SARATOGA SPRINGS — Camp Abilities Saratoga, a week-long summer camp offering adaptive sports and recreational opportunities for children and teens who are blind or visually impaired, returns July 30 to celebrate its 10th anniversary.
Hosted at Skidmore College, the camp is a service project of the Saratoga Springs Lions Club, and initially began in the summer of 2014, said Immediate Past President John McDonald.
McDonald described the camp as “an active educational sports camp” for blind or visually impaired children and teens. The camp is open to ages 10 to 17, and has hosted roughly 215 campers in its 10 years, McDonald said.
“It’s multi-faceted, really, what we offer to them,” said McDonald. “It helps build their self-esteem, their confidence, introduces them to the world of adaptive sports, and all of the things and opportunities that sports bring to them.”
The camp also offers kids an opportunity to experience a week away from home in a college-like setting, with McDonald noting the camp may also be the first time that many younger campers are spending time away from home.
“With that whole week together, they’re spending time with their peers, who have the same challenges that they do,” McDonald said. “They’re on a college campus for a full week, so it gets them that opportunity to kind of feel like what it would be to go away to college. It’s just huge, what those offerings are for the campers.”
Campers participate in a wide variety of adaptive sports throughout the week, including soccer, baseball, track and field, tandem biking, judo, swimming, and more. McDonald emphasized that all sports offered at the camp are adaptive.
Campers also travel off-campus for activities around the city, with McDonald listing examples such as bowling at the Saratoga Strike Zone, kayaking on Saratoga Lake, and visiting the Saratoga Ninja Lab in Malta.
McDonald emphasized that the camp is free to attend, with a variety of fundraising efforts that help campers attend at no cost to them or their families.
“Through our fundraising and grant-writing, the camp is 100% free for campers,” said McDonald.
McDonald said the camp receives strong support from businesses in the local community.
“Locally, we get a lot of support,” said McDonald. “We do a program at the Ninja Lab. We do skating at the ice rink. In the past, we’ve done golf at Saratoga National.”
McDonald also noted that Jason Morris of the Jason Morris Judo Center initially began working with the camp in its first year, saying judo is “a very popular event with the campers.”
While the camp is a service project of the Saratoga Springs Lions Club, McDonald also said many other area Lions Clubs step up to offer their support each year, including the Ballston Spa, Greenfield, Duane, and Glens Falls Lions Clubs among others.
“A number of them do dinners for us in the evening,” McDonald said. “There’s probably 20 clubs that, in some way, either financial or hands-on, help support the camp.”
The camp’s nightly dinners are also donated by local businesses and organizations, with McDonald saying Mama Mia’s, P.J.’s BAR-B-QSA, and the Ballston Spa and Greenfield Lions Clubs are among those who are providing meals this year.
Campers are set to arrive Sunday, July 30. The camp runs throughout the week, with campers staying in dorms on the Skidmore College campus. A majority of camp activities are held on the Skidmore campus, with transportation arranged for the off-campus activities.
The camp will hold a picnic in the Saratoga Spa State Park on Friday, McDonald said, and conclude on Saturday, Aug. 5, with a closing ceremony where parents can arrive to observe their children participating.
“We do a closing ceremony, and then the parents get to see the kids in some of the sports they’ve participated in,” McDonald said. “Another big part of the camp is (that) we do an assessment of the camper’s skills, and how they’ve progressed.”
McDonald said the assessments are sent to both the children’s parents and their school.
“Lots of times, kids don’t get the opportunity. They may be in a school system that doesn’t provide the opportunities for them,” said McDonald. “That assessment … it shows that these students, while they might be blind or visually impaired, it doesn’t mean they can’t participate.”
McDonald said it is reaching 10 years is “a huge milestone” for the camp.
“This just fits perfectly with what we’re looking to do as Lions,” McDonald said. “To reach that milestone, it’s a huge accomplishment that we’re very, very proud of.”
