Apprentice Programming

The most creative resource on your staff is not on your staff

By Chris Thurber

I had been teaching swimming for 20 years, so I couldn’t understand why this dripping and discouraged 12-year-old was having so much trouble with his breaststroke rhythm. My tried-and-true pull, kick, glide supplication had always worked … until today.

© Can Stock Photo / nuiiko

The boy’s blue lips made the next part of this lesson obvious: Take a break. Warm up. Maybe work on some dry-land skills, like first aid for choking. I counted the the group’s members as they climbed out of the lake, then herded them to a sunny spot on the dock. As the campers toweled off, one of them—a diminutive 9-year-old named Adam—tapped me on the arm. 

“I have an idea,” he said. 

“Me, too,” I said. “Have a seat. We’re going to talk about abdominal thrusts.”

“I mean for teaching Cullen his breaststroke.”

But you’re 9 years old, I thought.

Embrace Internal Leadership Development 

At the camp where I grew up, everyone benefits from our internal leadership development (ILD) program. From the oldest group of campers, two dozen are carefully selected for their sterling character and leadership potential. They return the following summer (12 the first month, 12 the second month) to serve as members of the Leaders’ Corps, a one-month, camper-leader hybrid situation that allows them to shadow experienced cabin leaders. From that group, 18 are chosen to return the following summer as Leaders-in-Training for a full 9-week season. They serve four two-week sessions (two in one age group and two in a different age group) as co-leaders with a more-experienced staff member. Finally, from that group, between six and 10 are selected (depending on the number of openings) to return as full-fledged cabin leaders the following summer.

Variations of this apprentice model exist at camps around the world. Regardless of the specifics, all ILD programs have three primary benefits: The training is realistic, supportive, and extensive. Cultivating staff members “in-house” has two fringe benefits as well: time savings and executive confidence. Camp owners and directors who embrace ILD spend far less time publicizing positions and hiring new staff members. They also rest easier during the season because they know their newest staff members. They know their character, and they know they have successfully completed a multi-year process of coaching and culling. Staff members who are hired to be full-fledged cabin leaders have been closely mentored and have received more than 14 weeks of on-the-job training. Such staff arrive on site with substantial institutional knowledge, prepared to take their talents to the next level. Such staff are also unlikely to flame out early in the season. Outside hires often discover the demands of the job are far greater than they expected. They may even resign because they feel overwhelmed.

Successful ILD programs also amplify enthusiasm and loyalty to the cause of being a youth-development professional. As owners and directors know, internships and other résumé-stuffing experiences compete aggressively for young staff members’ summers. So, rather than force them to choose alternate summer employment when they age out of camper eligibility, I recommend inviting them back (perhaps at half the usual tuition) to become apprentices. That means eliminating any requirement to spend a summer or two away from camp. Yes, it’s challenging to make the transition from camper to counselor. Yes, almost everyone matures over time. And yes, there are standards and laws that specify the minimum age for paid staff members. However, none of this justifies the attrition that results from forced time away from camp.

All young campers will need wise coaching to help them through the transition to become counselors. Why delay that process by a year? Plus, all young staff will mature more quickly when given the enormous responsibility of caring for other people’s children than they would interning at an investment bank or tech start-up. And by carefully defining the supervision parameters that young staff members receive, you can adhere to the relevant standards and laws.

For all its benefits, you must be patient with both the inception of a new ILD program and with upgrading any existing ILD program. After all, you’re cultivating expert leadership over multiple summers. Changes made in one summer won’t reveal all the staff’s benefits and shortcomings until the next summer or the summer after that. However, if you stay committed to the process, and you consult with other owners and directors whose ILD programs have successfully generated high-quality staff members for 10 years or more, the benefits are guaranteed.

A Take-Charge Attitude  

But how do you deal with an eager 9-year-old who calls you out on instructional deficiencies? Surely, he is too young to be of any use, even if there is a solid ILD program in place. 

Not true.

