Who says you have to be in your 20s to make it to the pros? Holidaymakers–even the overweight, middle-aged kind–are discovering that fantasy sporting vacations offer experiences once thought unattainable. Already a thriving $1 billion industry in the United States, the field is spreading to embrace the dreams of aspiring professional athletes around the world. In France, would-be contenders like Le Cam have been flocking to the countryside to ride the Tour de France in growing numbers since the early 1990s. In southern Spain, a Dutch oil tycoon and racing driver is constructing a race-car resort that will offer packages retailing for as much as $25,000 a day. The owners of an American baseball fantasy retreat, meanwhile, are considering opening up shop in Japan. And British entrepreneur Leo Pearlman expects to launch Europe’s first-ever fantasy sports “camp” in October. “The cult of the sporting celeb has never been greater,” says Pearlman, who plans to offer weekend rugby, football, cricket and boxing adventures for a modest 2,995 pounds a person.
The model for the sports fantasy vacation can be found in the United States, where baby boomers began signing up to schmooze with their favorite retired athletes in the early 1980s. The idea has always been to offer amateurs a taste of the professional sports world. Among participants at the Randy Hundley Fantasy Baseball Camp, one of America’s first, the average age is 50, says director Lori Sochi. Forty percent are “veterans,” meaning they come back every winter. For the $3,495 fee, they get to work out in the Chicago Cubs’ spring-training facility in Mesa, Arizona. Each receives his own Cubs uniform, which is placed in a locker in the very same clubhouse the actual Cubs use.
The most exciting part of the experience for many is the chance to schmooze with–and get tips from–some of their favorite legends. “To play their favorite sports with the people they grew up watching–it’s a childhood dream for a lot of these guys,” says Sochi. Larry Marino, president of Sports Adventures, which offers both a Wayne Gretzky hockey camp and a Boston Red Sox baseball camp, notes that for the amateur athlete, it’s a thrill just to be in the pros’ locker room. “They’ve never had the opportunity to walk up and shake hands with a sports legend,” he says. “All of a sudden they’re not only meeting them–they get to spend a week almost in their shoes.”
The experience can be powerful and inspiring, regardless of the sport. Le Cam is a survivor of prostate cancer, just like Lance Armstrong. After being diagnosed in the early 1990s, Le Cam turned to biking for solace. “It was a way to escape, to confront physical suffering,” he recalls. Now he tries to raise cancer awareness by biking in a jersey emblazoned with the words let’s ride together against cancer. For Al Roth, 67, fantasy camp was an opportunity to let go. He gave up his dream of becoming a pro boxer in the early 1960s, instead going into the women’s lingerie business so he could feed his family. But Roth always wondered what would have happened if he’d pursued his dream, and for years yearned to return to the ring.
Last fall he finally did. At Gleason’s Boxing Camp in the mountains of upstate New York, he spent a week developing what he calls a “staggering left hook” under the tutelage of retired world champion Carlos Ortiz. At the end of the week, he got to test it out on one of his fellow campers. “To tell you the truth, it was one of the three highlights of my life–it was so exciting!” he recalls. “You’re surrounded by champions, by the best that there ever was. Just the fact of being with them, and you’re training with them, and when you fight, they’re in your corner! I’m going back next year.”
In Britain, the most sought-after celebrities are football and rugby players. Red Letter Days (redletterdays.co.uk) offers “behind the scenes tours” of Wimbledon (75 pounds) and Manchester United’s field (125 pounds). While guests don’t get to play, they go down onto the court at Wimbledon, and at Manchester, locally famous club players like Arthur Albiston give private tours. And the firm seems to be inching in the direction of American-style reality camps. It’s now possible to ride and play at the famous Ascot Park Polo Club (185 pounds). Britain’s Mike Gatting is willing to dish out cricket advice to groups of 20 or more for 185 pounds a head. Snooker champion John Virgo offers private lessons and even promises to share snooker-world gossip for 3,950 pounds. Another company, the Activity Superstore (activity superstore.co.uk), sets up clients with England goalkeeper Peter Shilton for 2,749 pounds. It’s only a day, but Shilton lets clients take penalty kicks against him. Training with Phil Tufnell, one of England’s most famous cricketers, goes for 7,999 pounds. “To meet people they aspire to be and they feel they connect to is a great luxury gift,” says Kristel Valaydan, a spokeswoman for Red Letter Days. “People can appreciate it more than an inanimate object. They take away memories.”
Sometimes the celebrity is not necessarily a person. For fans of race-car driving, it’s all about the car. When Ian Turvey, an account manager for a British food company, turned 30, his bosses shelled out 1,199 pounds to send him to the Formula One racetrack at Aintree Racing School (racing-school.co.uk), just outside London. “People don’t believe me when I tell them I drove a single-seater F-1,” he says. “I was in the red on the rev counter, hugging the corners. Everybody dreams of that scenario.”
In southern Spain, Dutch oil tycoon and racing enthusiast Klaas Zwart will soon open the Ascari Race Resort in a grassy oak-studded valley near Ronda. The camp will feature a custom-designed, 5,425-meter Formula One race course that re-creates features pluck-ed from legendary European tracks like the Paddock Hill Bend at Britain’s Brands Hatch and the Eau Rouge curve from Spa, Belgium. Campers will be able to drive exotic cars (like Ascari’s own KZ1; top speed over 320kph) as fast as their makers intended. Slated for completion in 2006, Ascari’s promoters are promising a unique fusion of “high-speed adrenaline and luxurious relaxation.”
When Pearlman’s new fantasy sports camp opens in October, it will follow the model set by America’s themed fantasy camps. For 2,995 pounds a person, Pearlman plans to offer weekend retreats in Portugal and London for individuals as well as corporate groups. For his football camp, he already has retired greats Frank McLintock, Ray Wilkins and more onboard. During the day, sports fans will get to play against teams of retired legends; at night, they’ll stay in luxury hotels and drink champagne.
As the summer holidays approach, thousands of Europeans will undoubtedly yearn to break out the biking shorts, put on the kneepads and send their driving gloves to the cleaners. Many would do well to remember this fact: at least one third of the fantasy vacations are gifts from one spouse to another–namely, wives to husbands. So maybe it’s time to take a loved one out to dinner and start dropping hints.
