Warrior Spirit in Every Form

“Today I wanted to talk a little bit about Warrior Spirit. A lot of times people think you have to be extremely brave, strong, or very outspoken to have a Warrior Spirit, but I want to give a few different character qualities to associate with it.

Persistence, perseverance, humility, and patience.

If you ever go on a trip to Lake Jocassee you will notice that there are often these caves that are carved into the shore. Some of them even go all the way through the islands. It seems like these powerful forces must have carved out these caves, but on my last trip I was sitting by the shore one evening and I could see just a small wave repeatedly going into the cave. It was nothing huge, strong, or loud. It was just a small wave that was quietly and persistently chipping away at the shore that will eventually become one of these big caves.

So, to have Warrior Spirit, you don’t have to be the strongest, the biggest, the most outspoken, or the most fearless guy to make an impact. You just have to be willing to put in the work, persevere, fail, and improve. It takes humility to acknowledge our failures and learn from them; even that small wave being patient and relentless will end up making a huge impact on the shoreline of Jocassee. That to me is the key to having a Warrior Spirit.

Now I would like to close us out with a verse from James, 1:12. ‘blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.’”

Skipping rocks outside one of the Lake Jocassee caves

The message above was from Tyler Cockrell during Morning Watch, one of our paddling counselors. Tyler is a fantastic and knowledgeable counselor, and his campers respect him both on and off the water. He is also one of our quieter counselors, leading by example rather than using great volume. His Morning Watch speech was fitting for his personality, but was also refreshing to show boys a different perspective on one of the four parts of our Falling Creek Code. Throughout camp, Warrior Spirit can be seen in many different examples.

On Saturdays, we take a break from our regular activity schedules and are able to sleep in for an extra hour. Instead of morning activities, we enjoy some friendly competition with tournaments. Today, boys could choose to participate in Camper/Counselor tennis tournament matches, disc golf, pickleball, Magic the Gathering strategy card games, flag football, and ping pong singles. Competition at camp is a key time to display your Warrior Spirit, but like Tyler said during Morning Watch, you don’t have to be the biggest or most fearless to show your Warrior Spirit. The Magic card game tournaments are always extremely popular, but they are very quiet matches that require a lot of concentration. Boys have to learn an extensive set of rules and practice lots of strategy to get better at the game, which takes patience and diligence. Ping pong is another game that seems to be slower paced, but it takes lots of practice and focus to hone in your fine motor skills and hand eye coordination at quick speeds.

Using a tree stump as a Magic the Gathering card table

In the zone during the ping pong tournament

Examples of Warrior Spirit continued this afternoon with our All-Camp-Game. Every Saturday afternoon, the entire camp plays a huge game together, using acres of camp property as the “game map.” Today’s game was the classic “Deep Woods Capture the Flag,” but with a twist. The boys were competing in their Green and Gold teams, but each team would have two different colored flags to hide and protect; four flags total. That meant double the opportunity to get the other team’s flags, but it would also be harder to keep your own safe. You could also find kickballs hidden around camp for bonus points to earn for your team. During these intense and fun games, it’s easy to think that the boys who charge out and seize the flags are the ones with the most Warrior Spirit. However, if everyone played offense and left no one behind to guard their own flags, they would quickly become beat by the other team. In All-Camp-Games, everyone has to work together to win. The boys who play defense and stand guard patiently by their flags are also showing their Warrior Spirit through quiet diligence. Of course, the biggest factor of Warrior Spirit is sportsmanlike behavior, which luckily, the boys often display.

All-Camp-Game of Capture the Flag!

As Tyler said, there is no “one way” to show Warrior Spirit, and we are lucky to have an array of different personalities among our campers that prove this. The bold theater performer, the disciplined cross country runner, the focused potter, the ever-practicing musician, the powerful HEAT athlete, the flag runner and the flag protector in the All-Camp-Game; we have all kinds of Warrior Spirit examples at camp. Every day, we have the opportunity to show our Warrior Spirit in whatever activity we are participating in, and we’re looking forward to another chance to let our Warrior Spirit show tomorrow.

-Annie Pharr

More Highlights from this Saturday:

• Tonight half of camp headed out on their cabin overnights! The boys will hike to one of the shelters on property as a cabin, cook dinner together, have s’mores over a campfire, and head back in time for breakfast tomorrow morning. The other half of boys are having their pizza picnics tonight. They placed a “pizza order” earlier today with our kitchen, and picked up their pizzas at dinner time with all the toppings they requested. They’re allowed to eat anywhere in camp and enjoy a leisurely meal catching up with their cabin-mates about the week. It was great weather tonight for this!

• We celebrated Gavin’s birthday today from cabin Black Foot! Though his real birthday was on the 27th, he just got back from a trip yesterday so we waited to celebrate with him today when he was back. Nothing like birthday cake with your cabin!

Flag football tournament time