Iona College Geelong Leadership Yr 8 to 10 Camp Blog

The Summit recently had the year 8-10s from Iona College enter through the gates for an epic 3-day camp consisting of eight activities, a massive mud run, and more.

Day one started with settling in their accommodation, getting set up, and then gathering down at the Lodge where they met the coaches Sam (Fish), Calarnee, Spinks, and Sam P. Here Calarnee explained the Five Keys of camp (Have Fun, Play All In, Make Mistakes, Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable and Don’t Go Home Wondering What If) before they moved down to the stage, their main hub area down in the park, they played a group game before learning about numbered spots and beginning initiatives. This included J-bomb, Spiders, Keypunch, and Tiles. After these, all the groups learned about Helmets and Harnesses' safety and the power of our goal-setting technique called Target, Stretch, and Super Stretch. After this, it was time for the first two rotations. For the first rotation of camp Group one who ended up calling themselves Vanilla G.O.A.T. Klick, started with Bag Blitz, the very first group to take part in this activity on Timmy's Tower, history in the making. Group two, Angry Badgers, started with Giant Swing with Calarnee, Group three, Slay the Day, had Abseiling with Spinks, and Group four, Sammy's Little Minions, had Snowy River Challenge. The groups would then rotate through these activities so that everyone finished day one having completed two of the four activities, then it was time to gather on the stage for a quick farewell by the coaches for the day and also an explanation of what the rest of the camp would look like. Then they got to have some chicken schnitzel dinner and a 45-minute session with the teachers involving balloons. After which it was time to get some rest for the day ahead.

Day two came around and it began with an Intentions session run by Spinks, talking about how some things are out of our control, how we can manage that, and how we can avoid that affecting our day. Then we headed down the park for a game of Finger Fencing before the next lot of rotations began. The first two for the day matched the previous two, making sure every group had the chance to give the activities a go. Rotation three was a new set. Beginning with group one on Jump Free (our other brand new activity on Timmy's Tower), Angry Badgers in the Cave, Slay the Day getting rewarded by the view on Summit Window, and Sammy's Little Minions duking it out in Laser Skirmish. After this rotation it was time for lunch which consisted of sweet chilli chicken tender wraps to eat, before heading over to their accommodations, to prepare for the mud run. After this, it would be one more rotation and then straight into one of the biggest parts of camp: The Monster Course.

The Monster Course was as challenging as the name suggests. Once all groups were back on the stage and informed how it would run, the teams were sent out in heats of two, charging over, under, and through obstacles, getting wet and muddy along the way, until crossing that finishing line and having set a time to compete against the other teams... Or so they thought. The Summit likes to do things a little bit differently, and the leadership students of Iona learnt this at this moment. While also learning and strengthening a much more important tool, resilience. The race wasn't over, every team would be doing the course all over again, the new winners indicated by the team improving by the most, but the true winners being the teams who support each other, and make it through again, when they thought it was over, giving it their all when there should be nothing left to give, in which every team succeeded.

After this, it was welcome news there was no lap three, and everyone retreated to the well-deserved showers and dinner, preparing them for a powerful belief and mindset session given by the epic Summit coach Liam, sharing how what we believe can impact how we perform. Regardless of how skilled we may be. It finished with the students having the opportunity to destroy some of these beliefs or even smash through onto some new, more helpful ones. Then it was time for sleep, where everyone would need as much rest as possible, to be ready for the final day.

Day three, eight in the morning. By now all students would be eating breakfast, paired with everything they'd have with them on their bus, having already fully cleared their accommodation. Before heading down to the park, breakfast would be followed up with a gratitude session run by Sam, sharing the power of gratitude, and how it can help in the morning, setting the day up for success, but also in the moment, not letting external factors get the better of a situation. Once everyone was down at the park, it was time for a game of Jockeys, a game played hard, and then the last two activities of camp, which were a continuation from the day before, again doing the two that had not yet been done. After this, it was time for lunch and results, and some well-deserved thank yous for everyone involved in making such an epic camp possible.

Not all results were able to be given during this time, so to make sure everyone is acknowledged for their amazing effort in this camp and the activities involved, these were all recorded results for:

Snowy River Challenge:

1.  12:11 Sammy's Little Minions

2.  15:14 Slay the Day

3.  15:34 Vanilla G.O.A.T. Klick

4.  18:13 Angry Badgers

Monster Course Improvement Times:

1.  7:45 Vanilla G.O.A.T. Klick

2.  7:36 Slay the Day

3.  7:28 Angry Badgers

4.  7:03 Sammy's Little Minions

And our amazing team-voted values winners:

Darby     (Vanilla G.O.A.T. Klick)

Lilli         (Angry Badgers)

Joseph   (Slay the Day)

Hudson  (Sammy's Little Minions)

This was an amazing camp to be part of, and that wouldn't have been possible without the incredible staff and students of Iona College. From all of us from The Summit we'd like to extend a massive thank you, and we cannot wait until next time. We'll see you through those gates once more then.