Tony Sparber can relate to the kids he hopes to help. As a somewhat obese youngster, he was regularly the last one picked for teams in gym class. All that changed for him at the age of fifteen, when his parents started a camp to help young people lose weight-- Weight Watcher’s Camps. He was able to learn the difference that thirty pounds would make to help him become more content with himself and more confident with his peers. With over 20 years of knowledge, Sparber has devoted his life to helping obese kids to not only lose weight, but to also build self-confidence in the process. Tony has a Bachelors Degree in business with a minor in physical education. He is a member of the American Camping Association, the National Camping Association and the Norwood, NJ Board of Recreation. Tony’s camps are located at, Reeder’s, PA and Ojai, CA. Both are designed for kids ages 7-19, to help them have an enjoyable time while also losing weight. The program was well thought out to help the growth of the camper’s inner selves and make them aware of proper nutrition. These are vital skills to take home ensuring they continue to maintain their weight. The youngsters spend time in activities to build friendships, physical awareness and properly portion their food to guarantee healthy eating. Not only does Sparber attempt to treat his campers with respect, he does his best to keep them in shape year round, especially when counselors aren’t looking over their shoulders. Sparber accomplishes this with his ongoing, newly developed internet brainchild named Strive! Through Strive! Sparber can provide ongoing maintenance, education and support to the camps when they return to their regular environment. Strive! Allows the campers to email a fitness trainer everyday to describe their food intake as well as their fitness routine. In turn, the fitness trainer can e-mail back daily pointers and have pep talks with the camper. Emailing fits into a child’s busy lifestyle because for five minutes a day, they can use the computer for something productive. Camp Pocono Trails the Pennsylvania camp was featured on MTV’s True Life: Fat Camp in February 200 and runs continuously on the network. In this 88 minute documentary, which has gained somewhat of a cult following, the cameras followed numerous campers through the rigorous but fulfilling activities they endured at Sparber’s Camp, but helped to show the mental and physical victory the campers achieved along the way. Sparber’s camps have been quoted in widely read sources such as the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, The Orlando Sentinel, Family Circle, Newsday, Teen Magazine and Web MD. New Image Camps enrolled over 1000 campers, summer 2006 and boasts pounds lost total at 13,000. According to Sparber, the key to a successful summer at a weight loss camp does not depend on the total amount of pounds lost. Though his goal for the campers is to teach them the same life skills that helped him as a teenager, he wants each one to return home from camp in the best physical and mental shape of their lives.
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