2025 Countdown to Camp Email #3 – Special Events at the 6
Hello, 6 Points Community!
Welcome to this week’s Countdown to Camp Email! Every week we are highlighting a different aspect of camp to share with you what the 6 Points experience includes!
Our daily schedule at 6 Points is quite consistent, which we find helps everyone settle in and feel at home very quickly. Today, we’ll review all the special events that help us break up our routine, where excitement and fun levels are unbeatable.
Maccabiah – Our Maccabiah (Color War) is many campers’ favorite day at camp! One day a session, the whole camp community splits into two teams (blue and gold), and competes against each other in a variety of games, challenges, and races. Four counselors are selected as generals to lead their teams and announce the start of Maccabiah. We keep the start of Maccabiah a surprise for maximum excitement. Campers will find out their team assignments that day, and the fun begins. Campers participate in dorm competitions, sport majors, specialty meals, song performances, and a camp-wide relay race!
After a winning team is announced at the end of the day, our camp community reunites as one kehillah (community)! Campers should make sure to bring both a blue shirt and a yellow shirt to camp, and they’re available to purchase in our camp store. Face paint, tutus, fun socks, and more are also encouraged.
Israel Day- We are very lucky at 6 Points to have a group of Israeli counselors (Mishlachat) work at camp every year. They bring with them a different perspective of Judaism, sports, and culture. On the first Saturday of the session, our Mishlachat will lead an immersive and experiential program for campers, sharing a unique Israel story, history, and culture that our Jewish athletes love learning about! Our Mishlachat put in a lot of work to make this day special. We guarantee it will be a lot of fun, so be sure to pack some blue and white clothing or Israel swag to represent on this day!
Camp Champs- Ready to put on a show? During the first week of camp, campers and counselors from every mishpacha will choreograph an awesome dance routine to be performed in front of camp on Saturday night. This is a great bonding experience for each dorm and makes for an evening filled with laughter. The competition is fierce and fun! The winning mishpachot receive a banner to hang in their dorm and custom 6 Points Hats!
Pictures don’t do it justice! Click below to watch all of the Camp Champs videos from 2024 AND 2023!
Firefly- On the last night of camp of the session, we gather together as one kehillah for the last time of the summer. Every camper will be given a white paper bag to decorate and participate in a program led by their counselors. All of camp comes together to participate in our most special tradition of lighting Firefly Field with our wishes for the next year. Two of our oldest campers are selected to share reflections about their camp experiences and the impact that 6 Points has had on them. We sing songs together, give hugs, and say “L’hitraot!” (see you soon!) until next summer.
Don’t forget about our Tikkun Olam 5K and elevated Day of Service experience. More information will be shared on how you can order a t-shirt and contribute from home on June 1. This is one example of how our big camp events are weaved into our Judaism and contributions to our community and the world.
Our special events at camp are the peak of excitement during our 12 days together, but they also always incorporate our Jewish values and create moments that are uniquely us – Jewish, Sports, Camp!
We open our gates to our 1st Session campers and Counselors-in-Training in just one month. Our full-time team is in pre-game mode and can’t wait to get this summer started.
L’Shalom,
The 6 Points Team
Enrolled Families Page: https://6pointssports.org/summer/enrolled-families/
General Questions: SportsNC@urj.org
Forms, Travel, & Logistics: Zoe Sellers, ZSellers@urj.org
Camper Care: Paul Dolnick, PDolnick@urj.org
Tuition & Billing: Lisa Rodney, LRodney@urj.org
2025 Countdown to Camp Email #2 – Play All Day – Sports Majors and Electives
Happy Tuesday 6 Points!
Before we get started on the weekly Tuesday email, we want to remind families to add SportsNC@urj.org and the camp phone number (561-208-1650) to your contacts, so we can easily be in contact with you this summer!
This week, we want to tell you about our camp’s specialty: Sports – all about our head coaches and electives!
Whether we play a sport year round at school, or are towards the beginning of our journey on the field, court, or pool, 6 Points creates an environment where we can all improve our craft, grow, and gain new skills, all while having a fun-filled summer! What makes us the premier Jewish sports camp in North America is the incredible combination of our top notch facilities and top tier head coaches.
We’ve been lucky to have some with us since our very first summer in 2010, but are equally excited by the new faces joining our team this year.
Our head coaches each have vast amounts of experience playing and coaching at high-level clubs, schools, and NCAA programs. They are experts in their sports and passionate about improving the skills of all athletes. Our camp director, Jackie, personally interviews every head coach candidate to ensure that they are the best possible fit for our community. Essential to our mission is providing an elite sports experience through high-level training, we also ensure that our coaches prioritize having fun and building meaningful relationships with our campers.
