Summer Camps Simplified

Justin:
Oh yes. Hello everybody. Welcome to another edition of Kicksite webinars. Uh we’re super happy that you have joined us today. U we are going to be going over summer camps simplified. Um so we’re going to give it just a minute to let everyone log in and get ready to go.

Uh so while we’re waiting, uh the comments are officially open for your summer camp questions. So, if you have a burning question or if there’s maybe one or two things you were hoping to come away with today, uh please drop those thoughts in the comments.

Um hopefully our discussion today will answer those questions. Uh but if not, we’ll have time at the end for some audience Q&A and our team behind the scenes will make sure that your questions are documented and that we get to those.

Um thank you again for joining us. Feel free to, like I said, drop those questions or thoughts in the comments and we’ll get going soon.

Justin:
All right. Looks like there’s still a few people trickling in, but we want to uh we’ll be respectful of everybody’s time today. So, we will go ahead and get started with our summer camp simplified webinar.

Um, thank you again for joining us today for this. Uh, we know that your guys’ time is valuable and we’re grateful that you would trust us with it. So, we’re going to do our best uh to make best use of your time today.

Justin:
My name is Justin Grub. I am on the marketing team here at Kicksite.

Um, today’s going to look a little different than our standard webinar. Um we’re very grateful to have a guest with us as you can see um for this Q&A session.

Um before I let Bobby introduce himself, I just want to give a quick rundown of what we’re going to cover today.

So we are going to start by talking about the basic bones. How do you create a summer camp program? After that talk about filling the camp uh with marketing and advertising?

Then we’ll move into generating profit for your summer camp. After that, we’ll talk about how we turn campers into students.

We’ll discuss how to build awareness um and partnership in the community to help your uh summer camp grow.

Last week, we’ll talk about how Kicksite can help you with your summer camp. Um and then at the end, we will take audience questions um and answer those to the best of our ability.

Justin:
So, without further ado, uh our guest today is Bobby Palen of Palen’s Martial Arts Tri Valley.

Uh Bobby has a couple schools in Dublin, California. We’re super super excited that he joined us today.

Uh so Bobby, if you don’t mind, tell everybody uh a little bit about yourself uh and your and your history with running summer camps at your martial arts school.

Bobby:
Awesome. Uh yeah, Bobby Palen here. Um I’m honored to be on with you guys. Uh I love Kicksite. I’ve been with you guys for gosh, I want to say close to four years.

Um, and you guys been everything but helpful for me. So, I want to give back.

Uh, I’ve been doing this, man. I’ve been doing martial arts since I was about five or six years old. Come from a martial arts family. I’m here in California.

Uh, but I’m here from Northern California and um, you know, I have my older kids helping me. They’re pretty much running a lot of the classes now.

So, I’ve been in the game for a while. Uh, summer camps have been great and we’ll talk a little bit more about like how pivotal summer camps are uh to add to the environment um and uh what your school has to offer in a whole because that’s what a lot of people are looking for is to be like a part of something bigger um than just training.

So, we’ll talk a little bit about that.

Justin:
So, absolutely. And I had a feeling Bobby in his introduction uh would be humble.

So, I just want to again highlight just how impressive the guy that joining us is today. He’s a fifth degree black belt in kajukembo.

Um he’s also trained in several other martial arts including taekwondo and jiu-jitsu.

Like I said, he runs a couple schools there in the tri valley area in California.

Um and something that is really really cool. Um, and we’re just proud to be able to partner with him on is about five years ago, Bobby started a breed all abilities classes at his schools. It’s a martial arts program for kids with disabilities.

Um, ever since he kicked that off back in 2021, that class has been absolutely thriving.

Um, so we think that’s awesome that he’s doing that.

Um, we’re really proud to have him as a customer at Kicksite, but also a partner in everything we do.

Um, so thank you for joining us, Bobby.

Bobby:
Oh, no problem. Hey man, Justin, I’m gonna take you everywhere, bro. That was that was amazing.

But yeah, no, I’m super honored. So, I can’t wait to get started.

Justin:
All right. Well, without further ado, um let’s let’s get going.

Justin:
Uh like I said, first we’re going to start we’re going to talk about um just how do we create and set up a summer camp?

So, we’re talking about um structuring it, organizing it, uh and then pricing, of course.

Justin:
Um, so like start with the basics, you know, when with your experience, Bobby, what works best on the length of camp? Is it a week? Is it a month? Do you have like a couple sessions throughout the summer? Uh, what works best for you guys?

Bobby:
Okay. So, I like to say that I’ve done it. I’ve done it all. I mean, I’ve done like a full week camp, uh which is great, but right now I I’ve really like kept it down to three days.

So, I’ll do a three-day full day camp. So, I go from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Bobby:
Uh, so I’m basically like honed it down to something that’s actually doable for me. So for those that are listening um if a five day camp works for you and is say more profitable for you I mean hey I’ll power to you but for me you know three days was important for me and my staff

uh because you have to think about that you have to think about the staff because if you do a five day camp they could be your assistant instructors or instructors and if they have to help you with the summer camp and then they have to do a full day’s work after that.

