Interview With
Ann Marie Sunderhaus
We have been running Summer Camp programs since 1998, 14 years. We started with one camp location in Central Phoenix and have expanded to 7 valley wide locations.
We are located across the valley. We started a wonderful relationship last summer with Rancho Solano schools which has allowed us to expand our camp experience across the valley. We run our camps our of their 4 school locations, 1 in in Gilbert off South Gilbert Road between Warner and Ray, 1 in East Scottsdale at Rancho Solano’s new middle school and high school location off the 101 and Via de Ventura, 1 off Greenway and 56th Street and 1 in Peoria at 75th Ave and Deer Valley. We also have 3 more great relationship- Sunnyslope High School which has awesome indoor facilities near Dunlap and Central, Phoenix Swim Club located on 29th Street and Campbell and Tesseract Middle School on 39th Street and Shea offering a great gym and beautiful fields.
Hubbard Sports camp believes in providing a safe, active environment which encourages physical, social and emotional growth in our campers. We believe ins a positive attitude, the value of true sportsmanship and the importance of team play. We encourage and value teamwork and building relationships between campers and staff. Our priority is to teach campers starting as young as 4.5 to love and enjoy being active. We want learning to be fun and exciting. We want campers to discover their new abilities through skills, games and play. Their enthusiasm and self-confidence grows along with their skills. We focus on staff involvement. We constantly mentor and guide our staff in engaging with the campers and developing strong bonds. We hire staff with energy, enthusiasm for sports and nurturing, caring personalities for campers.
I believe we specialize in staff involvement and encouragement with the campers. In our world today of technology and computers, we find many kids are being entertained with screens. We want kids to be active, love playing outside and enjoy team sports. We focus on growing and learning in a safe, emotional environment. Hubbard Sports Camp staff are enthusiastic and energetic. We want each camper to believe their counselor is amazing!
Our campers play soccer, basketball, volleyball, swimming, archery and fields sports throughout the day. They learn new skills and incorporate games into each session. The counselors and coaches are constantly coming up with new games that the campers immediately make their “camp favorites.”
We do one week sessions throughout the summer. We start Tuesday, May 28th the day after Memorial Day and run through August 9th. Depending on the location, the dates vary due to school stop and start dates. We offer full day and half day options, provide lunch for full day campers on Monday and Friday, they bring their own self cooled lunch Tuesday through Friday, and snacks and water for all campers. Our pricing is in the range of about $215 for full day campers and $160 for half day campers.
With growth of locations our staffing needs increase. We are very lucky to have amazing leadership. Our directors are teachers, parents, and/or Hubbard Swim School staff who work for the camp in the summer. One of our directors has been with us for over 15 summers. He is a teacher and father of 4. We have school teachers and PE coaches who are awesome at working with staff, campers and parents. My assistant Katie and I have been running Hubbard camp together for at least 10 years. We have interviewed many applicants and spent a lot of time training and mentoring staff. We are lucky in the sense that a lot of our staff are returning. We already have 60 returning staff members who we have re-interviewed this winter and scheduled for the 2013 summer. We receive a lot of applicants from referrals, nearby high schools and universities as well as school programs, such as teachers.
Because it is awesome! We believe our camp is well run with great staff, organized and a lot of fun. We love seeing campers learn new skills and improve on the ones they may already know. We offer a fun, active day for each camper. They campers are able to play different sports, go swimming, participate in camp games and feel part of a fun summer program. We love watching friendships develop over the summer. Many of our campers who return are “summer camp friends.” They come back to hang out with their friends and counselors from Summer Camp. Parents love that when they pick their kids up from camp they can feed them dinner and the kids are ready for bed. We think it is an awesome place for kids to be during the summer months. My 6 and 4 year old simplified it for me: “Mom- we get to play all day!”
Our camp enrollment is up and running. You can sign up at any time throughout the summer!
My input for parents it to always talk to the staff. Let them know your child’s personality. If they are struggling coming in the morning, or on the quieter/shy/nervous side, let our staff help. We want each and every child to enjoy their camp experience. We are open to communication. Many children are learning sports for the first time, or going to camp for the first time. Let the camp staff help the parents and campers with this transition. We want what is best for your child!
We have online registration! They are able to register whenever is the best time for them. It is so convenient.
