Yarram SC Year 11 Camp Blog

On Wednesday afternoon on the 21st of June 2023, the students of Yarram SC drove through The Summit gates. Eager to get going, they were shown to their accommodations where they settled in and had some lunch.

The coaches Spinks and Sam and team leader Steph (Spinks) welcomed the students into the Blue Room tent where they were taught about the Five Keys: Have Fun, Play All In, Make Lots of Mistakes, Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable, and Don’t Go Home Wondering What If. And our goal-setting strategy for a successful camp: Target, Stretch, and Super Stretch, ended with a quick game of GOCHA to change their state.

As they made their way down to the BBQ shelter the students played a game of 50 Up, trying to keep a yoga ball off the ground for a total of at least 50 touches. After 4 attempts they got 45 touches and then broke into their two groups to complete a round of initiatives (Tiles and Spiders Web). After they finished their initiative, they came up with their new tribe names; the names chosen were Justin Beavers and Boat Team 2 and the groups had two rotations of activities called Snowy River Challenge and Tash’s Ladder, where the teams had to work together to get through the obstacles that were in front of them. The winners of the Snowy River Challenge were the tribe Boat Team 2 with a time of 7.41 minutes including the Wombat Hole and Justin Beavers having heaps of fun and ended up with a time of 16.20mins including the Wombat Hole.

Day two and the students started the day with an intention session with Spinks, they talked about choosing who they wanted to be for the day and how they wanted to show up for not only their teammates but for themselves as well. Wrote on the whiteboard the three things out of our control on a daily basis: Weather, People, and Activities. We then asked students to share their intentions. To challenge the students, we played a repeat after-me exercise called “Big Star, Little Star” before the rotations began, to change their state and play all in.

Students had the opportunity to tackle the Sky Bridge and then choose to find the fun in Laser Skirmish, so many stretches and super stretches being done and as the session came to a close and the debrief was underway, you could feel the sense of accomplishment in the air. Up next it was time for lunch and the students were told to get into their clothes for the Monster Course. Two rotations to go of Leap of Faith and Rock Wall and then it was time to begin the epic Monster Course where the students not only completed one, but two laps! The winner of the course is the time most improved from their first lap as teams realised, they were competing against themselves. Both teams improved with Boat Team 2 getting an improvement time of 7.18mins and the team Justin Beavers getting a 9.23 improvement. Both Teams got an average of 23 minutes on their first lap, carrying 3 tyres as a commitment to their team. As a reward for crushing the course, they were given the opportunity to go down The Summit's very own blue waterslide to rise off! After a few go’s they ended the day with dinner and a movie.

Day three and safe to say there were a lot of tired faces in the room as Steph was taking the group through a gratitude session reading out HEAPS of GMICs and then watched a video called ‘Give and Get a Compliment’ and then we were asked who in their lives make them feel grateful and what makes them feel grateful. After writing it on the whiteboard they left the space for the song ‘Let it Grow’ from the Lorax. The game that we played was called Jockeys to get us into the right state.

Feeling good and ready for the last two rotations of Summit Window and Snake and Nails the students definitely did not want to go home wondering ‘what if’, as they faced their fears, pushing through and getting comfortable being uncomfortable.

To wrap camp up the two teams had the opportunity to nominate one person in their team who embodied the Five Keys the most, these people were as followed: from Boat Team 2 we had- Dylan (Dylan-Bot) and Chelsea from Team Justin Beavers. As a reward, they got to have a hot lap in The Summit's very own WW2 army tank, how cool!