Registration was a blur of push-ups, unpacking and Dig Deep pledges. Then we all met in the gym to start our adventure. We split into five groups and spread out across the campus. The rotation was:
Digging Deep (literally) – moving 4 yards of dirt 4 feet.
Name Game – Tennis Ball Agility
Rock Walk – 300 vertical feet of climbing with a freshly picked rock out of the Mad River
Numbers Game – strategy at its best
Blind Basketball – teamwork extraordinaire
In the middle of the rotation is started to pour and the groups dug deep and hammered through it. What’s a little rain when you are working hard?
Dinner of pasta, meatballs, salad and fruit was devoured. Then after a break to digest it was out to the ELITEAM woods for a meeting and to watch the coaches and counselors run the Obstacle course.
Fully regenerated, it was time to focus on agility with pole games, pole agility drills and relays! I think we fit three days in one!
COACHES CORNER-
Dig Deep station:
Coach Lauren- “See this pile of dirt? We need to move it 20 feet to the left. Go!” That’s all it took and they were off…grunting and grinning ear to ear with their 5 gallon orange buckets and a dozen shovels. Some partnered up, others learned the hard way not to fill the bucket to the brim, and all finished with sandy shoes! The emotions ranged as they continued to DIG DEEPER!
“Actually Fun” –Donatella
“Awesome!”-Louise
“Getting Stronger” -Charlie Schibli
“Painful” –Eli
“Is this manual labor legal?” –Blythe
“I do this for a living” – Justin
The Name Game:
Coach Doug- We did penalty pushups anytime we dropped the ball. We counted those penalty pushups in 5 different languages!
Numbers Game:
Coach JT- Today during the numbers game kids strategized on how to touch all 30 numbers in numerical order to achieve the best time possible. It was a great teamwork exerciser. Each group reworked their strategy to improve their time each round. The best time among the groups was 19 seconds!!! Very impressive.
Rock Walk:
Coaches Morgan & Carter- One of the orientation stations was the rock walk. All of the campers walked down a steep hill to the river where they had to select a rock, which was equivalent in size to their age. Once they found a rock, they had to climb back up the hill carrying it. Although the hill was steep, campers wanted to try to carry the biggest rock they could back up the hill. Flynn selected a large rock. As he began the climb, he lost his grip and it slipped back down the hill. In place of the rock he grabbed a log and persevered up the rest of the hill.
Blind Basketball:
Coach Dan- Today I got to work with all of the campers at our blindfolded basketball orientation station. The campers split up into teams of two with one partner being blindfolded and the other partner giving them instructions on how to navigate through the course, picking up dodge balls, and depositing them into buckets. Great teamwork and communication occurred throughout the afternoon. My favorite part was at the end when we blindfolded all of the campers, and secretly removed all of the buckets and balls from the course!
Randomly overheard quotes:
Camper- As the rain started…”I kind of just want to go roll in a puddle”
Camper- On the rock walk… “I was built for going downhill not uphill”
Coach- Entering the ELITEAM Ropes Course area- “Lots of things have happened to me in these woods.”
CAMPER QUOTES-
What activity did you like the best today and why?
Logan- Relay races. I liked running.
Russell- The poles because it was challenging.
Joey- Rock walk. It was fun.
What was your most challenging moment, and how did you push through it?
Jack- Rock walk. I said Dig Deep in my mind.
Russell- Rock walk. I pushed through by trying to reach my goals.
Right now I am…
Ricky- Happy, 3% tired.
Russell- Pumped up!
Joey- HAPPY!
If you could tell your mom one thing right now, what would it be?
Ricky- I love this place!
Russell- I’m having so much fun!
Joey- Awesome.
