Week 5 Roundup - Climbing Camp

From the Coaches:

"The group this week was awesome. I will miss them" (Josh)
"I liked letting Jen down real fast - it was fun (Serg)
"It was great to learn new knots and help with the kids (Jen)

From the Climbers:

The best part about camp this week was...

"...that we learned a figure 8 knot (Izzy)
"...I love climbing (Sophie S)
"...the bolt game (Sophie)
"...going on the ziplines - inside and outside (Emma)
"...practing the skit" (Jennifer)
"...climbing the really hard walls - it was a challenge" (Sara)
"...there were a lot of fun games" (Ely)
"...the zipline and the bungee (Eli)
"...it was fun to do "dynos" on hard walls (Alec)

Week 5 Roundup - Super Chef w/ Hassan's Group

I Heart Exxcel Summer Camp because....

"...we learned a lot of new things which I never learned before. When you need help, there is always an instructor there" (Kathryn)

"...the feeling you get when you do something extraordinary!" (Willow)

"...you always learn new things, like one day you're learning a cartwheel and the next you're learning a back handspring" (Annika)

"...you always have fun" (Kayla)

"...everyday you learn new things" (Clare)

"...everyday I learned more things than I ever learned before" (Jessica)

"...it's fun" (Liat)

Week 5 Roundup - Super Chef w/ Andrei's Group

Favorite Things:

"The bungee and the zipline!" (Rebecca)
"I love the waterslides" (Lily Walsh)
"I love to do beam and bars and I love decorating cakes!" (Maggie)
"I loved working on a pie" (Lily)
"I loved the aerial fabrics and the zipline" (Leila)
"We get to learn new things. It was so much fun doing the zipline and working on a pie. When I got home, I shoved the pie in my face and it was really funny" (Mary)
"I loved making the pie and decorating a cake. I also loved going after Andrei!" (Tara)
"I liked decorating a cake, making a pie, swinging on the bar, having lunch outside and finding a bunch of acorns. I also liked it when Andrei made a whistle out of an acorn" (Emma)

Week 4 Roundup - Laura's Perspective

This week's camp was one of the most fun weeks ever! The crazy carnival was such a success; the kids loved the games, face painting and especially the dunk tank! I had a blast watching them play and laugh, having great fun in the sun! ~ Laura Fields, Exxcel Staff

The Weekly Camp Roundup - Week 4! Hassan's Group

CARNIVAL! ~ My favorite part about this week was...

• "When I dunked Hassan at the Carnival!" (Annika
• "Jumping into the foam pit and dunking Hassan and the other coaches at the Carnival!" (Madeline)
• "Doing gymnastics, especially learning my back handspring" (Tamara)
• "Spinning in the aerial fabrics makes me giggle and laugh. I also really enjoyed the zip line, ropes and ropes course (Cora)
• "When I got dunked, and when Serg pushed me on the zip line (Sydney)
• "When Hassan got dunked and colored!" (Jordyn)
• "When I dunked Serg, going to the JCC and the waterslides and balloon fight!" (Jessica)
• "Dunking Andrei, the zip line, the tramp, the carnival and the JCC!" (Isabel)

The Weekly Camp Roundup! WEEK 3

REC CAMP ~ "Anything Can Happen" Week

Jen's Group - The funnest part of this week was the theme, "Anything Can Happen." It was fun to push the coaches into the pit while practicing our new gymnastics skills. We also had tons of fun on the zipline, bungee, and waterslides. "Everything was fun!" says camper Camille Skala.

Hassan's Group - Favorite Things:

- Pushing the coaches into the pit (Anonymous)

- Seeing Andrei let go of the zipline into the pit (Sydney)
- Ropes, tumble trak, getting wet on the water slides (Annie)

- Water fights with coaches and the water slide (Annika)

- Water fights with coaches and learning new gymnastics (Jordyn)

- Water slides, learning gymnastics and the Magician! (Mae and Livia)

Preschool - Exxcel's preschool campers have accomplished so much this week! Our theme was "Anything Can Happen" - in addition to gymnastics, we were suprised with silly string, threw water balloons at coaches, enjoyed the bungee and the trapeze, experiemented with science, and even made our own play-dough...just to name a few!

Team 1 - Eighty degree weather, Hassan breaking out his orange shorts, Tanya's field conditioning & water slide...oh yes summer camp '09 has officially begun. Although the constant brouhaha of summer camp makes us feel like we are "livin' la vida loca", team 1 is going strong. Camila Hernandez marked her name in exxcel gymnastics history when she established a summer camp world record for cast handstands in a row, with an astounding 13! You go girl! One of our fellow team members, Megan Lapp, who traveled intranationally this year to take on the best of the east in Tupelo, will be traveling internationally, this time, to Costa Rica next week. Have fun Megusha! Week 3 marked the first week that we performed both individual group dances and a team dance, and also marked our first trip to our beloved field for conditioning. Other highlights of the week included Franc the magician coming in and turning a balloon into a rabbit; he is quite an entertainer! Overall it was a stellar week for us and we can't wait for more to come!

Team 2 - This week was a blast! We had so much fun at the waterslides. We finally splashed Rustam after many days of trying! We went to the JCC and played very fun games such as categories and dibble. We had so much fun learning new skills and accomplishing goals. We can't wait for next week!

Team 3 - Highlights:

Margeaux - "I got my roundoff 3 backhandsprings," Dallas - "I landed front tuck on tramp," Caitlin - "I like camp especially when I get new skills," Sarah - "I got handstand back tuck off high beam," Ayana - "I got my gainer"

The hiatus is over!

My sincere apologies that we have been offline for almost 2 months! Exxcel has been quite busy, but that's no excuse. Since the last post, we wrapped up and amazing Year End Show (see photos below), and rocked our way through School's Out Vacation Camp and the first 2 and a half weeks of Summer Camp. The Spring Session ended on a high note, and we're psyched to see that so many of you have come back to see us this summer - even if just for a visit! If you're missing your gymnastics fix, summer classes are always an option. You can sign up for just one class!

We will also be posting from the front lines of Summer Camp 2009 -- straight from the campers themselves! Check each week for group recaps and highlights from camp! See the sidebar for more info.