Sleepaway sports camps are great for kids, but they’re not just for boys. Sports camps can have a range of physical, mental, social, and emotional benefits for girls, too. Sports camp can boost your daughter’s self-esteem, help her relieve stress, and strengthen her physically and emotionally.

Single-sex sports camps can be a great option for girls, especially older girls and teens who may need a break from the demands of modern adolescence and a supportive space where they can work on self-expression, pushing boundaries, building skills, and fostering boundaries. In addition to providing a respite from everyday life in the city, sports camp can give girls the chance to develop their athletic skills and network with athletes and coaches who can help her extend her sports career into her college years and beyond.

Sleepaway sports camps, like overnight basketball camps for girls, give older girls and teens a chance to get away from the pressures of daily life and focus on improving their athletic skills. Girls get to leave behind the distractions of the opposite sex, school and homework, and the expectations set for them by peers and family, and spend their time training to the highest level with coaches and athletes who have experience training female athletes at the collegiate and professional levels. Girls who want to play sports at college and professionally can benefit greatly from advanced sports training with coaches and athletes who have firsthand experience with the world of professional sports. 

Girls can really flourish in a single-sex environment where they don’t feel pressured to meet the expectations of the other gender. They don’t have to worry about looking unfeminine or not being pretty enough for the boys, but instead can focus on exploring self-expression, pushing their athletic boundaries, figuring out who they are, and building new skills. Girls in single-gender education get better grades, accomplish more academically and professionally, and develop more confidence -- and there’s no reason to think they wouldn’t experience those same benefits on a smaller scale at an all-girls basketball camp.

Participating in sports will help your daughter do better in school, and could help improve her cognitive abilities, but that’s not the only way it can boost her confidence. Sports camp, especially a single-sex sports camp, places girls in the supportive environment they need to blossom. 

Many girls see sports camp as an opportunity to redefine themselves, free from the constraints placed on them by peers’ and relatives’ image of them back home. Girls at sports camp will get the chance to try new things that they can’t try at home. They’ll see young women in leadership positions and learn from them how to display confidence and assertiveness. Plus, they’ll forge friendships with teammates that will offer them vital emotional support on and off the field. 

Sports camp is essential for any girl who wants to play college sports and perhaps move into a professional athletic career eventually. College coaches can’t contact students before their junior year of high school, but students can contact them anytime -- sports camp gives girls the chance to start building those relationships with coaches that could lead to recruitment offers in a few years. Once your daughter is ready to start looking at colleges and teams, she’ll already have relationships with coaches who have seen what she can do.

Connecting with coaches and athletes with an eye towards college recruitment isn’t the only networking benefit of sports camps for girls. Girls form some of their strongest and longest-lasting friendships at sleepaway camps, and those friends may be in a position to help advance your daughter’s career much later, even after team sports are in the rearview mirror. A survey of female executives showed that 94 percent of them had played sports at some point, and 74 percent said a sports background was good for a woman’s career. Two-thirds said knowing a woman had played sports would sway them in favor of hiring her.

If your daughter wants to play sports professionally or in college, sports camp is the way to go. But don’t worry if your investment in sports camp doesn’t pay off in the form of a pro sports career for your child. Even if she never makes it to the WNBA, your daughter will enjoy the benefits of attending sports camp in all areas of her life for years, even decades, to come.