Free kids camp starts in Bethany Beach April 1

Local coach Billy Gerrish and his team will host their inaugural spring break kids camp from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday to Thursday, April 1 to 4, on the grounds of the Christian Church Conference Center, 15 N. Pennsylvania Ave., in downtown Bethany Beach. Camp attendance is free with a donation to the camper’s local school PTO.

For working parents and kids at home over spring break, Gerrish and his team want to make sure all boys and girls in kindergarten through fifth grade or so can be outside running around having fun in the sun, in the spirit of friendly competition.

A substitute teacher in the Indian River School District, Gerrish has 20 years’ experience in teaching, coaching and running cool kids’ camps. He dreams of days past when kids had outdoor physical education every day, hotdogs were the common currency of fun (though the team members love their vegan brothers and sisters too), and the only screen around was sunscreen. Boys and girls will play soccer, football, basketball, MattBall (a version of kickball with multiple people on bases), capture the flag, manhunt – and only other fun games. At lunch, campers will eat hotdogs if  they’d like to, make beautiful art, play chess and other board games, and maybe do a puzzle or read a book before going back outside for more games and maybe throwing a water balloon or three.

The only rule is to be nice, and the homework is resting to be ready to do it all over again the next day.

For more information and to register, go to forms.gle/vPxXziyb7BHWHB4b6 or email Billy Gerrish at mdallstarbg@gmail.com.