Off the Court
At Arrowood, we know how important quality instruction is to any athlete. However, we also understand that a camp experience gives more to campers than just a chance to learn and develop basketball skills. Since Arrowood is an overnight camp, it affords us the luxury of additional time that helps to provide campers with a very unique experience. Not only does the atmosphere allow campers to interact with each other in an athletic realm, but it also invites campers to develop new friendships by participating in other social and cooperative activities.
Arrowood is designed to emphasize growth as a basketball player, yes – but ultimately we hope campers come away with a little something extra that will help them grow as individuals.
At night, some of our camp discussions revolve around such topics as:
- Chemical/health issues
- Fitness & Nutrition
- Cooperation Counts Focus of the Day
Cooperation Counts
About 15 years ago, when Dee Dee Deeken and Jenny Johnson (former co-owner and director) were in the thick of their coaching careers at Eden Prairie high and Edina schools respectively, one thing became very evident to both of them….team chemistry can often times be more of a factor in a team’s success than ability. “Jenny and I had seen first hand the impact of good and bad team chemistry. We just felt strongly that we could help young athletes learn how to embrace their role on the team, whatever that may role may be, and help them be a better teammate, which in the long run will make their experience more enjoyable. This is something that will benefit young kids in athletics, school, family life, and in their future career. This is too important NOT to include in our camp.”
Thus, “Co-op Counts” was born at Arrowood. In addition to basketball fundamentals, league games, and contests, Cooperation Counts is an important part of camp that emphasizes the power of cooperation and working together to achieve goals. Together everybody can achieve more! During this segment of camp, campers participate in:
- cooperative learning initiatives
- team building challenges
- goal setting & decision making discussions
- journaling activities
- and the ultimate test of collaboration, the Arrowood Olympics!
Arrowood Olympics
This is the culminating activity of Co-op Counts that forces teams to utilize players strengths and weaknesses, as they must decide who should run, bike, and swim. Then each team member competes in the canoe portion of the competition and we are proud to say that some campers actually learn to canoe for the first time at Arrowood….and that is a great memory!