Supervised by Al Ashkinazy, Athletic Director and 6 Points Hall of Famer, the head coaches fully embrace their leadership roles, and make sure to incorporate our six core values into every drill, scrimmage, or lesson. They help us merge Judaism and sports, and continue our belief that the two are not mutually exclusive, but in fact make each other stronger.
Welcome to Electives!
Each afternoon, after our first rest hour of the day, our community gathers in the main gym where the campers get to decide the two electives they’ll participate in that day. Campers do not need to sign up for electives in advance or before they arrive to camp. Electives are chosen every single day. Campers can choose to go with new friends, old friends, siblings, favorite coaches or counselors, and friends of all ages and genders. They can explore new activities or engage more with their sport major skills. From there, our head coaches and counselors lead each group to the location where the elective takes place.
Some of our most popular elective options include 9 Square in the Air, fitness and conditioning (for campers in 7th grade and above), alpine climbing tower, basketball, chill zone (board games, cards, etc), flag football, ultimate frisbee, lawn games (cornhole, can jam), gaga, lacrosse, running, free swim and water games, pickleball, tennis, volleyball, and Zumba. The list goes on and on – and we’re always adding something new! We’re offering different types of electives this summer including sports photography, sports broadcasting, podcasting, music, Israel topics, and Jewish-life electives.
Camp provides all of the necessary equipment for electives. Some campers, by the way, make it a goal to try every single elective offered. Whether that’s your goal, or you prefer to stick with your favorites, the afternoon is guaranteed to be filled with fun. Electives are a key component of the 6 Points experience, and we can’t wait till we finally gather in the gym.
One of our six core values, as you may remember from our earlier emails, is growth. There is no better place for growth than in a community where everyone – coaches, staff, campers – are all committed to the same cause. We strive to get better on and off the field every day at camp, and know that the hard work we put in over the summer will pay dividends when we get to show off all of our new skills at home.
We can’t wait to get started in just a few short weeks!
The 6 Points Team
Enrolled Families Page: https://6pointssports.org/summer/enrolled-families/
General Questions: SportsNC@urj.org
Forms, Travel, & Logistics: Zoe Sellers, ZSellers@urj.org
Camper Care: Paul Dolnick, PDolnick@urj.org
Tuition & Billing: Lisa Rodney, LRodney@urj.org
2025 Countdown to Camp Email #1 – Celebrating our Judaism as Athletes
Happy Tuesday 6 Points!
In one month, our team will be in Asheville, preparing to welcome YOU to our summer home! Now it’s time to tell you one of our three pillars at 6 Points Sports Academy: Jewish life. Or, as you’ll grow to know it as: “J-Life at the 6!”. At the bottom of this email, there are some important reminders and links for your convenience.
“Jewish. Sports. Camp. We are always Jewish, always Sports, and always Camp!”
The most amazing part of 6 Points Sports Academy is how brilliantly these three pillars intertwine. The Jewish part of ourselves feeds our identity as athletes and humans. The experience at camp, in a community of Jewish athletes, proves just how much our Judaism can build our self-confidence, strengthen our relationships, and develop skills across many areas of our life.
Our mission is to enrich and inspire the lives of young Jewish athletes. Many of the moments at camp extend beyond just sport and camp, but also add a connection to Judaism that makes sense to us as athletes. What we love most is incorporating our Jewish values into our sport majors.
Each morning, we introduce one of our six core values (Pride, Growth, Intention, Teamwork, Leadership, Sportsmanship) and spend the rest of the day exemplifying that value on the courts, fields, gyms, and in the pool. Coaches, counselors, Rabbis, faculty members, and campers are encouraged to recognize the Jewish athletes who portray these values, and reward them with a value bracelet. We get so much joy from seeing campers smile as they loop a bracelet across their wrist and wear it proudly – proud of being a Jewish athlete!!
Our Camp Rabbi, Rabbi Adam Morris, partners with our Jewish-life team of various rabbis and Jewish educators from around the country. When our faculty members participate in sports majors and electives, they humanize Judaism, and our campers get to bond with and relate to them. This personal connection proves crucial when Shabbat rolls around, and we wind down for services. Seeing the same people who were training with them that morning – now explaining a Torah portion, lighting candles, or reciting prayers – is what our camp is all about. Our intentional J-LIFE program has been recognized in the camping world for being an excellent teacher of values, kindness, and a connection to Israel.
