Are you counting down the days until summer? Wondering how to keep your kids healthy and active while school’s out? Our 2024 Ottawa Summer Sports CAMPS Guide will give you some great ideas on how to make that happen.
The capital owns a rich selection of sports camps from the all-fun variety to high-performance athletic training. Here, we highlight some of the best opportunities available with leading local sports groups, who are all partners of the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Connecting Athletes of All Means to Paths in Sport Project (which provides free sports programming to children and youth from Ottawa Community Housing neighbourhoods). You can find out about each of them and compare dates, prices and camp locations to find the best fit for your family at OttawaSportsCAMPS.ca.
And on OttawaSportsPages.ca, we tell you all about what makes each camp special (you can click on the links below to read full columns about them). Let’s get started!
Superdome at Ben Franklin Park
It’s the kids’ camp that doubles as summer vacation for parents.
Lunches, snacks, pre- and post-camp care are all included with registration at the Ben Franklin Superdome, and here’s one more extra bonus: campers spend all day expending energy while playing a pile of sports.
Sister to the highly popular (and sold out) Thunderbird Sports Camp in Kanata, the Ben Franklin Superdome’s camps have got everything covered.
Tumblers Gymnastics Centre
Lions, dinosaurs, and astronauts, oh my! “Holy Superheroes Week, Batman! I thought this was Gymnastics Camp!?!”
If you thought gymnastics camp was only about practicing somersaults and walking on the balance beam, then you sure haven’t seen Tumblers Gymnastics Centre summer camps.
“We’ve got 10 weeks of summer camp, and every week has a theme,” explains Tumblers Operations Director Brennan Villemaire. “The kids will come in disguised as superheroes and they’ll just get so excited to fly through the air for their superhero training.
“It’s a very active camp, and it’s always a lot of fun.”
Dome Louis-Riel
Does your young athlete have trouble choosing just one sport? They can have it all at the Dome Louis-Riel’s Multi-Sport Summer Camp!
Our Multi-Sport Summer Camp is back for 7 weeks! From soccer to basketball and let’s not forget swimming and track-and-field. Our camp offers a dynamic mix of activities for children of all ability levels. Whether your child is a beginner or an aspiring star, they’ll gain confidence, make friends and create lasting memories!
Back for 1 week: our Multi-Adventure Camps! With fun excursions and exciting sports activities, campers will experience the best of both worlds. A museum visit or a day at the beach or the trampoline park are the kind of off-site trips they could make, and they’ll still work on developing their athletic skills too in a number of other sports.
Ottawa South United Soccer Club
George Nelms Sports Park is Ottawa’s premiere soccer facility and home to Ottawa’s premiere soccer club, so it’s no coincidence that it’s also the site of Ottawa’s premiere summer soccer camps – both for recreational and high-performance players.
OSU’s recreational camp for U5 to U12 players is focused on providing kids with the best possible camp and soccer experience. At camp, participants will learn physical literacy and how to play soccer in a fun and exciting environment.
The half-day camp runs for week-long sessions. Kids will get an OSU t-shirt and will be coached by experienced and trained coaches.
RA Centre
The RA Centre is home to a wide range of sports, and there’s no better time to experience all that’s available than during summer camp season.
Archery, badminton, soccer, swimming — even pickleball. Those are some of the speciality camps offered, alongside day camps for children ages four to 12.
Senior AquaCamp, offered to those aged 10 to 13, is a great opportunity for those interested in becoming lifeguards. Campers will spend their time learning lifesaving skills as well as playing aquatic games and sports.
Teenagers ages 14 and older can volunteer to help out at the camps and gain experience towards becoming counsellors in future summers.
At the RA Centre’s summer camps, you can do it all.
Kanata Rhythmic Gymnastics Club
Breanna Rich has been doing gymnastics all her life – she even went to the renowned École nationale de cirque to study aerial hoop and contortion – but some of her fondest memories stem from being a kid at summer camp.
That was when she got a fresh and exciting start to her rhythmic gymnastics journey, which has now led her back to coaching at her home Kanata Rhythmic Gymnastics Club.
Summer camp can spark a lifelong love of sport, not to mention lasting friendships, Rich recalls.
Kanata Rhythmic’s recreational summer camp is back this summer for three week-long sessions to provide an introduction to all that rhythmic gymnastics can offer.
Ottawa TFC Soccer Club
Ottawa TFC camps offer a competitive and fun week with one of Canada’s top soccer clubs.
With a focus on players’ development, the camps offer a holistic approach to soccer over the course of a week. Parents and players frequently share that campers come away feeling more confident in their soccer abilities.
But the camps also serve to develop players’ leadership skills. Former Toronto FC pro player Brogan Engbers (who was also an Ottawa TFC summer camper once upon a time) is at the helm of the camps, while the rest of the staff is also composed entirely of current and former Ottawa TFC players.
Participants are able to see first-hand what leading by example means, directly from their older peers.
Ottawa Lions Track-and-Field Club
Ottawa Lions summer camp – where your coach is an Olympian!
The Ottawa Lions Track-and-Field Club’s summer camps are led by two-time Olympic shot putter Tim Nedow, who’s taken on the club’s youth program manager role with the same zest that launched him to Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Pan Am and Commonwealth Games medals.
Nedow now wants to share the same type of fun experiences with the next generation that made him fall in love with track-and-field when he was around the summer campers’ age.
Lions camps take place in a beautiful setting next to Mooney’s Bay, offering many activity opportunities beyond the track as well.
Learn more at OttawaSportsCAMPS.ca
From canoe, to lacrosse, to boxing and diving, there are plenty more sports camps options available in town no matter your sports enthusiast’s preference. Take a look at OttawaSportsCAMPS.ca and you can discover many more great opportunities. Each camp listing has a description of activities, ages, dates/times, fees and locations, so you can find the right fit for your sports-hungry camper.
CAMPS Project gives free sports registrations to kids from low-income communities
The organizations featured in the Ottawa Summer Sports CAMPS Guide are partners of the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Connecting Athletes of All Means to Paths in Sport Project. Our CAMPS Project provides free sports opportunities to youth living in Ottawa Community Housing neighbourhoods.
The groups we’ve highlighted not only provide exceptional sports experiences, developmental opportunities and loads of fun, they are also committed to giving back to their communities as CAMPS Project partners.
Our partner sports groups receive free or discounted advertising in return for providing positions in their summer camps or seasonal programs at no cost to children/youth from low-income families.
In partnership with the Ottawa Community Housing Foundation’s recLINK program, worthy participants are identified from OCH communities across the city to take part in the opportunities. We also provide transportation for our kids to and from their sports activities when needed.
Learn a bit more about the CAMPS Project in this video: