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All night was filled thinking of ramps and rails. Excitement surged through my veins. As I watched the clock change to 6:00 AM and heard the alarm click on, a knot welled up in my stomach. This was it. I was going to skate heaven.

Situated in a valley in Pennsylvania, Camp Woodward started in 1970 as a place for gymnasts to train and has grown to be one of the top gymnastic camps in the world. As biking, boarding, and blading gained popularity in the 90's, Camp Woodward decided to include these new sports at the camp and thus was born Woodward Extreme Sports Camps.

The facilities at Woodward are top notch and make the $600 per week (plus expenses) price tab worth it. Over the camps 40,000 square feet of indoor and 20,000 feet of outdoor riding space, you find ramps ranging from tiny minis to the huge 12 foot vert ramp and enough rails, ledges, and launches to keep even the most skate-happy fool contented. It's a skater's paradise.

And what would paradise be like without females to match up with the mostly male extreme athletes? There are over 300 bouncing gymnasts to match the 300 shredding skaters and bikers.

A day in the life

My first day at camp turned out to be like every day - full of energy. With hundreds of skaters around ripping up the courses (and no cops to run them off!), that's to be expected.

A typical day went about like this -

7 AM - Get up, wash up, clean the cabin, and eat breakfast. This was probably the hardest part of the day because everyone was so tired from skating the day before.

9-12 AM - After a quick morning meeting, everyone headed out with an assigned counselor for lessons on the ramps. At most sports camps, going through lessons is work. At Woodward, they have visiting pros and free equipment prizes that help win over even the most bummed out skater.

12-1 PM - Lunch or free time for the skaters. With the cafeteria serving average camp style meals, you find lots of people grabbing a grilled burger or paying for pizza at the store. Of course, many campers have been known to hit their personal candy stash to hold them off until dinner.

1-2 PM - A short clinic was usually held after lunch. This would range from learning transitions to how to carve a bowl. Most skaters used this for free time.

2-9.30 PM - Seven and a half hours of free skate time! During this period, all of the ramps opened up with the counselors out there making sure no one got hurt. Most skaters would hit the ramps for a couple of hours and then partake in one of the camps extracurricular activities

Fun

At Woodward, the fun stuff alone is enough to keep a camper busy all week. The indoor rock gym was a great place to start. With routes for both beginners and experts, anyone could do it. People also flocked to the video arcade. It had about a dozen quarter-eating, camper-bankrupting games. For some extra cash, horseback riding was available. But from what I heard it's mostly the girl gymnasts who do it. The latest addition to the camp was a go-cart track--a good way to get in a good hit on someone. But forget all that stuff, the most exciting activities by far were happening at the Olympic sized pool and nearby Jacuzzi. Jumping and diving in the pool, and relaxing in the hot tub were great by themselves. But throw in a bikini-clad gymnast for every smelly skater and it was nothing but a huge party.

As fun as fun as all that is, the reason skaters come to Woodward is the skating. The counselors are all top-notch. Most are pros or at least skaters good enough to be pro. These guys know exactly how to do the tricks, and can really help in diagnosing problems and teaching new skills. And since they are older (18+), they are mature and totally cool to the campers. During camp, most skaters notice huge improvements in their abilities. Though the expert instruction plays a part in their betterment, 6 hours of daily ramp time is the biggest factor. You only get out what you put in. It's not realistic to expect a miraculous improvement to happen automatically, but if you go out there and have fun and take advantage of the resources then you will improve.

Pros

No story about Woodward would be complete without talking about the visiting pros. Chris Edwards, Arlo, Julio, Roadhouse, Feinberg, Cesar Mora, Tom Fry and many more have been to the camp to help teach, give demos, and just hang out. About half of the pros room with the campers, which is great because it makes for super late night discussions. It's amazing how much you find out about what's really going on in the industry when you have a dozen screaming campers cornering a pro.

Another cool thing that the pros do is hook kids up with equipment for cheap. The pros get lots of equipment from their sponsors, but very little cash. Since pros need the cash to cover expenses, selling the new and used equipment to the idolizing campers is a great way to make ends meet. Because of this, the black market for equipment and candy at camp is amazing. If a camper is smart enough and can talk like a used car salesman, he or she could trade up a set of worn out wheels for a shirt, set of grind plates, AND a candy bar.

The down side...

To be fair, the camp does have its down points. The first major complaint was the weather. Being situated in a valley, rain would sneak up on the camp and flood the outdoor courses. It happened at least 3 times a week. Argh! Another down side is the amount of wheels and bearings everyone goes through. Since the camp is built on a big hill, going up and down it constantly flat spots wheels. Throw in some rain, and the bearings go too. It wasn't unusual for a camper to go through several sets of wheels in a week. Finally, the pro shop was very poorly stocked. With only a couple of brands of equipment on hand, it was safe to say that if you were looking, they didn't have it. Combine this with the constant need for wheels, bearings, and pads and you had campers calling home begging for care packages.

Going home

Despite the minor down points, Woodward is a great summer camp. With athletes ranging from 10-17 and of all skill levels, everyone could find their niche. While I was there I made some great friends, and I still keep in touch via email and an occasional letter. As I packed up my trunk, took the last of my pictures, and loaded on to the bus, I knew that this would be a summer I would never forget.

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