Watch our video from Week 7 -- DC World Cup. There was lots of soccer action and thrills, as well as horseback riding, swimming, rockwall and other great activities. Enjoy!!!

https://vimeo.com/134763237

World Cup Doublecreek Style

This is the week!  It’s soccer time at Doublecreek .  Forget the Women’s World Cup, Men’s World Cup, Gold Cup, Silver Cup, Bronze Cup, Iron Cup, and Tin Cup.  This is the Doublecreek World Cup.  Some might ask, “Don’t you think you’re going a tad overboard calling it the World Cup when only campers and counselors at Doublecreek play?”  Hey,  if the NFL, NBA, and MLB declare their champion a “world” champion, why can’t Doublecreek?

It works like this.  Grades Five and up campers will have six teams; third and fourth grades will have four teams.  The chairman of this endeavor, Austin Willliamson, will divide up the counselors and assign campers to each team.   Don’t worry about teams having unfair advantages based on talent being concentrated on one team.  This is Austin Williamson handling our soccer league, not Sepp Blatter.  Payments under the table are not going to happen.

There are the teams for the 5^th and Up groups:  USA, Mexico, Germany, Tanzania, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.  The teams for the 3^rd and 4^th Grades are:  USA, Mexico, Germany, and France.

We used to have teams named after cartoon characters, or we simply named them by color.  Naming the teams after countries has added a whole new dynamic to the contest.  We are planning an Opening Ceremony.  Will it match the Beijing Olympics?  We’ll see.  But you can’t have an Opening Ceremony without singing the national anthems of the countries.  I’ve never heard the Armenian national anthem, but I’m sure it will be something.  A camper asked me if these countries have “fight” songs.  I asked if he meant a national anthem.  He was emphatic that he knew the difference between a national anthem and a fight song, and did Azerbaijan have a fight song?  I told him I was sure they did.  So if you have a child scouring the Internet for the Azerbaijan fight song, you can blame me. (Just a thought – what would the good ‘ole USA use as a fight song?)

Anyway, back to the Doublecreek World Cup.  Everyone involved is into the World Cup with everything they’ve got.  We have games going in two venues.  In the true spirit of international cooperation and good will, no quarter is requested and none is given.

What I find particularly interesting is how campers and counselors have adopted their assigned countries.  For one week, they are proud to be Germans, Armenians, Tanzanians, Frenchmen (or Frenchwomen), etc.  Several participants either brought or made replicas of their country’s World Cup shirt.

While I’ve seen intense competition on the pitch, I haven’t seen tears shed by the losers.  In spite of the semi-fierce competition, it’s all been in fun!  That is a buzz word at Doublecreek – have fun!  We have fun every week, but this special week we had fun singing, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole!

—Joe Ray

Camp Doublecreek Pop Mash Up 2015

Watch our extremely talented Doublecreek Staff as they sing, dance, swim, ride, and fly to this year's Pop Mash Up!

Discovery on the Doublecreek Channel!

The theme at Doublecreek this week is “Shark Week.”  Forty years ago the specter of sharks as the ultimate feeding machine was forever etched in our psyche with the release of the movie “Jaws.”  The pulsating theme and the climactic duel between the shark and three men manning the doomed fishing boat, the “Orca,” became a cultural phenomenon.  Sharks have always frightened us, but “Jaws” made some people afraid to swim in a lake, much less the ocean.

Sharks are now so ingrained in the public imagination, cable channels devote an entire week to them.  Every summer the Discovery Channel airs “Shark Week.”  Well, Doublecreek has it’s own version of “Shark Week” which is about having fun with sharks – not dispensing information about the silent killers.

Allow me to digress a moment.  Why does the Discovery Channel devote a week to sharks?  I guess it’s for the ratings.  They will show sharks one week and then the next week could be about Alaskan Bush People or Airplane Repossession – whatever people will watch.  Programming evolves or stays the same based on the interests of the viewing public.

The programming at Doublecreek is always evolving.  Take a look at the photos of the campers fifteen years ago.  There was no rockwall, no paintball field, no waterslide, no indoor/outdoor soccer field, no 4-square cage, no gaga ball pit, no gun safety, and no miniature golf.  Go back thirty years and you will see only one flag pole in the middle of the circle drive and archery targets but no covered shed where campers could sit.  We had Sing-Song at the Big Shed.  We didn’t have the Dance Barn – we had a tent.  I could go on and on about the physical changes to the campus, but there are other changes.  Soccer was played sparingly – today it is played 2-3 periods during the day.  Doublecreek has caught up to the rest of the world.  Games such as freeze tag, tether ball, and horse shoes have all but disappeared.  They have been replaced by Lava Lake, Rolly Polly Bowling, and Knockout, among others. Some of the games should strange, but campers know what they are and how to play them.  Some games are the same – 4-square and Blooperball are the same after 30-odd years.

Another thing that hasn’t changed is that Doublecreek is a place of discovery.  You find out many things about yourself.  You can discover that rockwalls can be scaled, waterslides can be fun, and horses are not scary.  Some discoveries made at Doublecreek are significant, others are subtle.  It was through Doublecreek that I realized I wanted to go into education.  That is a common trait among counselors, beginning with Aunt Trudy.  I counted over three dozen counselors who became teachers or who are studying to be teachers while working at Doublecreek.  There are many counselors who became doctors, lawyers, business owners, and law enforcement officers.  Did they discover their life’s work going through a summer at Doublecreek?  Who knows?

