When the All Day Sports Camp was displaced from their summer home at Pace University during what would have been their 40th year two years ago, the camp searched the county for a new location, only to come full circle to Tarrytown where it once began.
Director Michael Chiariello’s father started the program out of Marymount College – now home to EF Education First. Chiariello was happy to return to a place full of his own childhood memories, though that one lost summer in between spent looking for a space and regrouping was “really tough.”
Chiariello remembers his dad paying a bus driver to teach him how to drive a 55 passenger bus. His father would pick up kids in the North Bronx and bring them to Marymount where he coached them in numerous sports. To this day, the camp remains a family-oriented business, as Chiariello’s brother-in-law works there, as did his sister.
“It’s great to be back in Tarrytown," Chiariello said. "We had a good season there last year."
Entering their second summer season in Tarrytown, the camp utilizes the pool, gym and playing field for the first half of each weekday, then takes the kids on a short bus ride to Irvington for afternoon softball.
It’s a full day of various sports for two groups – juniors aged 7 to 10 and seniors aged 11 to 14. The kids receive instruction and play games in staples of softball and basketball and enjoy a free swim everyday, with alternating “multisport” periods mixed in, such as soccer, floor hockey, two-hand touch football.
For Chiariello, it’s a well-balanced life as he works during the school year as a White Plains high school art teacher. He said many of the instructors are area teachers.
The programs serves kids throughout the region, and offers more than your average town camp, Chiariello said. With a ratio of 6 or 7 kids to 1 faculty, kids are never on the sidelines.
The sports are competitive though winning is not the goal. Each week culminates with “Players of the Week” awards. A larger awards ceremony at the close of camp grants “towering sportsman trophies” for those showing greatest growth and benefit to their teams.
Both girls and boys get a lot out of their experience, Chiariello said. Though the camp does tend to skew more male, Chiariello said the girls often show up the boys. “I think it’s important for the boys to see some phenomenal female athletes here.”
Registration is already underway: There’s an open house this Sunday, March 10th, from noon to 3 p.m. in the Sports Building on the EF Campus, 100 Marymount Avenue, Tarrytown.
For more information check out their website: allsportsdaycamp.net.
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