Director’s Reports

“Have a blast at camp”

August 6, 2026

“Have a blast at camp”

August 6,2026

“Have a blast at camp,” it might surprise you, refers to the counselors in this iteration. The specific phrase appears at the beginning of the staff manual, that goes on to say “and include the campers in your fun. The rest is gravy.”

Without doubt this mantra has carried the day every day since late June when the 2026 season kicked off. I get a tremendous pleasure in observing this “clean mirth,” as I say over and over again.

One time long ago, I interviewed a fellow for the waterski counselor position. “Oh, I love to waterski,” he told me, thereby sinking his employment chances to near zero. Nowadays, every Kingswood counselor would immediately recognize the absurdity of that comment.

It was last evening’s adaptation of dodgeball orchestrated by Officer Mark Skidd that provided the thread for this commentary. Skidd, you see, is my nemesis as he appears now and again to issue traffic citations (golf cart) and other warnings to me. When he showed up at dinner, I shrieked, much to the delight of the boys.

After that it was easy pickings to get a bunch of kids up to the soccer field for some bombardment action. All I know is that the chicken was the good guy and all the others were outlaws, deserving of their fate.

Josh showed up as Mr. Wiff on a second golf cart and Sara delighted in taking photos of me taking a picture of Josh taking a picture of me. If you do not get a few jollies out of hijinks like this, get another job.

At the other end of the same soccer field, Ted, Elijah and Alex engaged a few boys in penalty kicks. Once again, the campers were the ultimate victors in the game.

I need to comment on Sara’s pix of August 4. The second half of her album has her accompanying a group of overnight campers to the spot we call Pirates’ Cove. The most common approach is via the war canoe, this time piloted by Larson and Matthew.

The gear goes over beforehand, by speedboat, for obvious reasons—although I think we have never suffered a capsized canoe on this oft-repeated excursion. It is a most appealing campsite and thanks to a sizable fire, s’mores, swimming, stories and likely some music, everybody had a gravy time.

Today promises to be a scorcher, which by our standards is high 80’s with only a touch of breeze. I overheard the program gurus talking about our standard heat wave response which is “California beach day,” where we contract the chilly waters of Tarleton to cool things off.

Absolutely a blast for all hands!