Jewish Life is simply real life at camp. Every day is filled with cross-over moments, but here are the highlights of our more traditional Jewish moments here at the Six:
Friday Night: What makes Shabbat at camp unique is that our staff and campers put the same effort and intentionality into Shabbat as we do in our sports majors. The 6 Points community collectively winds down, showers, and dons our Shabbat white outfits. We stroll together to the dining hall, where we light the candles, have challah and dinner, then gather for Friday night services in our Holy Stadium. We cap the evening off with a ruach-filled Israeli dancing and song session, s’mores around the campfire, and a bracelet ceremony where our staff recognize campers who’ve exemplified our core values throughout the week.
Saturday Morning: Saturday at camp is our day of rest and reflection. Our schedule changes, and we start by coming together for a lively Shabbat torah service. In lieu of sport majors, our faculty does a tremendous job of making the service engaging, and we always have campers actively participating by singing, sharing reflections on prayers, and even reading Torah!
1st Saturday Afternoon: On the first Saturday of the session, our campers participate in Israel Day! Campers are transported to Israel through programming from our amazing mishlachat (Israeli staff) to learn what they love most about Israeli culture, history, and daily life. Make sure to wear blue and white to represent the Israeli flag!
2nd Saturday Afternoon: On the second Shabbat of the session, we embody the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam (Repair the World). As many of you know, the greater Asheville community continues to feel the lasting impact of the devastation from Hurricane Helene. We are taking our annual Tikkun Olam 5K to the NEXT LEVEL by creating the Tikkun Olam Day of Service. Campers will still be invited to run the 5K like previous summers, but we will also have options for campers to participate in a service project on camp to support our local partner, Eblen Charities. Stay tuned about how you can support our service to the Asheville community!
Our goal is for all our campers to leave each session with a deeper connection to their Jewish background, seeing how their identities as athletes and as Jewish people are connected, and how each makes the other better. We call this “6 Points Plus” – the idea of using our core values and kindness to make a positive impact on others and the world.
We take great pride in the role Judaism plays in our camp. We love the diverse religious background all of our campers come from, and we think it’s beautiful how campers with so much variety in their Jewish heritage all come together to learn from each other. The Jewish culture and environment we establish makes everyone feel included and valued, helping us all grow together.
We can’t wait to start, just one more month until the fun begins!
The 6 Points Team
Enrolled Families Page: https://6pointssports.org/summer/enrolled-families/
General Questions: SportsNC@urj.org
Forms, Travel, & Logistics: Zoe Sellers, ZSellers@urj.org
Camper Care: Paul Dolnick, PDolnick@urj.org
Tuition & Billing: Lisa Rodney, LRodney@urj.org
2025 Countdown to Camp Email Intro – It’s Time! Countdown to Camp!
Dear 6 Points Sports Academy Families,
The countdown has officially begun! We are less than SIX weeks away from the start of our 16th summer at 6 Points Sports Academy.
Our mission remains constant – to provide an elite sports experience in an inclusive and immersive overnight Jewish camp. The playbook includes outstanding coaches, energetic counselors, attentive medical professionals, inspiring Jewish educators, a passionate leadership team, and YOU – our amazing campers and families!
To gear up for opening day, we want to give you an idea of what our campers can expect once they arrive on campus. Every week for the next six weeks, we are going to highlight a different aspect of camp and share with you what the 6 Points experience includes! Starting with this email, you will receive an email from 6 Points Sports Academy each Tuesday.
Here’s a glimpse at our Countdown to Camp email schedule:
Week 1: Celebrating our Judaism as athletes at camp
Week 2: Play All Day! – Sports Majors and Electives
Week 3: Special Events at the 6 – Camp-wide activities and programs
Week 4: Engage with your “home team” – counselors, dorm life, and food!
Week 5: The “Nitty Gritty” logistical details to prepare for the summer
Week 6: It’s Game Time! Last steps before the best summer ever
Don’t miss a beat! Add SportsNC@urj.org to your address book, and add our main camp phone number to your contacts: (561) 208-1650. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube where we’ll be sharing all of the fun we’re having throughout the summer.
We will be hosting a parents-only program called “Parents as Partners” on May 7 at 8pm. We will also have another “Getting Ready for Camp” call for campers and parents on May 14 at 6:30pm. All times are in Eastern Standard Time. Sessions will be recorded and uploaded to our website. New families are encouraged to attend one of each program, and returning families are welcomed!
All Required Camper Forms are due on Thursday, May 1st. Wanting to see our suggested packing list? Click here! It is also available in your CampInTouch account.
Our 16th summer is going to be NEXT LEVEL! We can’t wait to see you soon!
L’Shalom,
The 6 Points Team