By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

ALABASTER – Every week throughout the course of the summer, the Alabaster YMCA branch is filled to the brim with 120-130 day campers in the Alabaster Y’s regular summer camp. In addition to the regular camp offered each week during the summer season, the Alabaster Y also has been and will continue to offer weekly sports camps, which meet Monday through Friday from 7 a.m.- 6:30 p.m.

Rhonda Elmore, executive director of the branch, explained that they have been conducting these weekly sports camps in addition to their regular summer camps since before they moved into their new building, which happened three years ago.

“We’ve been doing these sports camps since before we got into the new facility,” Elmore said. “We’ve ramped up these last couple of years.”

The attendance for the sports camps varies by sport and by week, but the average number of kids who attend the sports camp is somewhere between 25-30, Elmore shared.

The sports camps change over each week, and there are eight in total. They include a karate week, a volleyball week, a basketball week, a soccer week, a flag football week paired with a cheerleading week at the same time, and a bowling and a tennis week. The variations allow kids to try new sports and allow for a wide array of interests to be met.

The University of Montevallo partners with the Alabaster YMCA for the volleyball, basketball and soccer camps, and has current student-athletes come to lead those camps.

In addition to the sports camps, the Alabaster Y also runs specialty camps throughout the summer, with focuses on activities like art, science and cooking.

For more information on the summer offerings from the Alabaster YMCA, visit the branch or visit their website at Ymcabham.org/alabaster.