The 4th of July

Happy 4th of July BSC Families and readers!! I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend filled with water activities, hamburgers, hot dogs, fireworks, and time spent with their families. To me, spending July 4th in Bridgton is the best. For the third day in a row, we had some perfect Maine weather. I apologize for not writing yesterday, but we were crazy busy all day and didn’t return to camp until late last night. Below is a recap of how we celebrated the holiday here at camp.

4 on the Fourth (of July)

Every year, the town of Bridgton hosts a 4 miles run around town called 4 on the Fourth. And every year, we send a handful of campers & staff members to participate. At 630am, these brave BSC-ers woke up, laced up their sneakers and made their way up to the dining hall for a nice yogurt & fruit buffet breakfast. Everyone was a little sleepy, but excited to begin the run. After eating and a brief stretch, we made our way into the center of town. Once there, we joined 10 other camps and local Bridgton runners. After some kind words from the organizers and a heartfelt rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner, the starter gun went off and the race was underway.

We had a wide range of campers running, and they all finished strongly. One of our oldest 16 year old campers finished in the top 5 for the 16-20 age group. Quite an accomplishment! He finished the race in 26 minutes. Equally as amazing, one of our 12 year olds finished in the top 10 in the 11-13 age group. He completed the race in just under 29 minutes. After everyone was finished, we hung out by the finish line eating watermelon and drinking water & Powerade while listening to the race results.

Morning & Early Afternoon

Those of us who ran the race got back to camp, had something to eat and joined everyone else in the morning activities. All of our majors were underway and the day was moving. Ice Hockey was going full force, Basketball was running hard, and Soccer, Baseball and Lax were doing the same. The day’s schedule was a little different, because after rest hour, the whole camp was heading to Portland for the SeaDogs minor league baseball game.

SeaDogs

At around 3 in the afternoon, dressed in our Bridgton Sports Camp Carolina Blue, we boarded the busses to make our way to Portland. After a decently long bus ride due to holiday traffic, we arrived at a park close by the stadium. While there, we separated into groups and handed out pizza for an early dinner. Like the rest of the day, the weather was perfect and our campers had a really nice time hanging out amongst friends and eating.

We pulled up to the game at exactly 530 and made our way into the stadium. As a surprise to our campers, we were all escorted onto the field! We got to watch players warm up, shake some hands, and even got a few autographs and baseballs. As a camp, we got to hold a giant American Flag while Boston Legend, Rene Rancourt sang all four versus of the National Anthem. It was a really cool moment for all of us!

We made our way to our seats (we all sat together) and the game began. The first inning was rough for the home team, walking in 3 consecutive runs! They never fought back 🙁 Campers were allowed to travel in groups (with their counselors) to the concourse and purchase food & souvenirs. 9 innings of baseball went quickly! Everyone had an absolute blast. When the game ended, we got to enjoy an awesome 20 minute firework display at the field.

Back onto the busses we went and traveled back to camp. Campers were a bit hyper in the beginning of the ride, but things changed quickly. As we rode along, a silence rolled in, and almost everyone was sleeping on each other’s shoulders. It was a peaceful ride and a nice ending to a perfect day.

Enjoy your shortened work week!

Yours Truly,

The Bridgton Sports Camp Staff