What We Do

Agawam's activities span waterfront, land sports, creative arts, and outdoor living skills, including overnight trips for all ages. A wide range of activities is offered to appeal to many interests and abilities. Our program encourages campers to experience all activities while allowing ample time for pursuing areas of personal interest.

Each camper is given guidance in selecting his program, and most activity curricula incorporate a multilevel award system to monitor progress and provide motivation.

Special emphasis is given to tennis and sailing. With four tennis courts, we provide daily instruction and team practices. We feature tournaments, a tennis ladder for each age group, and inter-camp matches. The sailing department has 10 sailboats and 6 windsurfers. Instruction is given to beginners as well as advanced sailors. Racing techniques are taught for weekly races and regattas. Agawam also hosts a multi-camp six-a-side Soccer Tournament.

Each of our activities offers challenge and excitement of its own. All have structured as well as relaxed program components, some offering nationally recognized awards, such as Red Cross swimming and water safety. Organized team sports are available for all age groups. Campers choose some activities; others are assigned as part of our camp program. Campers must follow all safety rules — explained or demonstrated at their first visit to an activity — at any time they choose or are assigned to participate in a camp activity.

Equipment is available in a variety of sizes, and campers and staff members work together to ensure that appropriate choices are made. Some activities may occasionally require the use of protective gear (e.g. soccer shin pads, baseball catcher’s gear, batting helmets, lacrosse helmets and pads, archery armguards, etc.). PFD’s (Personal Flotation Devices) must be worn in any Agawam watercraft. Campers must pass a swim test or demonstrate certain levels of swimming proficiency in order to participate in some aspects of waterfront and trip programs. Fifteen passenger vans, with trained drivers approved by our insurance company, are used to transport campers to trips, team sports activities and other outings.

Activities
Outoor Living
Astronomy, Axemanship & Knife Safety, Fire Building, First Aid and CPR, Hiking, Backpacking and Canoeing Trips, Knot Tying, Leave-No-Trace Camping Skills, Nature Study, Orienteering, Outdoor Cooking, Weather.

Land Sports
Archery, Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Bocce, Challenge Course, Croquet, Frisbee, High Ropes Course, Horseshoes, Lacrosse, Riflery, Soccer, Sports Training, Tennis, Volleyball/Newcomb.

Waterfront
Boating, Canoeing, Diving, Fishing, Kayaking, Racing Sailing, Red Cross Swim Lessons, Sailing, Snorkeling, Swimming, Water Safety, Windsurfing.

Creative Arts
Arts and Crafts, Bugling, Camper Choir, Camper Newspaper, Dramatics, Parade Float, Photography, Skits, Woodshop.

Inter-camp Teams
Archery, Baseball, Basketball, Kickball, Lacrosse, Riflery, Sailing, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Volleyball.

Traditional Agawam Activities
Saturday Night Council Fire, Cabin Ropes Course Days, Vespers and Awards on Sunday Morning, Fourth of July Carnival, Pom Pom Pullaway, Buzz Ball, Frisbee Tag, Cops ‘n Robbers, Ags v. Wams Intracamp competitions, Campus Campfire programs, Beach Trips, Movie Nights, Dances and mixed doubles tennis and sailing with neighboring girls’ camps.

Trip Program
All campers participate in our well-organized trip program. Led by skilled and certified trip leaders, our campers venture far and wide. Younger campers participate in simple overnight canoe and hiking trips. As campers get older the challenges and thrills their trip choices provide increase. Our shortest trip is a quick overnight to the other side of our lake and the longest a 6 day adventure in Maine’s Baxter State Park, culminating in a climb up Mt. Katahdin, Maine’s highest peak! Here is a rundown of our typical trips:

• Mason/Yale
  (ages 8 & 9)
  Wabinoden (Canoe Trip) & Bradbury Mountian (Hiking Trip)
  
  
• Lang/Trinity/Cargill/Penn
  (ages 10 & 11)
  Tour De Crescent (Canoe Trip) & Pleasant Mountain (Hiking Trip)
  
  
• Bowdoin/Columbia/Amherst/Princeton/Otyowka
  (ages 11 & 12)
  Hawthorne Cove (Canoeing Trip), Speckled Mountain and Imp/Carter (Hiking Trips)
  
  
• Wesleyan/Colby/Harvard/Springfield/Bates/Brown
  Dartmouth/Williams/Cornell/Outpost/Accomack
  (ages 13, 14 & 15)
  Acadia National Park (Rock Climbing, Hiking, Mountain Biking Trip)
  Mt. Washington, Mt. Katahdin, Baldface Mountain (Hiking Trips)
  Rangeley Lakes, Moosehead Lake, Androscoggin, Brandy Pond (Canoeing Trips)