Three hours flies by for Barrett campers

The Fruit Ninjas aren’t a group of highly-trained stealth fighters who promote healthy eating. They are an energetic bunch of 10- and 11-year-old boys who gather every weekday morning for good times at Barrett Park.

The village’s summer camp has been under way for about three weeks, and the Herald spent a day with the Fruit Ninjas to see what a typical day at camp is like. Each group has its own name based on a popular children’s character or game. Fruit Ninja is a fruit-slicing video game.

There are 28 boys in the group — the largest at Barrett this summer — under the supervision of five counselors. They go to elementary schools throughout Valley Stream, but reunite each summer for six weeks.

The head counselor is 22-year-old Steven Rambarran, a Central High School graduate who has been working at the camp for five years, and has been with the same group of campers during that time. He is joined every day by assistant counselors James Conerty, Brian Maulick and Brandon Negron, and volunteer junior counselor Jacob Markowitz.

After greeting the roughly 20 boys who came to camp on July 10, Rambarran and his assistants bring the group over to the handball courts for a game of Barrett Ball. Like dodge ball, the activity gets the campers off to a rousing start at a time when many kids and teenagers are still in bed.

“It’s their favorite thing to do of the day,” said Conerty, who is working at the camp for the second straight year, his first as a paid staffer. “This is all they want to do.”

Rambarran selects two captains, who then pick their teams. He said he makes sure everyone has a chance to be a captain during the summer. The game begins and there are lots of smiles as green, yellow and orange balls fly through the air. A ball bounces over the fence and Maulick is sent to retrieve it. A debate ensures on whether or not time-outs are allowed.

Conerty, who will be a junior at South High School in the fall, watches the kids having fun, and remembers his own days as a camper at Barrett. Most of the activities are the same, he said. “I wish I went here when I was younger,” Rambarran adds.

After 45 minutes of Barrett ball, the group leaves the court and the kids get a much needed water break. It’s not long before they are already thinking about their next activity. Rambarran gives his campers three choices — soccer, kickball or football. “Show of hands,” he says. Kickball wins. But there is a snag. Another group is on the field. So it will be soccer, a close second in the vote.

The choices makes 11-year-old Sebastian Sarrion very happy, who loves the sport so much he goes to soccer camp after his day at Barrett ends.

Again, the group divides into two teams, and the campers run back and forth for about a half-hour. A few boys who don’t want to play soccer instead stand nearby and play a game called taps in which the children form a circle and throw a ball around.

After working up a sweat for more than an hour, it’s time to cool off. By now, the village parks staff has turned on the sprinklers. Rambarran tells the kids to take off their sneakers. They run through the water, which slowly circles around the field. Rambarran sees kids with a few drops of water on them, and tells them they’re not wet enough. “It’s hot,” he reminds them.

Edwin Ortiz runs back and forth through the stream of water. “It just refreshes me,” he said. “You don’t feel hot anymore.”

Ortiz says he doesn’t mind getting his clothes wet because it keeps him cool for the rest of the morning. Sarrion said going through the sprinkler, even though the water is cold, feels especially good on the days when it is “mad hot.”

By 10:30 a.m., it’s snack time. The children grab their snack bags and enjoy apples, popcorn, cookies and fruit snacks. They talk about sports and video games. Marco Rodriguez, 11, Anthony Andux, 11, and Joseph Correa, 10, break out their baseball cards. They talk about their favorite players, compare statistics and trade cards, nearly a daily ritual for the three boys.

Sometimes one of the boys brings in some older cards, and they talk about who has made it to the Hall of Fame.

The Fruit Ninjas then head to the playground, where they play a game original to Barrett Park — Lava Monster. The boys get on the play equipment and have to avoid being touched by the monster who lives in the playground woodchips, a.k.a. the hot lava. If they are tagged, they also become a lava monster.

Others go on the swings, or take part in a game of catch.

A few boys work on their lanyard projects. “It’s fun to pass the time,” said Wayne Delgado, who is attending camp for the third time. “When you’re done with it, they make really cool bracelets or key chains and you can make them for your friends.”

They leave the playground at 11:15 and have time for one more activity. Rambarran hears the calls for more Barrett Ball from his campers. He checks with Alex Valenti, one of the camp supervisors, who gives Rambarran the OK. The boys play for another half-hour before it’s time to prepare for dismissal.

“When their parents come, they’re usually exhausted,” Rambarran said.

Some days, basketball might be on the schedule. Once a week, the group heads to the arts and crafts tent. Whatever the plan, there is rarely a moment of down time.

“There’s so much to do here and you get all worn out,” said Ortiz, who usually relaxes as soon as he gets home.

Eddie O’Shea, 11, who is at camp for the second time, said he has to take a nap after camp because his three hours at Barrett are a “fun overload.”

The campers said that one of the reasons camp is so fun is because of the counselors. “They make the camp,” Ortiz said.

After this summer, Ortiz and Sarrion will still have one more year left to enjoy themselves as campers. They say they will be sad to leave, but they don’t plan on saying goodbye forever. “I want to be a counselor so bad,” Sarrion said.

If so, he would follow in the footsteps of people like Conerty, who has great childhood memories of Barrett. “I loved it,” he said. “I came everyday.”