With international in the name, we are fortunate to bring in an awesome team of coaches, counselors, and other staff from across the world each summer.
For this season, we have roughly 70 dedicated staff returning, which means we have 70 people who are already exceptional at teaching life skills through sports in the ISTC way. Check out the returner reveal videos on our Instagram if you haven’t already for an inside look at our camper’s favorites from summer 2023! The new staff for this season arrive in June and with their exemplary backgrounds, we have no doubt that they will become excellent additions to our team. This month’s blog will focus on our staff – their background and our philosophy for working with campers so you can get to know us better!
Our All Sports and IXTC programs are a mix of team sports and adventure activities, ranging from soccer and rugby to jet skiing and rock climbing. Since we are leading campers through a variety of sports, we are not solely looking for Olympic level athletes to coach, but rather, those who are knowledgeable, passionate, enthusiastic, and patient. So much of the ISTC experience is focused on exploration of sport in a risk-free environment. Our coaches and counselors create this atmosphere through their kind approach to teaching sports, by creating games that are engaging for competitive athletes while still accessible for those who are newer to athletics.
With this philosophy in mind, most of our coaches and counselors are athletes themselves. Hailing from England, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and more, they play rugby, cricket, Aussie rules football, Gaelic football, and other uncommon US sports. Their passion for their individual sport allows them to run unique sessions for our campers, which we love! We want to introduce campers to new sports, so that they can discover potential interests to take back to their home life.
While our staff’s love for sports brings excitement to our programs, it is their commitment to youth development that truly brings things to life. Most are in university for sports management, physical education, and other teaching professions. These fields all focus on building better people, which aligns with ISTC’s mission of teaching life skills through sports. By climbing at the ropes course, we hope campers learn that tackling challenges head on can take them to new heights. Or by learning a new sport like rugby or cricket, they gain an appreciation for different aspects of culture from around the world. All the while, everything takes place in a team environment, where we focus on creating friendships and good habits in a social setting.
Year after year, our coaches and counselors are instrumental in making ISTC the place for playing new sports, but also growing as individuals.
