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Do It Now/Sign up for sports camp

Coulda been a contender? Here's your second chance.

In high-school, some of us were jocks. Some of us weren't but wanted to be. Now, we're too old, too out-of-shape, too rusty.

Or are we? As any trainer will tell you, “The race belongs not just to the swift and strong, but to those who keep running.’’

It's not too late to take another stab at glory, because there are summer sports camps for adults as well as children. You may not win anything, but a weekend of instruction at least will renew your determination to keep at it.

Below are some of the camps available in the Upper Midwest. If you have doubts about whether you’ll fit in, call the camp and describe your abilities or expectations; staff will help you decide if it’s the right place for you. Ask about the proportion of instructors to students and how many hours of instruction are included.

Running: The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will offer its annual Adult Running Camp July 24-27, for beginners and short-distance runners as well as marathoners. Training is on wood-chip trails through a nature reserve and includes videotape analyses. Cost of $210 includes dormitory housing and meals. Call 715-346-3677, rwitt@uwsp.edu.

The Dick Beardsley Marathon Running Camp will be held Sept. 2-7 at Rainbow Resort, near Waubun in northwestern Minnesota. Beardsley is an instructor, along with staffers from Marathon and Beyond magazine. Runners use back roads and can accompany Beardsley on hourlong fishing trips. Cost includes 12 meals and housing in cabins on Little Bemidji Lake, from $775 for quad occupancy to $1,075 for single occupancy. A brochure is at www.marathonandbeyond.com, or call editor Jan Seeley at 217-359-9345. For resort information, check www.rainbowresort.com.

Golf: Chris Foley Golf Schools, at Madden’s Resort on Gull Lake, near Brainerd, Minn., holds three-day golf schools from May to early September, with one teacher for every four students. For Women Only schools will be May 9-11, May 30-June 1, June 8-10 and 20-22 and Aug. 22-24. Cost is $713-$793 per person double occupancy, $836-$996 single occupancy, and includes lodgings, meals, 12 hours of instruction, a video and workbook and one round of golf per day.

Couples schools will be May 2-4 and 23-25, June 13-15, Aug. 15-17 and Sept. 5-7. Cost is $693-$793 per person. Call 800-642-5363, www.chrisfoleygolf.com or www.maddens.com.

Tennis: On the campus of Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter, Minn., longtime instructor and champion Steve Wilkerson has been offering his excellent Tennis and Life camps for 32 years. There are waiting lists for his two adult camps, June 5-8 and 19-22, but there still are places in the family camp for ages 8 to 80. They're June 17-20 and July 24-27, $490. Cost includes dormitory lodging and meals. St. Peter is an hour southwest of the Twin Cities. Call 507-931-1614, www.gustavus/edu/tlc.

US Sports Camps holds Nike Tennis Camps in Chicago's Grant Park June 20-22, July 18-20, Aug. 22-24 and Sept. 19-21. Instruction is $345; students can stay at one of the many nearby hotels. Camps also are held on the campus of Northwestern University in the Chicago suburb of Evanston and the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill. Call 800-645-3226, www.ussportscamps.com.

Sailing: Superior Charters in Bayfield, Wis., offers certification courses on boats of all sizes, after which students are allowed to charter a boat of a similar size. The basic two-day "Learn to Sail'' class is $795 per person; including lunch and accommodations on the boat; the three-day course includes an overnight at anchor with the instructor, $1,195.

Students sail on Chequamegon Bay and around the Apostle Islands, cooking on board and sleeping at the dock. Call 800-772-5124, www.superiorcharters.com. Sailors who plan to charter their own boats out of Bayfield may want to be certified with the company, which has the largest freshwater fleet in North America.

Northern Breezes Sailing School, based in the Twin Cities suburb of New Hope, also offers four-day bareboat charter certification courses on Lake Superior out of Bayfield, Thursdays-Sundays from early June to late September.

The courses also are held on Lake Michigan out of Ludington, Mich., from late June to mid-September. Cost of $895 includes most meals and onboard accommodations. Call 763-542-9707, www.sailingbreezes.com.

Kayaking: Bear Paw Outdoor Adventure Resort, near White Lake in northeast Wisconsin, holds three-day, three-part beginner's kayak immersion courses from mid-May to the end of August, $300 (each part also can be taken separately) and a Northern Trifecta course for intermediates, three days on three rivers, $399.

Guests can camp for $18 or stay in rustic cabins, $36 for four; cabin rooms, $79-$85; or chalets, $185 for up to six. There's also a restaurant. In 2007, the resort was destroyed by a tornado on June 7; this year on that date, it will celebrate its Grand Reopening. Call 715-882-3502, www.bearpawoutdoors.com.

Hunting and fishing: Deep Portage Conservation Reserve, a nonprofit environmental learning center on nearly 10 square miles of forest and lakes near Hackensack, Minn., has a Fly Fishing and Morel Hunt class May 16-18, $300 including meals and dormitory lodging. Wingshooting School will be May 16-18 and Aug. 22-24; inclusive cost is $400. Call 218-682-2325, www.deep-portage.org.

Last updated on March 11, 2008