Summer camps cater to wannabe Bruin athletes
By Daily Bruin Staff
July 8, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 ANGIE LEVINE Nicolette Rowe perfects her
pole vault at Drake Stadium during vaulting summer camp.
By Joshua Mason
Daily Bruin Staff
Bruin sports teams may be on hiatus for the summer, but the UCLA
sports machine keeps on churning. For members of the athletic
department, the bulk of their offseason work includes involvement
with the 45 sessions of sports camp programs that take place on
campus during the warm summer months.
From basketball to pole vaulting, football to water polo, UCLA
has the camp to match the sports program. Of the 12 sports that are
represented at the camps, all involve the planning and
participation of respective UCLA head coaches. Oftentimes Bruin
athletes help coach the camps as well.
“What’s great about our program is that we can have
camps like basketball and baseball and attract numerous players all
throughout California,” said Julie Chiu, in her fifth year as
the UCLA Athletic Department’s head camp director. “We
can also have specialized camps, like throwing or pole vaulting,
that attract young athletes from across the country because there
aren’t many camps like them being offered
anywhere.”
Over 4,500 kids are involved in UCLA sports camps over the
course of the year, most of them taking place in the summer.
Additional tennis and baseball camps are held in the winter, as
well as various clinics organized by the athletic department during
the year.
 CHRIS BACKLEY/Daily Bruin Elite Women’s Soccer camp
participants execute drills with the UCLA women’s soccer team.
“Every camp has its own specific level,” said track and
field head coach Art Venegas, who will be overseeing the shot-put
and discus throwing camp this week. While the throwing camp might
emphasize a very specialized technique, other camps like football
might work on several different aspects of their overall game.
Although recruiting isn’t the central focus of the camps,
the sessions themselves serve as mutually rewarding arenas for
aspiring athletes and coaches alike.
“The camps are becoming a really effective tool in recent
years to help us identify who the standout athletes are, and for
them to make a connection with us,” Venegas said. “A
lot of athletes come here to find out if a certain coach is the
right fit or if Westwood is the right environment for
them.”
While the summer camps may help alleviate recruiting commitments
for the coaches, most of the time it is the camp attendees who seek
to make a name for themselves.
“A large majority of those who come to these camps already
have it in their heads that they want to come here,” said
former UCLA soccer standout Ryan Lee, who attended the soccer camp
to gain a recruiting edge his junior year of high school.
“Because UCLA coaches can only make a limited amount of
recruiting visits, a lot of high school players come here as a way
to be seen. Oftentimes, it can serve as a forum for unnoticed
athletes to showcase their talents.”
Another huge benefit for the UCLA Athletic Department in
conducting the camps is the revenue the visiting athletes bring to
the campus. Approximately $1.5 million in profits are made from the
camps annually. And according to Chiu, the camps also make good use
of the dorm space and facilities vacated by students during during
the summer.
Ultimately though, Chiu believes it’s the Bruin teams that
sell the kids on coming to the summer camps.
“When a UCLA team wins a championship or a star athlete
makes the headlines, people want to attend a UCLA camp and be part
of the Bruin sports experience,” Chiu said. “UCLA has
an advantage over other schools in this regard because they have
such a strong camp presence.”
Even with the advantages of profits and recruiting for the
athletic department, the greatest benefit of UCLA sports camps
extends beyond athletics entirely.
“Coming here for camp is the closest these students can be
involved with UCLA without actually coming to school here,”
Venegas said.”The kids are able to form a bond with the
campus and experience the Bruin student life first hand.
“Kids that come here may not ever become students at UCLA,
but they may grow up lifetime UCLA fans, all because they came to
camp here rather than USC or Tennessee or wherever else. We realize
this coming in, and do our best to make the camp experience one
that they will always remember.”