As I looked into Adam’s eyes that day, I saw a sparkle that signaled I’ll be on staff here one day, so I took a chance. Swallowing the little pride that remained, I said, “When we’re done with this first-aid piece, we’re going to get back in the water. If you still want to demonstrate the breaststroke rhythm for Cullen and the other boys, that would be great.”

Fifteen minutes and dozens of simulated choking episodes later, I told the group we would finish the lesson by returning to breaststroke. I explained that Adam had volunteered to hop in and demonstrate the pull-kick-glide rhythm. Adam smiled, then surprised me with, “Actually, I was hoping you could get in the water, Chris. I actually wanted to show everyone how I finally nailed breaststroke. It will be easier to show from the dock, with you demonstrating in the water.”

Pexels, RODNAE Productions

Not many kids—let alone 9-year-olds—take charge in the way Adam did. But all my tips and tricks had failed with Cullen and some of the other kids in the group, so I signaled to the head guard that I was getting in the water. Adam proceeded to instruct me as if he’d been teaching swimming his whole life. Of course, he hadn’t, but he possessed the one teaching tool I had invisibly relinquished years ago: creativity. I’d been using the same approach to teaching breaststroke that had worked since high school.

Adam instructed me to hold onto the dock with one hand, point my other hand down the lane, and tuck my legs against the turning board. “When I say ‘Go!’ I want you to dunk your head under water, put your hands together, and push off the wall,” he instructed. “Hold your breath and glide as far as you can, without any kicking or pulling. Just glide, like Superman, until you stop or need to take a breath. Just glide underwater … arms out straight and legs together.”

I did. When my glide slowed to a float, I looked up, fully expecting that now I would need to switch places with Adam and return to my instructor role. Nope.

“OK, good,” he said. “Now come back to the turning board. Whatever stroke you want. [pause] This time, you’re going to do the same thing. Duck underwater, push off the wall, and glide with your hands together and your legs straight. But when you start to feel yourself slow down, pull your head up out of the water by taking one stroke with your arms. Move them like you’re scraping the sides of a giant bowl of chocolate pudding.”

I did. And this time I understood what Adam was doing. Rather than repeatedly drilling the complete pull-kick-glide sequence, he was dividing the lesson into individual components and was gradually sequencing them. “What’s next, Adam?” I asked when I returned to the turning board a second time, my legs locked and loaded.

“This time, push off the wall and glide, just like you’ve done before. When you feel yourself start to slow down, pull your head out of the water by taking one arm stroke, just like before. Then grab a quick breath and kick yourself into another Superman glide. Arms straight. Legs straight. Let yourself glide again as far as you can.”

It worked. Not just for me, but for Cullen and the rest of the group. Amazing.

Welcome Camper Participation In Instruction 

Too often, our status as employees deters us from inviting the campers—our clients—to instruct the programs. We’re more willing to enlist their participation in planning and debriefing. That makes sense. Planning and debriefing are the discussion-based parts of programming. They are the safe bookends of every activity because even a moderately-skilled staff member can recover a discussion that a camper has derailed. No harm. No foul.

But no real progress either.

If you want to stretch your instructional skills this summer, nothing has a bigger payoff than putting campers in the spotlight for a while. Ensure, as I did, that the required safety parameters are firmly in place. (You may also want to audition, as I failed to do, a camper’s teaching plan.) Then open yourself up to the possibility that fresh, young minds can educate their peers even better than you can.

There will be a time when a camper’s instruction flops, which makes it no different than the instruction offered by an experienced staff member. Whatever the outcome, however, your willingness to put campers in a substantive leadership role will pique their interest in joining the staff someday. That’s a powerful, albeit subtle, way to fuel your camp’s most important program: internal leadership development.

 Christopher Thurber, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and faculty member at Phillips Exeter Academy. He created Prep4Camp.com, the only evidence-based homesickness prevention program, and co-authored the best-selling Summer Camp Handbook with Dr. Jon Malinowski. His newest book, The Unlikely Art of Parental Pressure, includes eight ways adults can transform harmful pressure to healthy pressure. Learn more about the work that Chris does with schools, camps, and companies on DrChrisThurber.com.