On a warm Wednesday afternoon, the students of Korumburra arrived at The Summit eager to begin their adventure. After checking into their accommodations, they met with the coaches and teachers at the Stadium. The team leader introduced The Summit coaches, Fran, Lucy and Enis, and Fran introduced the group to the Five Keys of camp.
These keys are:
- Have Fun
- Play All In
- Make Lots of Mistakes
- Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
- Don’t Go Home Wondering “What If”
Before starting their 8 activity rotations, they played a game of 50 Up and were shown the BBQ shelter, including all the important locations around the park. This included their numbered spots (where to gather before going to their activities), after which they went to their first activity, consisting of either Jump Free with Sam, Scavenger Hunt with Enis, High Wire with Fran, or Snowy River with Fran. During some of these activities, the coach demonstrated how to put on a harness and helmet and introduced them to a goal-setting strategy called Target, Stretch, and Super Stretch to help break activities down into more manageable steps. After the first rotation, afternoon tea, and the second rotation, to wrap up the day, Fran explained The Summit way of giving written affirmations and compliments; they are called GMICs (Great Moments in Camp); the students were then informed of times for dinner before receiving some final information from teachers and enjoying some free time.
On day two, the group had breakfast and returned to the Stadium for a session on intentions with Sam (Fish). They discussed the importance of setting an intention, a goal, the Target, Stretch, Super Stretch method of achieving it, and how who you choose to be can have an impact on those around you. Afterwards, a game of Huckle Buckle was played to be in a state ready to face the three activities before lunch. Two of which completed the first set, with the final rotation beginning the new four. These four new activities consisted of Summit Window with Fish, Cave with Enis, Bag Blitz with Fran, and Laser Skirmish with Lucy. After lunch, there was another rotation and the Monster Course. For the Monster Course, coaches led them through 9 obstacles with three tyres, Holy Buckets, Charades, Tarp Catch, Sleds, Ball Puzzle, Big Cargo, Snowy Pit, and Brucey, finishing off with the Ball Pit before crossing that finish line. But they weren’t finished. It wasn’t just one, but two laps, a two-lap obstacle course, to emphasize resilience and the importance of self-improvement. The winner had the most improved time from their first lap. Finally, they rinsed off, had a shower, and had some dinner before ending the day.
Last day, and there were a few tired faces in the room. (Super) Fran spoke with the students of Korumburra about gratitude, reading out a bunch of GMICs, sharing moments, things, and people she was grateful for, and also asking for some of the students to share the same. Next was a game of Jockeys to get our bodies moving, but soon there were only two more rotations. After they were completed, the students reported to the BBQ shelter to have lunch as The Summit staff said their goodbyes. All students then made their way to the buses and were on their way back to school.
In the last rotation of camp, the tribes got to reflect on their camp experience with each other, and were given a debriefing strategy called; Rock, Stick and Leaf (something that rocked about camp, something that will stick with you and something that you would leave behind). They also voted for a member of their team they believed followed the Five Keys the most during their whole camp experience, and the winners of those votes are as follows:
- Bballs >> Chase
- Hornbackers > Lizzy
- Actually, Nevermind >> Zarli
- Superpower >> Kurt
Well done guys, as an additional thank you for your effort in contributing to this camp, the Value winners received some medals which are now in those tribe-voted winners’ possession to keep.
For the other results, in which there were two, Snowy River Challenge ended up with this:
- 17:53 – Actually, Nevermind
- 18:25 – Hornbackers
- 19:23 – Superpower
- 19:38 – BBalls
And Monster Course improvement times, from top to bottom, are:
- 12:35 – Superpower
- 6:12 – BBalls
- 5:02 – Actually, Nevermind
- 0:37 – Hornbackers
It’s also worth noting the one more rather significant thing that occurred on this camp: that the previous standing record for Bag Blitz wasn’t just beaten, but obliterated. Where it soon wasn’t a comp of seeing who could beat the all-time record, but who could beat their friend’s record! Kurt didn’t hold it for long, our overall winner Liam has now become our current Bag Blitz champion with an outstanding time of 5:15!
And on that note, on behalf of The Summit and its coaches, thank you all for playing all in and joining us in having all the fun, and we wish you all the best for the rest of the year!
