In 1971, young teacher, Sasha Bunchuk, bought into a day camp franchise called Young Travelers in Queens, NY. He was hooked!!! In 1972 he started his own day camp in Queens called Adventure Day Camp. He ran Adventure Day Camp until the summer of 1977. Married to Judy and with Jamie just arriving, they wanted a facility that was closer to their Bergen County, New Jersey home. Specifically Harrington Park, NJ

In 1978, Judy and Sasha Bunchuk with their cousins Rita and John Saladucha who were currently living in Demarest, NJ bought Funland Day Camp in Rockland County, NY. The name of LeCamp was chosen and the trip from Bergen County to Rockland County for summer day camp activities was a dream come true. LeCamp Day Camp initially began as a health food camp, serving tofu dogs and carob chips. There were calisthenics in the morning complete with an obstacle course that include tire and rope challenges, nature trails thru the woods, along with all the sports, arts and special events (Apache Relay, Day Camp Olympics, Mardi Gras and Costume Day) that are a part of the LeCamp/Champion Day Camp tradition.

In the mid-80s, LeCamp added Champion All-Sports Academy at Lecamp. Kids now had a choice of the traditional day camp experience of LeCamp or a sports day camp experience in the All-Sports Academy. The Champion All-Sports Academy was a day camp that combined instruction and games in multiple sports with elective choices. Today, sports include flag football, baseball, soccer, dodgeball, tennis, golf, gaga, lacrosse and street hockey. Daily elective choices include swimming, mini-golfing, skateboarding, go-karts, inflatables, laser tag, paintball target shooting and ropes course activities.

In the early 90s, the Kiddie Corral Day Camp (campers ages 3 to 5) and Teen Leadership Corp (TLC campers 14 & 15) became separated from the LeCamp Program. Kiddie Corral campers were separated from the general LeCamp population and “right-sized” programming was and is being constantly updated and modified. Formerly CITs, TLC campers were given the opportunity for a new camp experience. A curriculum was developed to prepare campers for possible summer counselor positions while still providing a safe, fun camp experience.

The LeCamp name was officially changed in 1995 to Champion Day Camp. Currently, 4 distinct day camp programs allow all our Champion Campers to be champions each and every summer. The four summer day camp programs are the Kiddie Corral Day Camp, the All-Activity Day Camp, the All-Sports Academy and the Teen Leadership Corp.

In 2003 the Champion Family extended and Jamie and ,husband, Greg Pinkham came into the family business. Their son, Brayden, is currently growing up at Champion just like his mom. Fall days are spent wrapping up the camp season, weekends are busy with children’s birthday parties (www.championparties.com) and company picnics (www.championpicnics.com), winters are spent hiring staff and planning for summer and once the winter breaks the property is once again prepared for another defining moment in a Champion Campers life.

Over the years daily morning calisthenics have moved towards a more diverse offering of programs and scheduling. Sasha, Judy and Rita have been busy moving the landscape around, adding and expanding buildings, and transforming the obstacle course into a complete ropes course. Currently, ropes activities include a climbing wall, zipline, high ropes & low ropes, screaming leap and our signature, 52 ft. Humongous Tower. Programs have been constantly being updated and reworking to keep up with campers wants and needs. Over the years, archery has given way to paintball target shooting, 9 hole mini golf to 18 hole mini golf, shuffleboard courts to a skateboarding park, horse shoe pit to dodge ball arena, small pool water slides to giant tube water slides, playground area to inflatables park. New activities that have become part of a Champion summer include gaga, pickleball, go-karting, computer lab, laser tag, yoga, digital photography and much much more!

Over the years the spirit of the summer day camp property has remained the same. Kids from Rockland County, NY and Bergen County, NJ with towns including Ft. Lee, Paramus, Oradell, Ridgewood, Closter, New City, Suffern, Nyack and all the surrounding areas have come for a warm friendly atmosphere of camp fun. A Champion camper will have new experiences, great summers and make lifelong friends in a safe and friendly environment.