Sports Camp Run By LZHS Varsity Players Scores Big With Kids

JZ Sports Camp, a one-week sports program that was started by two enterprising Lake Zurich High School students, was a huge hit with participants this summer.

Jimmy Bohn (the J of JZ) and Zach Till (the Z) started the program last summer. Bohn and Till are on the Bears varsity football team — Bohn is an offensive lineman and Till is the starting quarterback. Teammate Chris Rantis also lent a hand on the busier days.

The duo scheduled their camp around their demanding summer training for the upcoming football season. This year's camp ran from July 25-29.

“We started training for the 2011 football season a week after school ended,” explained Till. “Right now we have this week and next week off before we start up again. So we used this week to do the program.”

Fortunately for Bohn, his family lives across the street from Heritage Oaks Park, which features basketball courts as well as baseball, football and lacrosse fields.

The boys who enrolled — girls are welcome to enroll, too, although none chose to — had the option of signing up for the entire week for $75 or on a daily basis for $15 per day. The camp convened each morning at 9:30 and ended at noon. Monday through Thursday, they focused each session on a different sport, including basketball, football, baseball and lacrosse. The camp is open to kids ages 6-12.

On Friday, the group had a “fun day,” using the Bohn family's yard to participate in a number of different activities that included a trampoline and a water slide, as well as a 21/2-hour Super Soaker and water balloon marathon.

Nine-year-old Jaiden Lawlor liked all of the sports during the weeklong program, but his favorite was lacrosse. Nine-year-old Colin Astrahan also was partial to lacrosse, even though it was his first time playing it. Aidan McCall, who has played lacrosse in the past, was yet another booster for the increasingly popular sport. Eleven-year-old Kyle Pearce agreed with his buddies — lacrosse was a blast.

The camp has grown in leaps and bounds from its debut last summer.

“Last year we had eight (participants), and this year on our best days we had 25,” said Bohn. "We had 15 on Monday and Wednesday. The other days, we had 25. On Tuesday, when I had 25 kids in our driveway, I called Chris and said, ‘You got to get over here; I’ve got a lot of kids at my house!’ ”

The boys met each morning at the Bohn residence. Then, except for Wednesday when it rained, they walked over to Heritage Oaks Park to play their sport du jour. On Wednesday — baseball day — the kids ended up in the Bohn’s basement playing video games and air hockey. Raffle tickets were also involved, dispensed for some sort of “ball beaning” game. Then, with about a half hour remaining, the storm passed and the crew went outside to play ball.

Bohn and Till relied mostly on mailed brochures and phone calls as well as word-of-mouth to attract participants. They liked the idea of possibly spreading the word online for next year's camp.

“That would be great,” said Bohn. “But we might end up with more kids than we can handle.”