Meet Trevor Elder | Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Trevor Elder and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Trevor, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
In 2012, I founded Champ Camp with the vision of creating epic experiences for kids to play together. Through our High Fives & Good Vibes approach, our programs provide kids of varying interests and abilities with an encouraging environment to make new friends, play new games, learn new skills, and have an awesome time along the way. This vision and approach have guided us through the years and enabled us to positively impact thousands of kids across South Bay communities by instilling within them self-confidence, camaraderie, and memories they’ll never forget.

But as the old adage goes, “You don’t know what ya got til it’s gone,” and the sudden arrival of COVID and ensuing lockdowns taught us all this lesson in real time. The absence of kids’ ability to be around each other and engage in meaningful play shined a glaring light on how vital our pursuit is, and has always been, for the well being and development of our kids.

With a stronger purpose than ever before, we’re grateful for the opportunity to continue creating epic experiences for kids to play together, but with a heavy dose of the added context of how deeply necessary it is for kids (and not to mention adults) to get together and have a good time.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Champ Camp was born out of the audacious belief that we could do things better, and I’m excited to report back that our hunch was right on!..

When imagining what a typical kids program might look like, the traditional curriculum is laden with structure and strict rules (like a school day). For example, everyone does X at 10:00, this age group has to hang with that age group, etc. However, we began with the notion that things didn’t have to be this way. In fact, we posited that, by giving campers the freedom to paint the details of their days, we’d be able to more seamlessly create a free flow play-based environment that isn’t readily available to kids anywhere else. And lo and behold, it worked!

What makes me the proudest about Champ Camp’s journey is that our High Fives & Good Vibes approach, coupled with nurturing and engaging staff, has successfully paved the way for us to recreate epic experiences for kids across completely different environments. From Beach Camps to Skateboard Programs to Afterschool Programs in local communities, our underlying philosophy of positivity and engagement serves as the throughline for our success. This whole thing has very little to do with what we do, and just about everything to do with how and why we do it.

With our story having unfolded over the past ten years, it’s somewhat magical to look back now and reminisce on it all. However, we didn’t arrive at our perch today without our fair share of ups and downs. No matter the type of challenge, getting to the other side always hangs on our ability to keep the bigger picture in mind. By being able to access the 10,000 foot view in times of stress and remaining grateful for the opportunity to pursue this as “work” in the first place, there’s no challenge that we’ve encountered and haven’t been able to overcome. And lucky for us, every single difficulty that we successfully move through (as a business or as individuals) simply makes us better prepared for whatever future trials and tribulations come our way. Boom!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
To be honest, my life is pretty mellow and easy going outside of Champ Camp, but I’d do my best to show ’em a good time! As a self-proclaimed coffee snob, we’d definitely grab cold brews at least once per day at Tanner’s Cafe in Playa del Rey. I’m a big burrito guy as well (for all meals), so we’d most likely head for breakfast burritos at Blue Butterfly in El Segundo, and even more at Homestate in Playa Vista. Aside from getting way too caffeinated and eating a lot of good food, we’d also spend time chasing my son Odin around on his scooter and chatting around the fire pit on my patio. If you ask me, that sounds like a super nice time!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Although there are innumerable beacons of light whose support has been crucial to getting me to where I’m at in this moment, none shine brighter than my wife Ali. She’s been there since day one (we literally thought of the name “Champ Camp” together while driving down Interstate 15 in 2011) and has been an unyielding source of love and encouragement, through and through. In more recent years, she’s taken on an even more significant role in Champ Camp, providing much needed organizational assistance as we navigate the complexities of continual growth.

Entrepreneurship is a crash course of sorts in the discovery of one’s own weaknesses, and I pinch myself daily at how lucky I am to have a partner in crime who helps balance me out, both personally and in business. I love you, Ali!

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Website: ChampCampKids.com

Instagram: @ChampCampKids

Twitter: @ChampCampKids

Facebook: Facebook.com/ChampCampKids

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/champ-camp-beach-manhattan-beach

Image Credits
Salty Boy Productions