Longmeadow, MA Outdoor Activities

During the day at World Sports Camp, professional head coaches and assistants of college-level athletes head up lessons in golf, basketball, tennis, and soccer. Campers also get the chance to participate in sports leagues with competitions throughout the week and a culminating championship. There is a 4:1 camper-to-instructor ratio, which helps to ensure that young athletes get the personal attention they require. Campers get to choose their level of involvement and which sports they want to focus on. Beginners and advanced mini-athletes alike will then play together, adhering to the rules of good sportsmanship and gravity. Check out a typical schedule for an overview of the daily activities.

Xtreme Paintball's speckled warzone stretches across five playing fields, where marker-toting combatants engage in colorful crossfire during a variety of paintballing matches. A natural canopy blocks the sun from the eyes of snipers throughout the battle zone, and manmade obstacles, such as ditches and sandbag bunkers, conceal sharpshooters and bottles of Wite-Out for healing wounds. A Wild West–themed village situated at the center of Xtreme Paintball's paint-strewn landscape inspires players to reenact their favorite cowboy movies, and a netted viewing area allows parents and friends to peek in on the action at a safe distance.

Rolling hills, towering pine trees, and burbling streams convene on Shaker Farms Country Club’s 18-hole course as it gently rises and falls across 6,285 yards of bucolic terrain. Golfers must be mindful of a tranquil creek that runs in a wishbone pattern throughout the course, as its rippling waters—which come into play on eight holes—are often camouflaged by grassy banks and waterfowl that snack on errant golf balls. The distinct farmland layout conjures a sense of rustic antiquity, a characteristic furthered by the presence of a dilapidated farmhouse on the par 4 second hole. Clubbers hoping to gain control over runaway swings can warm up at the driving range or tap their spikes together three times to summon seasoned ace Keith Ornelas, who roams the club’s verdant hillsides on a never-ending quest to vanquish mulligans once and for all. Alongside its verdant golf course, Shaker Farms boasts tennis courts and a versatile array of dining options.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course

• Length of 6,285 yards from the farthest tees

• Course rating of 69.4 from the farthest tees

• Slope rating of 119 from the farthest tees

• Four tee options

• Link to scorecard

Westfield Water Sports and Wilderness Experiences—a summer camp, camping store, and adventure emporium—dispatches a staff of CPR-and Naui certified adventure-seekers to lead sojourners into the great outdoors with open-water scuba classes, kayak expeditions, and rock-climbing excursions. An all-around outdoorsman, camp director T. Scott Cook leans on his doctorate of Leadership Development in Adventure Education to develop nature excursions, including far-flung trips where groups snorkel in the Cayman Islands or evolve gills in the Galapagos. Back home, the summer camp’s elaborate ropes course builds teamwork between coworkers, and caving adventures allow guests to delve into mysterious depths or apartment swap with a black bear.

Recently appointed as the World Scholar-Athlete Games' 2011 Deputy Commissioner of Equestrian Activities by the Institute for International Sport, professional horsewoman Holly Thompson lends riders and their maned compatriots a wealth of stallion savvy on Equine Boulevard's sprawling 16-acre estate. Thompson and her staff provide a hay-scented potpourri of services, including riding lessons, training, equine appraisals, and witty narrations of The Lone Ranger screenplays. Equine Boulevard's facilities shelter four-legged clients in a barn replete with 12 climate-controlled stalls before hooves boisterously navigate indoor arenas, outdoor riding rings, and picturesque trails leading into nearby state forests.