Asphalt Green & Chelsea Piers Offer Sports Camps That Stay In Manhattan
For parents of athletic and curious kids that need somewhere to park them during busy periods, these two rip-roaring camp providers will offer every activity under the sun.
| 24 Jan 2024 | 11:26
Asphalt Green’s Summer Day Camp runs from June 27 to August 16, and features a wide variety of sports for kids to play. (
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“Ninja + parkour” camp is a stand-out feature at Chelsea Piers. (
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For Manhattanites with sporty kids looking for a stupendous camp adventure once school lets out–but who don’t want to send them to sleep-away camp–Asphalt Green & Chelsea Piers offer some good local options.
Asphalt Green’s Summer Day Camp, its flagship offering, will take place between June 27 and August 16. It’s for kids between the ages of four and thirteen, and takes place in two locations: their headquarters on E. 90th St. and Battery Park City. In an interview with Straus News, camp director Katie Duffy said that it is a “very active program. The intention is to build character, confidence, and community.”
“We do that through a variety of activities. We have instructional swim for our campers. We have sports like basketball, soccer, baseball, tennis, and flag football.” Yoga and martial arts make an appearance as well. For kids that may not have other chances to explore their artistic side, theatre and crafts programs are also included.
“Our campers get to participate in all of these activities,” Duffy said, noting that the overall experience is “fairly active in terms of movement.”
Asphalt Green also maintains specialty summer programs for kids, such as swim clinics that are “geared towards the competitive swimmer.” They also have a basketball clinic at Battery City City during the late summer months, with a soccer clinic in early June.
Prices can be found on Asphalt Green’s website, and range from $3,000 to $9,100.
Asphalt Green helpfully offers scholarships. Duffy said that the application portal for Summer Day Camp scholarships just opened on Jan. 8, and will close on February 9.
”We offer scholarships that are as great as 75 percent of the tuition being covered, and we’re really proud to be able to offer that. We can welcome anybody to camp regardless of income level. It’s really important to us to be able the share the camp experience with everyone,” she added.
Asphalt Green camps are not limited to the summer months, of course. A significant season-round offering are their “Play Day” camps (until now known as Mini-Camps), which occur during federal holidays and over school breaks. For example, a staggered March Madness camp goes down around the same time as the famed NCAA tournament.
For downtown residents looking for more offerings, Chelsea Piers has a genuine abundance of sports camps. These include: basketball, golf, gymnastics, ninja + parkour, ice hockey, ice skating, multi-sport, teen adventure, soccer, and volleyball. Most Chelsea Piers sports camps run from 8:45 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., although some “junior” sports camps end by midday. Costs range from around $800 to around $1,600, with add-ons such as transportation or “aftercare” available.
Teen Adventure, which takes place at Chelsea Piers’s Fitness Center, includes biweekly sessions of activities ranging from sailing to hiking. It is advertised as taking place against the “stunning backdrop of the Hudson River.” Daily activities include workouts and sports such as basketball, but Wednesdays are slated for “off-site trips.” This may include sojourns such as go-karting or Lazer tag.
Chelsea Piers’s golf camp, perhaps a rarity on the island of Manhattan, boasts of having “LPGA and PGA certified” instructors. A trip to Flushing Meadows Pitch N’ Putt is a certified highlight.