60,000 Valley Students to Head to Sports Camp Thanks to Grant

The following was submitted for publication by CBS Local 2 and the Berger Foundation:

More than 60,000 students at 37 local schools will participate in a motivating sports clinic this year thanks to a grant from the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation.

In partnership with CBS Local 2, the Berger Foundation presented Camp of Champions A & M with a Coachella Valley Spotlight grant.

“The grant from the Berger Foundation is literally going to fuel our tanks,” said Tim Ingram, president and executive director of Camp of Champions A & M, which accumulates about 30,000 miles a year to bring its mobile sports clinic to schools at both ends of the valley.

“Receiving this support is very humbling. We are so grateful to the Berger Foundation and CBS.”

Tim and his wife Michele Ingram moved to the Coachella Valley in 2008, and soon discovered that sports programs and even P.E. had been cut at many elementary and middle schools. Michele, an elementary teacher, and Tim, a former professional soccer and hockey player, were inspired to create a program that addressed this need in their new community, as they would soon see their young sons attending elementary school.

They started Camp of Champions A & M. The “A” stands for Academics, and the “M” stands for motivation. Tim says their program incorporates both as an incentive for students to participate in their free, rewards-based sports clinics.

“We appreciate the gap that Camp of Champions is filling for administrators and teachers, who have come to rely on this active program that promotes health and wellness in a way that many schools cannot afford lately,” said Catharine Reed, Senior Program Officer for the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation.

Reed presented the $25,000 grant at an awards assembly at a participating school, where students were also receiving their final rewards, soccer balls, for completing the program and fulfilling their individual academic and attendance goals established with their teachers.

“Camp of Champions A & M is an exciting program to see receive this award because it is helping so many young people throughout the valley,” said Mike Stutz, General Manager of Gulf California Broadcast Company, which owns and operates CBS Local 2.

Camp of Champions A & M was featured on CBS Local 2’s “Eye on the Desert” as well as in public service announcements and on the www.cbslocal2.com website throughout the month of February. For more information about Camp of Champions A & M go to www.campofchamps.info.