By Ryan Harvey | Old Dominion University
Apr 12, 2026
(Photographed by Tynan Tucker, at The Mitchell Pehlke Experience, 2025)
The camera is rolling as kids gather around with their lacrosse sticks in hand, waiting for the airhorn to sound. In the middle of it all stands Mitchell Pehlke. He nods to bring the group in, offers a few words of encouragement, hits a couple of frogs (his fan favorite and signature pose), and suddenly, the moment feels a bit bigger than just a regular summer camp. It’s not just about sharpening lacrosse skills; it’s also about being seen.
The feeling is familiar to anyone who’s attended a sports camp in the past, but the environment around his camp is different. This doesn’t feel like the traditional camp you might be thinking about. It feels like something built for a different version of college sports.
This is ‘The Mitchell Pehlke Experience.’
What started as an extension to Pehlke’s growing online presence — from back to his freshman year of high school, when he first began consistently uploading to YouTube, through his college career at Ohio State — has grown into something much bigger: a traveling lacrosse camp series across the country. It blends high-level instruction, premium STX gear giveaways, social media exposure, and direct access to some of the most recognizable names in college lacrosse.
What stands out the most isn’t just the camp itself, it’s his consistency. Through a conversation I was able to have with Pehlke, he breaks down how his mindset developed as he entered the space he now regularly operates in.
“If I were entering college right now in the full NIL era, I wouldn’t really do anything differently,” Pehlke said. “I’m actually glad I started creating content early. If anything, I would’ve started sooner.”
By the time he arrived at Ohio State, he was well on his way in his YouTube career.
“I got there around 10,000 subscribers, and it only helped me grow,” Pehlke said. “It let me focus more on improving content and eventually monetizing my name.”
Those early uploads shaped how he approached everything that came after. What looks like momentum from the outside was built on a level of structure most people don’t see.
“When I got to Ohio State, the goal was to make the business stand on its own,” he said. “Now it’s managing people, delegating tasks, and still trying to create the best content possible.”
Even now, that process never slows down.
“After I click post, it’s always what’s next,” he said. “There’s a small amount of relief, but then the pressure resets for the next week.”
From just looking at his channels, it’s easy to miss how much work is being done behind the scenes for Pehlke. On top of playing at Ohio State, he was balancing performance, branding, and content all at the same time.
“This is my life,” Pelhke laughed. “People see highlights and clips, but they don’t see how much time actually goes into everything.”
Managing training, schoolwork, editing footage, thumbnails, planning content, shooting the content, and preparing for camp made it nearly impossible to catch a break that most people need.
“I’d wake up at six, edit, go to practice, go to class, do homework, then work on the next video,” Pehlke said. “The biggest thing people never saw was the time. I live and die by my Google Calendar.”
Even with the workload that came with being a student-athlete and full-time content creator, it was never one or the other for him. It was both. A student-athlete and creator.
“My coach sat me down and told me I had school, the team, and then whatever I wanted outside of that,” Pehlke said. “As long as those stayed in order, there was no issue.”
Now that more schools and student athletes are diving into NIL, Pehlke still believes the biggest misconception younger athletes have is about what this path actually takes to maintain.
“People see it and think they want to do it too,” Pehlke said. “But they don’t realize how much consistency it takes. That’s the hardest part… doing it every single day.”
That same consistency is what he carries into his camps. What looks like a simple lacrosse experience is just an extension of the same system he built on his channels — structure, repetition, and constant output.
With 20 camps scheduled in the coming months, ‘The Mitchell Pehlke Experience’ continues to expand across the country, blending more instruction, exposure, and energy at every stop.
Camp dates and locations for ‘The Mitchell Pehlke Experience’ are listed below, and make sure to visit his website for any further details.
Charlottesville, VA — May 24
Richmond, VA — June 1
Charleston, SC — June 2–3
Atlanta, GA — June 4
Orlando, FL — June 5
Dallas, TX — June 8–9
Denver, CO — June 10–11
Baltimore, MD — June 15–16
Northern Virginia — June 17–18
Connecticut — June 29–30
Boston, MA — July 6–7
Philadelphia, PA — July 8–9
Long Island, NY — July 13–14
New Jersey — July 15–16
Ohio — July 20–21
Chicago, IL — July 22–23
Upstate New York — July 27–28
Pacific Northwest — August 3
Northern California — August 4–5
San Diego, CA — August 6
