In September Chase Basketball’s Director of Operations Ellen Parry travelled to New Hampshire USA to be a Camp Counsellor at Harbor Camps. Upon returning to her work at Chase, Ellen has reflected on her time at the program that operates to support transgender and non-binary youth and their families.
Harbor Camps provide a variety of camp programs for transgender and non-binary youth at their own campground in the state of New Hampshire, USA. Its aim is to build confidence, resilience and community for their campers while providing a ‘typical camp experience’ in a fun and safe environment.
Working with kids, like my role at Chase, is something I love to do. I was looking for an opportunity to travel and volunteer overseas and came across Harbor Camps. I felt drawn to it instead of a ‘mainstream camp’ as it fulfilled my passions for working with children and being an ally for the gender diverse community.
The program I attended was Family Camp, which included parents, gender diverse kids and their siblings. This specific program allowed parents to meet and create a community amongst themselves, while the children were looked after by myself and the other camp counsellors, a majority of whom were gender diverse. It was wonderful to see the children with a community of people, their age and older, who they could connect with and feel supported by.
For the parents, there was a reported sense of relief as they could see their children be themselves without the worry of bullying or exclusion. This allowed them to build their own connections with fellow families, while discussing issues specific to their children and finding support they may not have at home. For a lot of the families, this was the first time they had met other transgender and non-binary people. It was a place for the parents to witness the creation of role models and potential futures that their children may admire and dream about.
The day to day schedule included all the typical summer camp activities you see in the classic American movies! Roasting marshmallows, making smores, arts and crafts, swimming and kayaking on the lake, rock climbing and of course some basketball. The idea of Harbor Camps is to create an environment that was like any summer camp, doing all the things kids love to do. For some of the campers, they hadn’t felt comfortable attending any of the other camps before, therefore hadn’t previously had the chance to experience the opportunities that Harbor Camp provides. The children got to try new things and do them without being judged; instead, being celebrated. There were no nasty comments and no judgement. Everyone was free to just enjoy themselves. It was truly refreshing to be a part of, and I could tell that this was important not just for the kids, but their families too.
One of the things I love about Chase is the family feeling we bring to our programs, something we continue to prioritise and improve. Chase prides itself on developing young athletes with world-class, experienced coaches on the court. We work to extend this collegiate approach to parents too. Whether it’s Nigel speaking with mums and dads on the sideline during UP Skills sessions or Janet’s effective communication with families over email and phone, these are the things that set Chase apart from others.
I hope that my time at Harbor Camps will allow Chase Basketball to continue to expand our offerings for athletes from all backgrounds, and to provide the opportunity for more families to join our community and feel accepted. The value of this goes beyond just the athlete but also to their parents and siblings. I feel confident that our coaches are supportive and inclusive, but it’s about providing them with as much information as we can. Coaches can’t implement what they do not know, so resources, information and experiences on how best to cater to diverse athletes is vital. I’ve loved having conversations with coaches since I’ve been back about my experience and some of the big and little things we can do at our sessions to be more inclusive. I will share my new knowledge formally and informally with our extended team and am excited by the growth in this area of the Chase programs moving forward.
The one word to summarise my time at Harbor Camps would be joy. Joy from connecting with new people, helping children feel comfortable and confident, trying new things and being able to be my authentic self. Sport can take us to all points of the globe and through my expanded knowledge and experience I hope to extend the joy to the Chase family.
Since I’ve been home, I’ve been trying to find ways to share that joy and I feel I’ve come back as a truer version of myself. I hope that by talking about this experience, I can be a friendly face and ally for anyone in the Chase community and beyond.
Coach Ellen (she/her) is Chase Basketball’s Director of Operations and McKinnon Cougars Head Coach.
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