Specialty summer camp programs have continued to grow in popularity each of the past several years. In fact, they’re the fastest growing segment of the entire summer camp industry. A “specialty” camp generally focuses on one or more related camp activities (just beach and surfing activities, for example), versus a traditional summer camp which typically offers a more generalized program with activities such as arts & crafts, horseback riding, nature study, sports and games, archery, and dance and drama, among others.

Specialty camps have historically appealed to “older” kids (generally ages 10 or 12) because their lifestyle interests begin to take shape at this age and they become more interested in specialized fields of study or play as they grow. But in recent years, specialty camps are seeing more enrollment from children as young as preschool age whose parents may want them exposed to more specific camp activities than they’d get at a traditional camp.

Like traditional camps, specialty camps offer day or resident/sleepaway camp experiences. (At day camps, children are generally brought to the camp each morning in a bus or van, spend their day at camp, and then return home in the late afternoon.  At resident camps, children “live” at the camp — typically in bunks, tents or cabins — for up to several weeks at a time during the summer.)

There seems to be no limit as to the types of specialty camps available. If your child is interested in a specific area of interest, you can be sure there’s a specialty camp designed for them. For example, a recent internet search revealed the following types of specialty camps: beach and surfing camps, cooking camps, boating camps, camps for children with special needs, weight loss camps, boot camps, football camps, general sports camps, ski and snowboard camps, camps for children with cancer, baking camps, tennis camps, acting camps, academic camps, entrepreneurial camps, family camps and camps for twins, among others.

Where’s the best place to start your search for a specialty camp? We always suggest picking an American Camp Association (ACA) Accredited camp, regardless of the type of camp you choose. By choosing an accredited camp, you can be sure the camp meets or exceeds up to 300 best-practice industry standards relating to child safety and supervision, transportation, program and activity scheduling, food service, and more.

The ACA maintains a free Website where you can search for a specialty camp among any criteria that’s important to you such as by type of camp, location, gender, price, and ages served.

Go to http://acacamps.com to start your search. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for a beach and surf camp in Los Angeles or a cooking camp in Wisconsin, the specialty camp you’re looking for will be right there on the ACA’s Web site.

Clay shooting is the art of aiming at special flying targets. This sports activity has a long history as it was commenced way back in 1880. At that time, pheasant and grouse shooting were mainly popular in the UK.

During the period from 1883-1887, significant changes in shooting were witnessed when the first clay target was introduced in the game.

This form of clay shooting was well included in the Victorian and Edwardian hunting parties, where numerous birds were used as targets. People used to do regular practice of their shooing skills. In fact, institutions such as the Shooting Schools in London catered the desires and installed traps and towers that would facilitate flight of game birds. Later, many others targets were introduced as a discipline in shooting. Also, during this era only, it was given the name of sporting and tournaments were held in London to promote this sporting activity.

Before initiation of clay shooting, the game of glass ball was quite popular in England that took place in several parts of the United States. Historically, the first tournament of glass ball was held in 1867 in Boston. But, due to some reasons, it didn’t get its desired place.

In France clay shooting went under a real revolution when the first hand throwing device, the “Hand Trap” was used in shooting in the year 1927. That inventor of the throwing device was known as, Emile Laporte. In this shooting sport, targets are thrown from a machine known as a trap. The trap is made up of a spring which was loaded with throwing metal arm. The machine can throw the targets up to the distances covering the range the area of 135metres. In 1980’s, automatic traps were developed, giving a boost to the clay shooting sport and encouraging people to take up the challenge.

A rock-climbing wall is used as a substitute for outdoor rock climbing for people who cannot frequent these outdoor locations. Conveniently located inside the city, this is easily accessible by people who are passionate about this hobby. These walls also have hand and feet grips. Materials used for constructing these walls include wood, brick or the multiplex boards which are thick and have drilled holes to attach ropes for safety.

Steel and aluminum walls that were manufactured recently have also been used. Some of these walls have the facility whereby the belay ropes can be attached to them. This makes sure it is hundred percent safe to practice lead climbing or bouldering.

Each hole has a t-nut which is specially made for this purpose. This enables the handholds to be fastened to the walls.

The outer surface of the multiplex board rock climbing wall surface engulfed with textured products that include paint, concrete along with polyurethane laden with sand. In addition to the textured surface and handholds, the wall may also have surface structures such as protrusions and indentions, or take the form of an overhang, under hang or a crack.

The idea of the artificial rock climbing wall began in the UK. Don Robinson, a lecturer in Physical Education and founder of DR Climbing Walls, constructed the first wall in 1964 at Leeds University by inserting pieces of rock into a corridor wall. However the first commercial wall was built in Sheffield, traditionally England’s center for climbing due to its proximity to the Peak District.

Climbing activities in gyms is becoming a very popular urban sport that provides many individuals with the opportunity to experience the thrilling sport of rock climbing.

The simplest kind of wall is made of plywood, known as the colloquially in the climbing community as a woody, with a the use of screw on holds and bolt on holds. These Bolt-on holds are fixed permanently to the walls by means of iron bolts that are inserted through the given hold that has specific bolt points. The holds are connected to the rock climbing wall by screws that are screwed onto the surface of the wall.

Grips come in different colors; those of the same color are often used to indicate different routes according to increasing difficulty levels. Colored tape that are placed under different climbing holds are used to mark the various climbing routes.

While trying to climb a given route, the climber is allowed to use only the grips of the designated color as handholds but is usually allowed to use both handholds and footholds of the designated color and surface structures and textures of the rock face as footholds.

The grade (difficulty) of the route is usually a consensus decision between the builder of the route and the first few people who are allowed to climb the route.

An indoor rock climbing wall usually has people who are assigned to set the different climbing routes. These people are called the route setters.