Crandall are in the camp business to stay.