So, you have to be careful for burnout for yourself or for your staff that you’re hiring.

Like I said, to each his own. If you have a full-on staff just to help you out for a summer camp, all power to you will definitely probably be more profitable for you.

So, yeah, three-day camp. I do a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 9:00 am to 2 pm.

Justin:
Awesome. And you kind of alluded to it there with doing a half day. Do you have any other thoughts on half day versus full day or or does that kind of go back to what you’re able to do with your staff and just considering those factors as well?

Bobby:
Uh yeah. So I always look at the burnout that you may have for a child, especially if they’re your current student, which a lot of them will be because you’re doing internal consumption.

You’re taking them, they’re current students, and then they’re doing a full day camp until 2 p.m. and then they have to go to class later.

So I feel that that 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. cut off time is great.

You will have enough martial arts training as well as fun that you have to have in every camp and then of course you have to consider lunch and breaks like that.

Justin:
Yeah, absolutely. Um, so when you’re thinking about organizing your camp and what you want it to look like, uh, how do you decide on the age range and size of classes for your camps?

So, is there a cutoff on age and size so that you can manage everything and make it a great experience?

Bobby:
Great question. So, what I normally do, and this works for me, again, everybody’s different.

So I have a four to six year old class and I also have a seven to 12 year old class.

Four-year-olds it can go either way because a four-year-old could feel like that camp is too long and they may miss mom or dad or have separation anxiety.

So five is a good age to actually take in.

And 12 is the cutoff because sometimes older kids feel like they’re too cool for it.

So that would be my sweet spot, 5 to 12 years old.

Bobby:
For me what I do in my summer camps is I have assistants that help me and I assign them to the younger group.

When we do drills we always pair properly. So I have older kids with older kids.

I like to take them all in one camp because it works for me.

And strategically a lot of times you’ll have siblings. So it works really well for parents because they can drop both kids off at one camp.

Justin:
That’s a great point. So many families have multiple kids.

So yeah, that would be really difficult if they had to make multiple trips.

Bobby:
Exactly. I’ve been around a long time so I know what works physically and operationally.

You can’t always please everybody.

Justin:
Yeah. So when planning the day-to-day activities of the camp, do you use weekly themes or a single curriculum?

And how do you keep kids engaged without burnout or boredom?

Bobby:
I don’t like gimmicky themes like superheroes. Most parents want character building.

So I structure it as a lesson of the day approach.

For example:

Day one is respect, focus, and coordination.

Day two is strength and resilience.

Day three is balance and teamwork.

Everything ties into life lessons and martial arts training.

Bobby:
We always connect drills to real-life lessons.

For example, balance applies physically but also in life.

That resonates with parents and kids. It’s not just babysitting—it’s value.

Justin:
Could you repeat those three themes?

Bobby:
Sure. Day one is respect, focus, and coordination.

Day two is strength and resilience.

Day three is balance and teamwork.

Bobby:
We do a mix of martial arts training, drills, and games that build movement and skills.

Justin:
Do you separate ages during activities?

And do you run multiple camps or just one?

Bobby:
We run two three-day camps.

I used to run more, but it creates staffing and scheduling issues.

Two works best for us and they run identical.

Justin:
So pricing is the final piece of structure. How do you set pricing?

Bobby:
We charge $350 per camper for the three-day camp.

We also use early bird pricing and multi-camp discounts.

For example, if someone does two camps, they save about $200 total.

Bobby:
Even if it’s the same content, kids love the experience, so they don’t mind repeating it.

We also offer sibling discounts and referral discounts.

Justin:
That transitions perfectly into marketing.

What strategies work best to fill camps?

Bobby:
Internal marketing is the most powerful.

Your current students already trust you.

We announce camps every class and instructors promote it consistently.

Bobby:
We also use email and SMS campaigns through Kicksite.

Referrals are huge. We encourage kids to invite friends.

We also use PeachJar for digital flyers and local marketing.

Bobby:
We work with Google Business Profile and local chambers of commerce as well.

Justin:
How do you create urgency?

Bobby:
Limit spots. If you cap it at 20–25 kids, urgency happens naturally.

Early bird pricing also helps.

Justin:
How do you maximize profit beyond tuition?

Bobby:
We focus on retention and conversion rather than add-on fees.

Healthy staff and sustainable systems matter more than squeezing every dollar.

Justin:
How do you convert campers into students?

Bobby:
We talk to parents at pickup.

We offer things like two weeks free or a uniform when they sign up.

We use reciprocity and emotional connection.

We even give kids a white belt at the end of camp.

Bobby:
That creates excitement and emotional buy-in.

Justin:
So last section is community awareness.

Bobby:
We do free seminars, demos, and community events.

Giving first builds long-term reputation.

We also participate in local events and opportunities.

Justin:
How does Kicksite help?

Justin:
We provide landing pages for signups, lead management, and automation tools.

Everything helps simplify administration.

Justin:
Any final thoughts?

Bobby:
Parents want productivity and kids want fun.

A great camp is where both come together.

Justin:
Thank you everyone for joining us today.

Bobby:
Thank you guys.