By Lexi Paidas ’17

The Becoming a Warrior Camp, run by physical education teacher Mathew Parsons, will teach kids the basics of different sports, inspiring them to stay active and live a healthy lifestyle. The camp runs from June 22 to July 3 from 9 am to 4 pm and will take place at Cashell Elementary School. All kids ages 6-13 are welcome and the price for each camper is $200.

Each day of the camp will feature a different sport taught by one of Sherwood’s coaches. Chris Grier, Ashley Barber-Strunk, Randy Thompson, Amy Morse, Nicole Berry, Dan Reeks, Kelly Hughes, Pete Siarkas, Bill Sartori, Danielle Rosanova, Ben Sanger and Joe Moyer will all be coaching their specialized sports. On days where more than one coach is present, the kids will be split up by age. “It is actually pretty special that all these different Sherwood coaches are willing to come out for a day and teach their sport. It shows you how much the coaches here are involved in the community,” said Parsons.

This is the first year Parsons has run the camp in Olney, but he has helped run a similar camp in Gaithersburg with Bryan Clark and Josh Kinnetz, who both teach at Sherwood as well. Parsons also noted that Barber-Strunk has played a major part in setting up the vision of the camp, with some of the logistical matters and will be helping out at the camp every day. “The goal of the camp is teaching children new sports, and character traits that define the Olney community. We want to help inspire the next generation of warriors,” said Parsons.

There is also a blog on the camps website which is written by Parsons that keeps all campers updated with camp activities. Parsons has also used it as a way to provide background information about the coaches. “The coaches at our school have put in a lot of work to be successful [and deserve recognition],” said Parsons.