Rochester SC Year 9 Camp Blog

On a warm Wednesday afternoon, the students from Rochester Secondary College went through The Summit gates eager to check into their accommodation. They made their way into the Blue Room, where they met coaches Spinks and Calarnee. Once introduced, Cal shared The Summit's Five Keys to a great camp experience.

Five Keys:

1. Have Fun

2. Play All In

3. Make Lots of Mistakes

4. Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

5. Don't Go Home Wondering, ‘What if'

After a game was played, we made our way down to the BBQ Shelter in the hub area; we then played a game of Gotcha to move our bodies, followed by a game called 'Target, Stretch, Super Stretch', which is also one of The Summit's goal-setting strategies where taught to his students about how to plan one step at a time in three manageable tasks from setting a target which they know they could do, a stretch which they think they could do and a super stretch which on their best day if they could achieve their stretch then they could reach their super stretch. We then played a game called Screaming Turtles before having some afternoon tea and heading into the first two activity rotations for that day.  Cave and Bush Challenge: in the cave, they got to go underground into the unknown and make their way from point A to point B by merely using their senses instead of their vision. In the Bush Challenge, they worked as a team in a time challenge to complete four different levels and finally achieve their giant puzzle piece. In the end, both teams smashed out lap one and lap two. The Wonky Turtles won the second lap, and the Ferrel Fish won the first one. (The Ferrel Fish even asked for a third lap and improved their time, well done). Once the activities were done, we played a game of volleyball, and both groups became a tribe and created a team name. In group one, we had the Ferrel Fish; in group two, we had these Wonky Turtles. Students had free time; they went to their accommodation to relax; they then had dinner and a movie before settling down for bed.

Day 2 rolled around, and it was time to set an intention; after breakfast, Calarnee ran the group through an intention session where they first watched a video, ‘Wall of Words’ by Soul Pancake, about how words/quotes have power. They were asked to think about their intentions for that day. Once they had thought of it, they wrote it on the whiteboard as a reminder, which we can check back in and refer to throughout the day to keep us accountable. We played the game Jockeys. Then, we moved into our activities. The first two activity rotations were Snake and Nails and Sky Bridge. During Sky Bridge, the students had to cross the treacherous 84-step bridge. While focused on the next step in front of them, the bridge shook underfoot; they kept pushing themselves further and further to get from point A to point B.

After rotation one, it was time for the epic Monster Course. We then got into our two groups and we were off. Both teams were neck and neck; we were not much further away from each other than two obstacles we could always be within eyesight. It was a big battle throughout the first lap as they pushed through and pushed their limits, carrying those tyres and being linked together as one big chain within their group. As both teams finished the first lap, Calarnee and Spinks explained that it was not over yet because it was not done until it was done, and they were told about resilience and how it is essential to dig deep now. We were not saying that the course winner was not the fastest or the best time or that the winners were not the ones who came first. Still, the time most improved, so we got into two huddles and created our Target, Stretch, and Super Stretch. We ran a second lap with the same obstacles as the first, but this time without their five tyres, which they carried carefully on the first lap. Impressively, both teams improved their time by more than 7 minutes. As they smashed each obstacle again, the groups grew together and dug deep, ensuring everyone was okay. Finishing with words of praise, everyone looked muddy and wet; all were buzzing with pride and accomplishment. A group photo was taken, and they were sent off to showers before lunch. After lunch, we had three more activities to do. Finishing off the Snake and Nails and Sky Bridge, we then had afternoon tea before the two new activities: Giant Swing, one of the tallest in Victoria and getting to swing with a partner for support; they had to pull their release cord before swinging through the air. Leap of Faith, where you can jump for the trapeze bar, go upside down, do a 180-degree turn and jump for the bar or even do a trust fall. Once the day wrapped up, we sent them off for free time and headed to their accommodation for showers. After dinner, they watched a movie before heading straight to bed.

Day three rolled around, the last day of camp. After breakfast, Spinks ran a gratitude session. First, they handed out all the GMICs to the students to read to each other. GMIC stands for significant moments in camp. There were so many more to read. Well done team, for getting that done.

 Afterwards, Spinks talked to the group about the value of gratitude and how the simple thing is to think about the big things like food, water, shelter, arms and legs, and the little things (fresh pair of socks, sun after a rainy day, your shower, space, and bed). When we start with gratitude, it could help us focus on the intention. We want the intention for the last day so that everyone does not go home wondering ‘what if’ as they have two more rotations to complete.

Making their way down to the big tower, two groups became one, and we smashed out the last rotations of the Summit Window and Abseiling. Combining the two activities meant that they could climb to the top of the 20m tower and complete the Summit Window first, climbing a two-meter pole to get to the platform where they were instructed to lean backwards and take one hand off the pole at a time, some even took one foot off as well. They then transferred across to the Abseil side, where they could scale down the tower and choose to slide, step, or bounce down the wall.  After the tower session, we all sat in a circle and did our final debrief for camp. The tools that we gave them were Rocks, Sticks, and Leaves.  The groups then voted for some people on our team who showed a lot of heart as the group's heroes and embodied the five keys consistently throughout the camp.

Lastly, both teams' chosen heroes and hearts got to go for a hot lap in The Summit's WW2 army tank. Everyone watched the epic lap around the track. Wrapping it up and saying goodbye to the team, we waved the buses as they left and exited the summit gates. Thank you again from Cal, myself, and the summit for coming into camp, having all the fun, and playing with us. We hope to see you next time. All the best for the rest of the year.

Calarnee and Spinks 🙂