Summer Sports Camps 101 (Paperback) | Released: 07 Feb 2016

Summer Sports Camps 101: A Guidebook for Development and Operation is a comprehensive manual that will take the reader through all of the administrative nuances of creating and operating a summer sports camp. Funding, for the majority of athletic programs, is one of the most (if not the most) consequential element for administrators and coaches. With the limited amount of resource dollars available and ever-rising expenses, athletic programs have to make difficult financial decisions, which can have long-lasting ramifications on all of the organization's teams and programs. The purpose for this comprehensive guidebook is to provide professional practitioners (coaches and administrators) with the foundations and practical applications to develop and manage a cost-efficient, profitable summer sports camp. Simply stated, professionally-run camps can promote the institution's athletic programs and provide much needed resources and funds. As you will see, the book covers the entire subject from constructing administrative models to day-to-day operations. This book could be used by all athletic teams and programs--whether they are starting a summer sports camp for the first time or have an established operation--in their development and execution of lucrative summer sports camps. The book can be used as an all-inclusive handbook for new sports camps or as a reference guide and idea generator for seasoned camp administrators. Summer Sports Camps 101 is broken down into seven all-inclusive sections. Section I: Introduction examines the basic foundations and choices involved with operating a summer sports camp as well as conducting a feasibility study to examine the practicality of the venture. Section II: Planning defines the clear benefits and uses associated with creating a summer sports camp plan. Section III: Administration Systems provides indispensable camp system designs for registration, filing, and accounting that are universal to all camps. Section IV: Human Resources discusses human resource management as an essential part of any summer sports camp. Concepts that have an unmistakable impact on the entire camp, such as selection, orientation, compensation and evaluation, are reviewed. Section V: Marketing Systems furnishes detailed marketing and promotional ideas that can enlarge the camp's exposure as well as increase revenues. Section VI: Risk Management and Camp Operations enables the reader to become a critical thinker in the area of risk management and camper safety.
About the Author: Dr. Richard Leonard's experience in summer camps (both recreational and athletic) is extensive. As an NCAA Division I volleyball head coach, Leonard conducted traditional day camps, specialty skill sessions, coaches' clinics, and team camps. Additionally during his coaching career, Leonard worked as a clinician at numerous high school and college camps and coaches' clinics. For six years at the Jewish Community Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, he was a summer camp divisional counselor, activities director and program coordinator. Leonard is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Business Administration and Accounting at Flagler College in Tallahassee, Florida. He also serves as an adjunct professor of sport management at the United States Sports Academy, teaching human resource management, marketing, and fundraising at the graduate level, as well as strategic management at the doctoral level. He currently resides in Tallahassee, Florida. Author's three most recent books: - Principles of Sport Administration, ISBN: 9781935412496- Fundraising for Sport and Athletics, ISBN: 9781935412335- Administrative Side of Coaching, 9781885693839