ICA Summer Day Camp

ICA Summer Day Camp

 

Whether you’ve been an active tournament player for years, or you’ve never moved a chess piece before, you can still learn and have fun at our summer chess camp. We’ve been running the ICA summer camp for over a decade. Every year students are excited to come back to the camp that focuses on chess training and tournaments and also provides plenty of outdoor fun.

 

Once again, students and parents can expect a 5:1 student-teacher ratio. Our staff is centered around Sergey Grabuzov, chess master and experienced international trainer, and his wife Tatiana, a Woman Grandmaster (!) and chess trainer. They will be supported by former and current ICA students who all have years of chess tournament experience to share with their students.

 

We keep a busy schedule at camp. The day begins with some warm-up exercises outside (usually a game of dodgeball) to wake up the body and mind. Upon returning inside, students join their lesson groups. The lessons consist of training in tactics, strategy, openings, and endgames. They also usually include analysis of the games the students played the previous day. After the lessons (and a snack break), we all head outside again for sports competitions and games of soccer and dodgeball.

 

From all this rigorous physical activity, we’ll all have worked up quite an appetite, so we return inside for lunch. During lunch, coaches make sure to note what everyone brought, in order to decide on the prize at the end of the week for healthiest lunch. Once everyone is nourished, it’s time for the tournament games. Students play one or two games a day, competing for top prize in the weekly tournament. When the games are finished, we return outside while waiting for parents and guardians to pick up their kids.

 

Those who are signed up for the Full Day option will stay for the next two hours. During this time, they’ll receive art and music lessons, and also have the opportunity to play some practice chess games against each other or the coaches. You can learn more about the music program below.

 

At the end of each Friday, we have the award ceremony to recognize students for hard work and success in the chess tournaments, sports competitions, and work in the lessons.

 

Music Program:

 

The ICA music program is available to campers each day from 3:00-5:00. Within the program a camper can, from day to day, choose instruction on drums, guitar, or piano. The goal of the program is to make the playing of those instruments easy and fun for the students. The secondary goal is for the kids to play music with each other in small groups. Do take a look at the music video in which five of our campers, previously with minimal or no musical experience, perform a fun song about chess.

 

Our two music teachers are professional musicians and music teachers from Bergen County. Both drummers, they also have excellent skills playing and teaching guitar and piano.

 

Howard Fields’ (ICA, Teaneck) is a freelance drummer whose resume includes seven years of playing drums for renowned singer/songwriter Harry Chapin whose hit records include "Cat\'s In The Cradle" and “Taxi”.

 

Mike Cullens (ICA, Fair Lawn), also a drummer, has spent the past 25 years touring with artists like Mick Taylor of The Rolling Stones and Chuck Berry, and has taught music at all levels during this time.