By Micayla Vargas

Micayla is the Assistant General Manager at Del Norte Sports & Wellness and during the past 10 years she’s been a counselor, coordinator, and Regional Youth Program Manager with Blast! Summer Camps.

Parents who fondly remember their own fun and free-spirited summers yearn to provide experiences that create great memories for their own kids. To create lifelong memories and friendships, build confidence, learn new skills, and have an absolute blast, nothing beats youth sport summer camps. We know you have a lot of choices for summer camps and activities, perhaps an overwhelming number of choices, so here’s why I recommend Blast! Summer Camps offered at Colorado Athletic Clubs and New Mexico Sports & Wellness Clubs to active kids between the ages of 5-12.

Active = Fun

We keep kids moving! Youth sports camps are all about channeling kids’ natural energy into activities that engage them physically, make them think, and help them interact with each other in positive ways. We do this by focusing on variety rather than single-sport specialization. A typical day at Blast! Summer Camp keeps kids moving through free swim and team sports including soccer, basketball, kickball, flag football, tennis, volleyball, cheer and more.

Youth Sports Build Great Kids

Youth sports camps teach children the value of giving their best effort, working together with teammates, learning new skills, facing uncertainty with courage, and more. Team sports are a supportive environment for kids to learn that practice and hard work yield real results, that trying and failing is part of the game (and life), and that there are always ways to positively contribute to your team.

Safety Leads to Comfort

We focus on safety so kids feel comfortable trying new activities and stepping up to new challenges, and so parents feel confident bringing children to camp. Blast! Summer Camps are staffed by CPR-certified counselors. Our professional counselors are selected for their ability to genuinely connect with kids, and all counselors undergo rigorous training and background checks.

Kids Develop Best Through Variety

Although there is a school of thought that steers children to specialize in highly-competitive single-sport programs at a very young age, the consensus of research into youth sports indicates that the world’s best athletes start out playing a wide variety of sports (McLellan et al. 2022). Even if you’re not aiming to raise an Olympian, kids who play a variety of sports develop coordination, strength, and mobility from a wide range of movement patterns. This makes them more capable and resilient when taking on new challenges!

Youth Sports Develop Critical Thinking Skills

Games and team sports all involve learning different sets of rules, following instructions, and figuring out new strategies and tactics to play the game better than before. While the kids focus on the fun of playing games and learning new sports, they’re also developing the critical thinking skills that will help them succeed at home and at school.

Healthy Competition Builds Confidence

Blast! Summer Camp introduces kids to competitive team sports in a healthy and supportive environment. Your child will experience both winning and losing, and learn to do both with good sportsmanship and respect for players on both sides of the field or court. Healthy competitive experiences build confidence by showing children they can win through effort and teamwork. Losing is just as important for building confidence, because kids learn to deal with unpleasant experiences, to control their emotions, and that they can try again and take steps to create a different outcome next time (Bengtsson et al. 2025).

We strive for “Happy Exhaustion”

Do you remember falling into bed on summer evenings happily exhausted from a full day of fun with friends? At Blast! Summer Camp, we take plenty of breaks and make sure kids are well fueled and hydrated, and as professional trainers we adjust activities to meet individual needs, but we also make the most of our time together because there’s so much we can do! So, feed your little one a good breakfast and be ready with a hearty dinner, because Blast! Summer Campers are always on the move!

Ready to register for Blast! Summer Camp?

All the details, dates, pricing, and optional add-ons including small group swim lessons, racquet sport instruction, or introduction to weight training (for kids 10-12 years old) are below.

References:

Bengtsson D, Svensson J, Wiman V, Stenling A, Lundkvist E, Ivarsson A. Health-related outcomes of youth sport participation: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2025 Jul 1;22(1):89. doi: 10.1186/s12966-025-01792-x. PMID: 40598359; PMCID: PMC12220085.

McLellan M, Allahabadi S, Pandya NK. Youth Sports Specialization and Its Effect on Professional, Elite, and Olympic Athlete Performance, Career Longevity, and Injury Rates: A Systematic Review. Orthop J Sports Med. 2022 Nov 4;10(11):23259671221129594. doi: 10.1177/23259671221129594. PMID: 36353394; PMCID: PMC9638532.