Forget tents, backpacks and lizards in your bunk.
Youngsters and adults who attend the Ultimate Sports Fantasy Camp will not only get to stay at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Marina Del Rey but they will rub elbows with such sports legends as boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard, tennis star Pete Sampras and sportscasting pioneer Dick Enberg.
But it doesn’t come cheap. It costs $30,000 for a full week. For those who want one session, which lasts for two days, it costs $14,000 for courtside coaching from Sampras and $9,000 for basketball or baseball lessons from the likes of former Laker James Worthy and Hall of Fame outfielder Frank Robinson.
“It’s for upper-middle-class and upper-class families and executives and perhaps their kids those who can afford this and can come to this kind of thing,” said Steve Webster, who co-founded the camp and represents several of the athletes involved.
He said that his prices are not out of line with similar camps in which sports stars coach.
Wayne Gretzky’s fantasy hockey camp is $15,000 and Michael Jordan’s fantasy basketball camp is $17,500, Webster said.
“It’s a little bit of a bargain for Pete when you compare it to other guys doing this,” Webster said. “These are all legends we’re talking about, not some background players.”
There’s a separate camp for youths aged 7 to 18 years. The youths pay less: $17,500 for the week; $5,000 for an individual baseball or basketball session; $7,500 for tennis and $3,500 for boxing. The individual sessions last only one day for the youths.
The full weeklong camp includes hotel, all meals, room-and-board and ground transportation. Campers are picked up from the airport in a limo and have breakfast, lunch and dinner with the athletes.
The project has already hit its first snag organizers had to postpone the planned August kickoff because a few of the celebrities had scheduling conflicts. Instead, the camp will be up and running in the first week in December.
So far, 10 people have enrolled in the camp. Attendance is capped at 24 for each sport.
