Camping Out

As a kid, one of the best parts of each summer was the opportunity to attend various summer camps, with athletic camps often the most exciting ones. And now, thanks to NIL, standout student-athletes can host their own camps anywhere in the country, inspiring the next generation of players in the process, and get compensated for it. 

At Maryland, student-athletes have taken full advantage of this opportunity with athletes on the football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s lacrosse, wrestling and field hockey teams all hosting camps over this past summer and other holiday breaks.

umterps.com has profiled a few of those camps below.

B Two-Four Camp

Bri McDaniel, a former Chicago Public School student-athlete and a self-described true Chicago kid, gives back to her city by providing a basketball camp to the girls of Chicago. 

“I just wanted to put back into the community and give the girls what I had,” McDaniel said. “People in my hometown get really excited when they see that I’m home so I really wanted to do something for the kids. I wanted to give them inspiration and tell them all the things it takes to reach that high-level.”

On her camp’s website, McDaniel states that her mission is, “to provide young girls with the insight to take the opportunities that this game provides and that B Two Four is built to educate, empower, uplift young girls to become everything they have the opportunity to B.”

McDaniel’s camp was held on two different dates in June, one day for elementary students and a second for high school, and it was a roaring success. 

“I was a little worried that we wouldn’t have a lot of people come, but I had a good amount show up. More importantly, the girls really loved their time there and would tell me how they wanted to stay longer at camp instead of going home.”

The Kelly Koras Lacrosse Experience

Men’s lacrosse players Daniel Kelly, Charlie Koras and Jack Koras, three guys who grew up less than an hour from Maryland’s campus—looked to give back to their local communities by putting together The Kelly Koras Lacrosse Experience. 

“Growing up we had so many college players help us and teach us along the way and we felt it was our time to give back,” Jack Koras said. “We want to help these kids in any way possible and be role models for them. Being able to pass on our skills and knowledge to the next generation was truly special and an amazing experience. We look forward to having more camps in the future.”

The three, all members of the 2022 National Championship Team, take the principles they’ve learned playing at Maryland to influence how they run their camps. Their camp slogan is, ‘Learn from the Best in order to Be the Best!’ 

“This was important for us to do because when we were younger we had many great role models we looked up to that played at the college level,” Charlie Koras said. “It was an awesome experience to meet and teach the kids new skills and now be a role model that they can look up to.”

With the Koras brothers graduating from Loyola Blakefield and Kelly as a Calvert Hall alumni, it was only right that the four camps were hosted at the two high schools.

“This camp was very important for us to do because we had college players help us grow at a young age and we believed it impacted us for the better,” Kelly said. “We wanted to give younger kids the opportunity to learn new skills in a fun environment. Our goal for the camps was to have these kids learn something new about the game of lacrosse and grow in their excitement for their future in the game. It was very rewarding for me to have the camps at my former High School, Calvert Hall. It was a full circle experience that I am very grateful for and hope to continue on in the future.”

Other Maryland men’s lacrosse players have hosted or co-hosted camps of their own this summer, including Luke Wierman and Logan McNaney running an All-American Specialist Camp in July.

Miller Time Camps

Building off their Miller Time nickname the Miller brothers, Ethen and Kal, have launched their own brand around the slogan, featuring social media posts, merchandise and now summer camps. 

The duo hosted multiple wrestling camps throughout Maryland, with some being run together and some individually, before returning to their hometown of Kansas City, Missouri to host a few special ones at home. 

“We both love giving back to the sport and will do anything to do so,” Kal said. “The camps are a great way to get everyone together and give the younger generation a little piece of the Miller Time knowledge!”

“It’s really fun to teach kids, whether it’s little kids or high school kids, new things and to teach them about what it takes to wrestle in college,” Ethen added. “The ones we’ve done back home are especially fun because a lot more people know us there. Giving back to the community and to young wrestlers is the biggest thing for me.”

Easton Field Hockey Camps

The Easton Field Hockey Camps are run by a trio of college field hockey players, including former Terp standout Emma DeBerdine as the head coach and current star Margot Lawn as an assistant. The camp prides itself on having current players, whether that is at the college or national level, with immense experience that will be able to relate and speak the same language as the campers.

For Lawn, becoming one of the camp coaches was a no-brainer.

“Emma sent me a text saying they were trying to grow the game on the Eastern Shore and before she even got the next line out in the text message, I was like, ‘Yes, I’m in.’ Just being able to grow the game there and show the girls that are from there that they can make it anywhere they want in this sport.”

And just like everyone involved with the other camps mentioned above, the chance to give back to girls who she used to be in the exact same position as has meant a great deal.

“I was in their shoes, I was a ball girl at Maryland who used to be starstruck when Missy would sign my poster,” Lawn said. “I wanted to show them that, yes I do play at Maryland, but they can come up and approach me about anything. Coaching camps is something I 100% want to do again in the future.”