FAQ Camps

FAQ

CAMP FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q: Where do I find PSA camp availability and pricing?

All of the available sports camps are listed in your MySAM account under "Classes, Camps and Clinics"

Q: How do I register online?

Go to www.psaplano.org and click “MySam login”

Q: Who can sign up for camp? Do I have to be a Plano resident?

FlexiPass is for ages 5 through 14
We have sports camps for ages 5 through 14
Our customers DO NOT have to be Plano residents

Q: Can I register over the phone or in person for camp?

Call our front desk directly, (972) 208-5437 or
Come by our PSA1 location at 6500 Preston Meadow Drive, Plano, 75024
Create your My SAM account at www.psaplano.org

Q: How do I cancel or change a registration for a camp?

Only our front desk can assist you with changes and cancellations.
Cancellations two weeks or more prior to the camp start date there will be a 75% credit to the customers MySAM account.
Within two weeks of the camp start date there are NO REFUNDS - no exceptions.
There are NO REFUNDS for Flexi Pass - no exceptions.

Q: How does FlexiPass work?

FlexiPass is a full day, indoor summer camp revolving around sports activities and games.
Standard camp hours are 9:00-4:00pm; extended hours are available from 7:30-6:00pm (for a addtional fee)
Families may purchase weekly passes.

Q: What is the difference between the FlexiPass at PSA1 and the Sports Fun Camp at PSA2?

FlexiPass is only at PSA1, PSA McKinney, and PSA Murphy.
Camps held at PSA2 do not have the option for extended care.
PSA2 is located at: 601 Seabrook, Plano, TX.

Q: Does PSA hold checks?

Q: Can we a bring a friend to camp?

Certainly. We love friends. Before they come to camp they must be in MySam and have filled out the Camper information and purchase the camp they are interested in attending. All of this can be done online.

Q: What does my child get to eat at lunch and is it healthy? What if they are still hungry?

Now that we are a state sanctioned day care we have specific rules we have to follow when serving food. We have a variety of main things we serve for lunch that include; Hot dog, Turkey Sandwich, Ham Sandwich and Pepperoni Pizza which have meat included and for those not wanting meat we have Cheese Pizza and Peanut Butter and Jelly which we could do one or the other if the child doesn’t like them mixed. On Fridays we offer chicken nuggets as a special treat for our fun Friday promotion. When ordering everything but pizza the child gets a cookie if they want and a bag of pretzels or chips in their lunch bag. The kids selecting pizza get the cookie but not the pretzels or chips. If a child is still hungry they are more than welcome to get an extra slice of pizza no matter what their original choice was.
We explain to them not to overeat but to make sure they are full. In addition to these items we offer ever day (except every once in a while we might run out of something one day but we get more the next day) yogurt sticks, carrot’s with a side of ranch if they want and a fruit cup or apple sauce cup that the kids can have in addition to their lunch. They have a choice of a water bottle, carton of milk or a low calorie, low sugar fruit drink. We also provide water coolers upstairs for them to refill their bottles if they want more to drink. Being a parent of two young boys myself their isn’t much else to offer without the aid of a kitchen like I have at home that can serve over 300 lunches a day. As with every year we will explore the food conventions to see if there is something we can add to our line-up. The kids eat from 11:00-11:40 for the younger groups and then 11:40-12:10 for the older groups.

Q: What does my child get offered at snack and when?

Snack for the younger group is served from 1:50-2:20 so a little over 2 ½ hours after their lunch. We follow the guidelines that the child can get one “sugar” snack and one snack without a lot of sugar if any. So the example would be if they get popcorn they can have a fruit drink and if they get ice cream they can only have water.
On Monday, Wednesday and Fridays we offer a box of popcorn, chocolate chip cookies, Oreo cookies, pretzels, cheez its, Scooby snack (graham cracker cookie) ice cream bars, popsicles and a graham cracker bar filled with peanut butter and jelly. The drink choices at snack are water bottles and the low calorie and low sugar fruit juice that they can choose at lunch.
On Tuesday and Thursday they have the choice of a box of popcorn, chocolate chip cookies, Oreo cookies, pretzels, cheez its, and Scooby snack (graham cracker cookie). Their drink choices for these days are icee’s, water bottle and the low calorie and low sugar fruit juice that they can choose at lunch.

Q: What kind of educational programs are we trying to incorporate?

This has been a first for us as we are trying to “sneak the vegetables into their food” kind of situation. We have been doing some fun math games with cards, Uno cards and work sheets. I have added an elementary school teacher from Plano to the staff this year and she has been working on beefing up the program as we go along. We have been mostly trying it with our younger groups but we will soon start to incorporate it in with our older kids. We do it with the younger kids now during the second half of their rest period.
We only allow the video games, bay blades (sp) and other items to be played for 25 minutes during rest period. For the last 25 minutes we are rotating the 4 groups through 4 activities which each group will do one for a day. So we offer arts and crafts, play dough, fun with math and either Simon says or red light green light. Now some of the kids have been a little disappointed that they can’t do arts and crafts every day but we are working on some ideas on how to get that back in for those who want to do it.

