First day at camp… Part 2

After preparations were done – the only thing that was left – waiting for

students to arrive!
Arrive they did – one after another – some of them eager for new experience, some of them scared of unknown, some – cause their parents made them, some even uncomfortable cause there were too many strangers.
But all that had to change pretty soon, cause first day was all about team building!

Next step – short introduction – what is the whole purpose of this camp – to give students tools to change their lives!
Team building –  so they could know each other better and that all team based activities went smoothly. Knowledge they will obtain in the team building course will help them in their life after the camp.
Self awareness – first step into change – you need to get to know yourself! By knowing yourself you’ll identify your weak spots and have a chance to fix it! Also by knowing yourself you get to know other people too. And one of the most important things – by knowing your strong side you can choose your future according to it!
Goals – second step –  when you know who you are and what you like you have to make a path for your future – you have to set a clear goal/-s, cause if there is no target it’s useless trying to hit it!
Courage – third step – you know who you are and what you want from life, you even know what you have to do to reach it – but there is one thing that might get in your way – fear! This course was made to give students some tools so they could power through the fear and reach their dreams!

When things were made clear it was time to introduce lecturers – one after another we said introduction speeches. Mine was short – main idea behind it – respect – and that it goes both ways!
There were around 108 students and 6 lecturers. All the population was split into 4 teams – mine was Team number 2! Each day there were 4 lectures at the same time – so 4 lecturers had to attend their classes while 2 others were free and could help or visit any class as they saw it fit.
When time came to start team building classes I had a guest lecturer – Rokas. We took all the things we needed to the place where Team 2 team building class was planned (summerhouse with the red roof on the left side of this photo).

When kids came it all began! We took off with saying our names – after that few games followed which were oriented into learning and remembering your team members names. Some kids were not that good at it but some were amazing! Few kids learned all 27 names in the team – I was shocked, cause personally I have HUGE problem while remembering people names.

After a few rounds of Names games it was time for a challenge – hoop game! Team forms a circle whilst holding each others hands. When they form a circle, the hoop enters the game! Objective – all team must pass the hoop as fast as possible.
And this is where the fun begins! When they saw that the hoop was REALLY small one, first complaints came out – it’s too small, some of us won’t fit and so on… All this came out even without trying!
But a few minutes later complaints were put aside and first try is up – it was HORRIBLE!!! All team went through the hoop in over two minutes! Such results could NOT be tolerated – they went for a second try – it was a little bit better but still not what I hoped it’ll be.
After few unsuccessful tries interesting thing happened – the ones who were motivated – tried harder, students who were full of complaints switched to motivated group – they began to take action. Of course there were a group of people who were clinging to their dark side – complaining, saying it’s impossible and etc.
The good thing was half of the team was formed! It was obvious that we have a core, now all that was left to do – unite the other half.
Following that goal students went through few more games – they did OK, but I kept the best one for the end.
I call it a “STICK” – there’s a loooong stick and all that team must do is get it down on the ground. Team splits into two rows, with their both hands forward, but holding only 1 finger out of each hand – they form a ground for THE STICK to land. When the stick is in place all they have to do is help it reach its destination – ground. Sounds easy right? But trust me it is NOT! This game is like an indicator of how team is doing like one entity – judging from their first try – REALLY BAD! Instead of going DOWN it went UP! I stopped the challenge and repeated myself – your objective is to get it on the ground – they said OK! Well if everyone gets it, by all means please continue and UP the stick goes!
After few tries I decided to form two groups to see how it goes then. And to my surprise one team did great! They took a different route – they stopped blaming each other and they began to observe what their colleagues do and how they could add something to the effort personally! That tactic worked out – they reached the ground – I gave them a few questions while answering them they got clues on how to do it better and better they did!
Other team was a bit off

– first of all some of team members blamed the stick! Can’t remember who said this but it was something like: – everyone pull your hands off the stick and lets see if it will fall on the ground. Sounds crazy right? Like we brought a magic stick. But it was fun to hear this. Then all of the second group members were yelling orders and blaming each other – you’re doing it wrong | no, shut it, you’re doing it wrong! | oh c’mon guys, GET IT DOWN!… And so on… Though after quite some time they managed to land it too, but first group did it twice as fast.
After giving final tips and rounding whole team building class experience we came to an end. I did not unite them into one team for a final try on purpose, I left that  try for tomorrow self awareness class – they were emotionally tired and they needed a rest and to think through the whole experience.

Kids had great class but their day was far from over – first surprise – nunchuk specialist. Friendly looking person is a real beast when he gets his hands on nunchucks. He shared his history on how and where from he gathered all his knowledge. It was a story of passion and stubbornness! No matte the hits he had to take, he continued till he mastered this lethal weapon.

Second surprise – a man who owns a karate champ under his belt and is a business owner – deadly mix of brains and brawn. His lecture was about the power of intent through karate. I got some personal experience – as a target practice. But still it was really great lecture with practical show case.

And like that was not enough – final event of the first day – KARAOKE!!! Sad as it is I only heard it, cause had to make final preparations for the next day – though 2 other lecturers made their stand for us all – here is a link to their show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrYBDtHireM&feature=youtu.be

After lots of action first day came to an end…