Private Club Tweens, Early Teens Tackle Adventures

Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville, Va., tackled the challenge of offering activities geared toward youth members in the 10-to-15-year-old age contingent. The club launched Adventure Camp and offered it for one week each in June, July and August.

The tween and early teen years can prove challenging for both parents and their children. Young people in that age range are journeying from childhood to adulthood, and sometimes struggle to find a place to fit in.

In 2021, Paul Shockley, Youth Programs Manager at Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville, Va., tackled the challenge of offering activities geared toward youth members in the 10-to-15-year-old age contingent.

“That 10- to 15-year-old age group is so difficult to program for,”  Shockley says. “I wanted to try to get something for that …  group and have them feel involved in the club, [and] have the parents excited that the kids are doing something with the club.”

Shockley in 2021 launched Adventure Camp and offered it for one week each in June, July and August to Farmington Country Club members who were 11-to-15 years old. Shockley adds that while the camp is publicized as being for 11 to 15 year olds, he says 10-year-olds are allowed to attend if they meet height and weight guidelines for all of the activities, particularly zip lining, the rope course and kayaking.

Activities included hiking, natural water slides, rock climbing, zip lining, summer tubing, kayaking, bowling, cooking classes, archery, and a visit to an escape room.

The tweens, early teens and their families were, Shockley says, “super stoked and happy that we were offering something for them.”

There were 12 spots available each week, and Shockley notes, “We sold out all three weeks with a wait list.”

He concedes he also wanted to do many of these activities himself, and initiating the camp gave him a chance to experience some adventures. 

“It was fun for me, too,” he says.

Shockley says he originally selected about 15 activities that he would offer during the three weeks, and the goal was to provide a different set of programs in each week. That way, if some youngsters participated in all three sessions, they would not repeat any activity. 

Ultimately, the list was narrowed to about 11 activities during the course of a three-week period. Some of the more popular activities—such as zip lining, rock climbing, hiking and the escape room—were offered more than once.

“Anything that the kids loved, we added in,” Shockley says.

For one of the days during the day camp week, participants remained on club property and played tennis, swam, fished and tried archery, axe throwing and knockerball.

In knockerball (image above), each player puts their upper body inside an inflatable plastic sphere with handles and shoulder straps. All types of games can be played with each youngster running around in an area inside their own plastic bubble.

“The kids love it,” Shockley says. “It’s tons of fun!”

Knockerball activities included team competitions, races, and a last-person standing contest.

Youngsters also ventured into the kitchen to make tacos and pizza from scratch.

The club’s chef, Charlie Figueroa, is “really creative and does a good job with the kids,” Shockley says. “They love it.”

For the other days of the week, Shockley and one other staff member, along with 12 children, rode inside a club-owned shuttle to the off-site excursions.

The rock climbing wall, zip line, summer tubing and indoor water slides are all offered at Massanutten Resort in Elkton, Va., while kayaking occurred on the Rivanna River. Campers saw waterfalls and took a plunge in swimming holes such as White Oak Canyon, which offers a natural water slide.

The hikes and other nature activities gave tweens and early teens a chance to enjoy the outdoors without being distracted by their phones. Since cell service isn’t available in some of these locales, many campers left their phones in the shuttle.

“The parents liked those [trips] the most mainly because there’s no cell service where we go,” Shockley says. “[The young people will] take pictures [on their phone], but they can’t text, they can’t do the other apps that they’re typically on, so the parents love that the kids are getting out in nature.”

In some cases, tweens and early teens were experiencing some of these activities for the first time, with Shockley saying the escape room triggered the nerves of some campers.

“You could tell, on the bus on the way there, a couple of the kids had some nervous energy,” Shockley says. 

In contrast, he says youngsters were “sprinting in the parking lot” when they visited the rock climbing wall and zip line.

This year’s program will be similar to the 2021 version, but Shockley notes a few more hikes and nature activities will be put on the itinerary, while kayaking will likely be dropped and replaced with a river tubing activity.

All three weeks for the 2022 Adventure Camp were sold out at the time this article was written in late May.  

“A lot of the kids look forward to it,” says Shockley, who adds most of the youngsters who participated last year are returning in 2022.

As of now, Adventure Camp is the only summer camp that the club offers for 11-to-15-year-olds, but Shockley hopes to offer additional programs for the tween/early teen group in 2023.

With activities for adults and other camps for children ages 4 to 10, Shockley says he’s pleased that he was able to introduce a new camp that appeals to a group that is sometimes overlooked. 

“Those kids will go sit at the pool deck and talk to their friends or sit at the pool and just stare at their phones the whole time,” Shockley says. “I think that’s just nice to be able to touch that age group that we typically don’t have an easy way to program for and get involved in the club. They enjoy coming out and feeling like they’re a part of it.”

The Goal: Leaders at Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville, Va. wanted to take steps tohelp members in the 10-to-15 year-old age group feel like they’re part of the club. This demographic group is sometimes overlooked in club programming and activities.

The plan: The club offered a program called Adventure Camp for members in the 11-to-15-year-old age group to do activities such as hiking, rock climbing, zip lining, summer tubing, archery and tennis. Though the camp is publicized as being for 11-to-15 year olds, 10-year-olds can participate if they meet height and weight guidelines for all of the activities.

The payoff: Both the children and their parents enjoyed the offerings at Adventure Camp in 2021, according to Paul Shockley, Youth Programs Manager at Farmington Country Club. The tweens and early teens felt more connected to the club and their parents were happy that their children experienced new adventures and spent less time looking at their phones. The program is being offered again in 2022.