Q: Is there any way you can lock up stuff when at camp?

Actually there is a way to do this. All you need to do is provide a lock and we have some lockers on the backside of our desk next to Blue 1. I would recommend that you give us the combination or key to hold for your child and so we can help them if they need it. I would like to say that we do not recommend that your child bring anything of value such as video games, bay blades, cell phones or stuff like that but we understand the kids really enjoy sharing this stuff with their friends and we find that it is a great ice breaker for some of them.
We try to do everything we can to ensure that nothing gets taken but with over 250 kids a day in the gym we do have things every once in a while disappear. I would like to ask that if your child comes home with something that is not theirs please bring it back to us no questions asked so we can get it back to its rightful owner.

Q: Is there a way I can see what my child’s schedule is during the day?

We always have copies at the Supervisor desk which will show the rotation and games being played. In regards to a speciality camp those are created closer to when camp starts and each instructor can change their activities to fit the format/themes of the camp so the material, and planning may not b the same.

Q: Is there a possibility of a tween/teen program that could go off site each week?

We do not offer any offsite activities that are within walking distance.

Q: What do we do with the kids in the morning before camp starts?

If your child is in our before care program which runs from 7:30-8:45 (we do have a couple of people who were offered the option of an extreme all flexi summer pass which included early drop off at 7am but they are the only ones allowed to use that and we do not sell that pass) we offer them breakfast if they want which includes cereal, breakfast bars and milk. We then allow them to sit at the tables and play games or go in the turf and hang out and take their time in waking up. We have counselors there who will play games with them from our game box also.
At 8:40 we allow them to go onto the courts for free time which runs from 8:40-9:15. We will have counselors spread out to shoot hoops, throw a football with them, pass the volleyball and play soccer with them. I also received a suggestion that we don’t do enough to greet the kids at the front in the morning and help get them started. We have changed our hours for some counselors and are bringing more in earlier so we will have a couple of them waiting at the door to greet and direct the kids and if need be to take them over and introduce them to kids around the same age and get them started doing something.

Q: What do we do with the kids after camp ends for aftercare?

I wanted to clear this up as it seems that some wrong information has been going home. We line the kids up at 3:55 so they can get their bags and wait to hear their name called. Camp ends officially at 4:00 and we give a 15 minute grace period.
After 4:15 any kid still here will be checked into our aftercare program. Even if you haven’t purchased it we will take care of your kid until you arrive. So if you are stuck or just are enjoying some time off all you have to do is when you come in and pick up your kid just go to the front desk and pay the $8 fee for the aftercare and you are good to go.
At 4:15 we offer the kids 5 choices; stay in the rink and hang out or play with your friends or counselors (we bring out the games and cards if a kid doesn’t have anything), they can play soccer on Blue 1, knockout on Blue 2, jump the river or 4 square on Blue 3 and 5 on 5 basketball games on Blue 4. If a group of kids would ask if they could do something else we are always open to ideas and will try to make it happen. We let the kids stay on the courts until 5:15 and then we move everyone into the rink to settle down before the end of camp.
The camp officially ends at 6pm (we do have a couple of people who purchased the option of an extreme all flexi summer pass which included late pick up until 6:30 but they are the only ones allowed to use that and we do not sell that pass anymore. That pass was only offered until March 1^st and we sold out of them). Once we hit 6pm PSA leagues take over the building and it is packed. We move the remaining kids from the turf to our conference room by the front door until you arrive. I have been told that PSA intends to start charging late fees for people who are continuously late as my counselor do not get paid after 6pm so unless there is an emergency please make every effort to arrive prior to 6pm.

Q: Why don’t you teach skills in Flexi-Camp? Why can’t we just purchase one day of a sports camp?

Over the years flexi has changed with our clients. We started as a sport only camp and I mean only sports. My old boss didn’t want anything else but sports being played. Over time I explained that it was hard for kids to do that for 7 hours and we needed some variety so we were able to bring new ideas to the camp.
The problem with the camp is we have so many kids who want different things out of the camp. Most that are here just want to have fun and do not worry about winning and losing. We really wanted to keep the competition level down because that is usually what causes us to experience incidents between kids. To address those people who wanted their kids to learn a skill but to also be here all day we developed the ½ flexi add on to our sports/martial arts/drama/chess/ computer/drawing camps.
For basically the same price of a 5 day flexi full day pass you can have your child go to a skill specific camp for 3 hours and we find that the kids love this option as this way they get to play, learn or improve on a specific thing for half the day and then they get to play a bunch of different things in a lower key environment or just hang out with their friends the rest of the time.
As far as offering the option for 1 day or less than the 5 days at the skills camps we just can’t base our staffing off of that as most of our camps sell out with the 5 day option. I also devise lesson plans that are designed to bring the kids to a specific point at the end of the 5 days in the sports camps. We also pick teams and have coaches teach plays that the kids will run all week.
If you like the idea of a smaller camp week we do offer the 3 day sessions at winter camp and spring break camp. PSA also has a lot of offerings for 1 day skill sessions for each of their sports so look for these in emails that are sent out.