From age 12 to age 16 (8 weeks in the summer) I was employed here:
RIAC Westwood YMCA
... first as a Junior Counselor age 12-13 then as a Senior Counselor 14-16.
Camp rates then were $7 for 2 weeks. This paid off as after College, and before the Army, I was employed as Waterfront Director at the YMCA Camp in Winthrop Maine. "Pay" was free camp.
Being at summer camp for 8 weeks for 5 years,was probably the best educational experience a young person could have. (and it probably helped my parents financially too... Tough times in the late 1940's.
During the rest of the year, my "job" was swimming... 2 to 3 hours per day, and much travel for swim meets. Paid off in four years full scholarship at college.
We didn't think in those days that athletics would be a path to college, but can understand now, why parents are willing to subsidize athletic camps and coaching. In today's real dollars, a four year education at my school costs about $250K. Not a bad payoff for all that practice... So, I guess you could call that training time "w*rk".
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(edit) to add a sudden memory spark... We rode back and forth to camp in the back of a big old stake truck... 20 kids at a a time... standing in the open truck bed, with suitcases stacked at one end. It was about an hour trip... no one thought a thing about this at the time... just another part of the great adventure.
