Never before have I seen so many Lacoste shirts, Sperry topsiders and Volvo station wagons. The first round of kids started showing up around noon. We moved our desk out in the hall of the foyer for camper check in. We were all paired in groups of six, the woman counselors escorted the girl campers to the dorm, while the guys did the same with the boys. We passed out keys and towels and reassured the parents and the campers, there were a lot of tears shed, some of the kids have never been away from home and it’s just as tough on the parents.
It’s a brilliant, hot and humid day…whew. I bet I have already drank a gallon of water and I need another shower.
There are so many new counselors here, Eric Leges from Plymouth State, Andy Greenspan, Bevin Engman from Philly, Jude Gatewood from D.C.; Tom Vrana from New Jersey, Becky Craft from Wellesley College. Verona made the mistake of calling Mr. B, ‘Franky’ to Tom Sheridan. Sheridan told him curtly that we refer to Frank Brennan as Mr. B or Mr. Brennan. It was one of the awkward moments of the morning.
Chris and Pat manned the desk with Sanderson and I. Mark is very good with the kids, he was a counselor last summer in Maine and he knows how to deal with kids and parents, he’s a pro. Chris is very good as well, I think that English accent reassures the parents, maybe it’s a subliminal Mary Poppins thing. This Bevin Engman is very good too; she really has the maternal instinct and is quite striking. She has very blond hair, an easy laugh, and very blue eyes. I really like all the girl counselors, all very good tennis players but I can tell they will do well with the kids.
After we got most of the kids checked in Tom Sheridan laid down the law again telling us that drinking and smoking are not tolerated and are grounds of dismissal, girls are not allowed in the boys dorms and vice versa. He also told us watch the little kids closely because they tend to get homesick the fastest, we put all the little ones on the first floor where we can keep an eye on them. Mr. B says when kids get homesick and go home the camp loses money and there is no excuse for it, we must welcome the kids and help them get through the two weeks. The parents are paying close to a thousand for two weeks!
I helped Mike Kunz break out the video equipment, it’s the same Sony unit Jim Hall and I used for our cable access TV show. Its reel to reel and very cool. Kunz and I set up the tripod and Mr. B had us tape them. Riley and Hamilton fed balls to the kids, 10 forehands, 10 backhands, 5 volleys and a couple of overheads. Mr B. gave a running commentary on the tape. We will show the tape on Monday and Tuesday afternoon.
After dinner we went for a short drive with Tom through the countryside, it was nice to get away for a few minutes. When we got back, Roger Dickinson and Riley posted the duties for the week, to my surprise I found out that I had court duty, so Sandy and I swept and watered the courts. We didn’t get done until 9:45 and we were soaking wet. I’m dreading tomorrow because it’s going to be long.
Just a few minutes ago Mr. B was walking down the hallways to check on the counselors. He made sure the little ones were in their room and checked on the homesick ones, he chewed out John Day because kids near his room were running a bit wild. One kid was crying and Mr. B took him to his apartment which is just off the lobby and let him call home. That settled the kid right down.
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