Junior Jack Gold with the campers from the Woodside Decathlon Sports Camp.

By Jake Shiff 

This coming summer, Jack Gold will be working for the second year as a junior counselor at the Woodside Decathlon Sports Camp. 

At Decathlon, campers will play all kinds of sports throughout the day. The sports include: basketball, football, capture the flag, kick the cone, wiffleball, and more. Junior counselors are responsible for playing sports with the kids, making camp signs, distributing snacks, and assisting injured kids.

Gold attended Decathlon as a camper for seven years and was placed in the Decathlon Hall of Fame, an achievement given to those who spent at least five years at the camp. From his experience as a camper, Gold explained how his counselors really influenced him. “The best part about the camp was how motivated and engaging the counselors were with me when I was a camper, so I kind of wanted to give my campers the same experience when I worked there,” Gold said. Once Gold made the transition from being a camper to a counselor, he became a mentor for the campers. “There were great moments with all of my 15 campers, and I felt that I had a special bond with all of them,” Gold said.

Gold and other junior counselors are held responsible for completing training sessions and experiencing practice situations before the camp begins. Their training sessions include CPR training and learning camp protocol. “We are responsible for the kids’ safety and to teach them to do the right thing when they are faced with conflict,” Gold said. However, Gold did not deal with that much conflict at the camp. “At Decathlon, the campers are always super motivated and enthusiastic about all the activities we do, and the motivation and friendliness of the other counselors makes working at the camp an all around great work environment and experience,” Gold said.

Gold’s experience of working at Decathlon has helped him realize how important it is to have a job that he loves doing and requires him to be responsible. Gold wanted people to understand the importance of having a job as a high school student. “For any job that interests you, make sure it is something that you are really passionate about and something that you really love because that’s what makes it fun. I would still work at Decathlon if I wasn’t even being paid,” Gold said.