Under the covered play area at Jenkins Creek Elementary School Trudy Schug dribbled toward a kid-sized hoop guarded by a tiny blonde girl.
Schug, a P.E. teacher at Park Orchard Elementary in Kent, told the little girl not to let her score and to get closer to ‘Coach T,’ as she is called at the camps she runs with her husband Erick during the summer.
It’s one of many programs offered by Covington Community Sports, a non-profit that sprung up in early 2007 after the city was forced to cut its youth recreation offerings due to budget constraints.
“Our goal is for kids to be exposed to confidence building, sportsmanship, lots of fun and some fundamental skills,” Schug said. “The goal is introducing them to the sports.”
Schug and her husband, who serves as the program director for CCS, have been running the week-long sports camps for grade schoolers since 2007.
They are currently in the third week of camps, which includes three in one sports introduction programs, and will go for two more weeks.
The three-in-one camps for children 3-8 years old are the most popular, Schug said, with the first week drawing nearly 50 participants.
It helps kids learn some of the basics of soccer, tee ball and basketball, while also allowing them to figure out which sports they’d like to play on a league team which CCS also offers.
This alleviates stress for parents, Schug explained, because the youngsters will have an idea of what they’re getting themselves into before they sign up.
These camps have been successful, too, Schug said.
“It’s grown,” she said. “We’ve doubled in size. We get a lot of repeat campers but we get a lot of new faces, too.”
Most important, though, is keeping kids healthy especially during the summer months.
“The more we can get active and involved and out of in front of the TV so they can have confidence when they’re in social situations… so they can be excited about sports and being active,” Schug said. “We love it because we do it with our kids. This is our family hang out (during the summer).”
On the last day of camp, former University of Washington basketball player Kayla Burt comes out to help drive home the importance of staying active, and to play with the youngsters, too.
Burt, who graduated from UW in 2006, nearly died when she suffered from a cardiac arrest incident during her sophomore year with the Huskies. Were it not for the quick thinking of her teammates, she explained, she would not be here today.
Now she works in outreach for the Hope Heart Institute. Part of Burt’s job is to go out to community programs such as Schug’s camp and talk about the importance of being active as a part of the non-profit’s prevention campaign.
“What you’re doing right now is very important,” she told the campers on July 15. “I played basketball in college and I had a heart problem. But, here I am today and I’m healthy and I’m active. That’s why it’s very important for you to be here so you can be healthy when you’re older like us.”
With her health history, Burt said, it’s vital to spread the message to children the benefits of being active through sports.
“It’s become my passion to work with young kids,” she said. “The No. 1 killer is heart disease in America. So, my mission and my passion is to raise awareness … of how starting at a young age predicates how they’re going to live as a adults. What better way to combine my love of basketball and my story?”
Reach Kris Hill at khill@covingtonreporter.com or 425-432-1209 ext. 5054.
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