One discovery I’ve seen at Doublecreek is that if a camper comes to Doublecreek, it’s because they will have an opportunity to ride horses, swim, play soccer, dance, play paintball, scale a climbing tower, or participate in countless other activities.  If a camper returns year after year, there are other factors at work.  I believe it has to do with a caring and energetic staff.

Discovery is a fluid process at Doublecreek.  We may not learn very much about sharks, but as campers and counselors go through a day, then a week, and maybe several weeks together, they can discover many things about each other, but most importantly, they discover more about themselves.

 -- Joe Ray

Here's the link to this week's video:  https://vimeo.com/133718895

Everybody Dance Now!

It is third period on Thursday and the 1^st Grade Girls have just finished the Scavenger Hunt (actually it’s a clue hunt, but that doesn’t matter), so what do they do next?  They dance!  This week’s theme is “Dancingwith the Counselors” at Camp Doublecreek and Friday at Sing-Song all the groups will be dancing with their counselors.  Every chance they practice.  They are very serious about this, but not too serious.  Groups want to do well, but they want to have a good time doing it. 

I watched the 2^nd Grade Boys practice their routine to “Let It Go” from the movie from the movie "Frozen.” You haven’t lived until you watch 2^nd Grade Boys try to channel their inner Princess Elsa. Later I saw the 3^rd Grade Girls practicing their dance to “Thriller.”  What a camp!  The boys channel their inner Elsa while the girls channel their inner zombie.

Group dancing takes place on Friday.  On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week at Sing-Song, we have pairs or semi-pairs dancing.  We have 15 counselors who “volunteer” to dance with a camper.  Campers enter a drawing to be one of the lucky partners of the counselors.  Once the pairs are decided, the fun really begins.  The groups who are scheduled for Tuesday do not have much time to pull a routine together, but they always come up with routines that are clever and fun to watch.

Fifteen pairs (or should I say, 14 pairs and one group of ten), put on a great show.  I’m not sure who had more fun – the dancers or the audience.  It doesn’t matter.  This isn’t "American Idol."  We don’t have judges; we don’t have a trophy. While it’s not “Dancing with the Stars,” all our performers are winners!

-- Joe Ray

Here's the link to our "Dancing with the Counselors" video:  https://vimeo.com/133397322

Red, White and Blue

Red, White and Blue

With the 4^th of July right around the corner, the phrase “Red, White, and Blue” takes on a special meaning.  I’m talking about our flag, our country, and the freedoms we enjoy.  All families have special ways of celebrating July 4^th:  picnics, family reunions, trips to the lake, cookouts, and fireworks.

Doublecreek spends the entire week celebrating July 4^th.  In the past we celebrated in a style unique to Doublecreek.  Early on we had cookouts.  The day before the 4^th, Uncle Carter would fire up the grill and grill hot dogs for the entire camp.  When you have less than 100 campers, that’s an option we do not have now with 300+ campers.

Later we had 4^th of July parades.  We would decorate everything that moved.  Golf carts, wagons, trucks, tractors, horses, goats, and campers were all decked out with every combination of red, white and blue you could imagine.  One year, we had a marching band made up entirely of kazoo players.  Hearing “You’re a Grand Old Flag” played by kazoos was truly a memorable experience.  The only problem we had with our parades was the audience or lack thereof.  With the exception of Uncle Carter, Aunt Trudy and the camp nurse, everybody else was in the parade.

For the bi-centennial celebration in 1976, we were very ambitious.  We tried to re-enact Washington crossing the Delaware in the pool.  We used wading pools as boats.  It was spectacular – except for all the boats capsizing and the entire company swimming to the side, it went very well!

Recently we’ve had groups singing an assigned song – usually a military song.  Every summer, Uncle Carter would lead a stirring rendition of “The Army Air Corp” song.

Uncle Carter served his country with pride during World War II along with millions of men and women of the “greatest generation.”  Except for going AWOL (away without leave) once (I’m not sure it was even noticed), he served with distinction.  I should mention that when he went AWOL, it was for a very good reason – to attend my parents’ wedding, where he gave away the bride.  It’s a pretty good story, but that’s another article.

However you celebrate the 4^th, remember to either thank or honor those who have served our country.  I’ll remember Uncle Carter for the way he served his country, for the way he led his life, and the wonderful influence he had on me and thousands of Doublecreek campers and counselors. 

I will be sure to thank my father for his service and for being a wonderful father to me.  I will thank my nephew, Griffin Reeder, for serving his country now and for being a nephew I am truly proud of.

I apologize for hijacking this article to show my love and appreciation to members of my family.  Please forgive me.

If you have memories of Uncle Carter or if you would like to thank members of your family for their service, please post on our Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/CampDoublecreek

If I can do it, you can do it.  Hey, it’s a free country.

-- Joe Ray

Here's the link to the video from Red, White and Blue week:  https://vimeo.com/132842968