Green and Gold!
Early in the morning, before the rest of camp is awake, campers and counselors have the option of gathering for a Bible Study in the Goody Shack at the field. You’ve already heard about how we start our day with Morning Watch, but this optional devotional time is called “Daily Spark.” Boys can choose to go at 7:15 am before the wake-up bell every day for a small fellowship with friends in a beautiful setting, usually led by two of our Directors, Nathan and Frank. They meet while the day is still cool in the soft sunlight, discussing verses and sharing thoughts to shape their day. The only noises that can interrupt them are the morning greetings of the birds, so it is a refreshing and contemplative time before the excitement of the day begins.
Yesterday morning was rainy, but that didn’t slow anything down! We needed the rain after several hot days to cool things off and quell the dust. At camp, activities still proceed as normal in the rain, with only a few adjustments based on safety. We have a “Thor-Guard” lightning detection system on our Dining Hall, which sounds an alarm if there is lightning nearby, so we know we can continue swimming and playing otherwise. Thanks to this, we knew we could keep doing activities like swimming and horseback riding safely this morning, despite a little drizzle!
We enjoyed cinnamon rolls with scrambled eggs, bacon, yogurt, and granola for breakfast, and our trips headed out right after Morning Assembly. A group of mountain bikers was still going to Tsali for two days of riding, and our paddlers were still heading out to run the Tuckasegee and Nantahala rivers (paddlers seem to especially love the rain!) The climbing trips were adjusted to fun hiking and swimming trips since being on the rock in poor weather isn’t ideal, but they’re hoping to go on a day climbing trip tomorrow instead! By the afternoon, the rain had stopped, and the sun was back out!
During each evening at camp, we play one final game for Evening Program. On Monday night, this was our highly anticipated Field Day, for the final Green and Gold points! If you’ve been following the blog all summer, then you’ve heard about our Green and Gold teams at camp. Cabins are split into these two colors at the beginning of each session, and partake in fierce but friendly competition to collect points for each of their teams. Points are mainly awarded during All-Camp-Games on the weekend and during Evening Programs, making these games even more exciting than they are on their own!
In the beginning of this session, both Green and Gold teams were tied for 50 points each. Heading into Saturday, the teams were excited for the chance to break the tie with our All-Camp-Game, which was deep woods Capture the Flag. This time, the Green Team was victorious! Now that the Green Team was ahead, the Gold Team was even more eager to gain an edge during the field games on Monday.
Each cabin competed in a series of relays for Field Day, rotating through stations within their Lines and gaining points for each of their teams. Relays included classics like dizzy bat or tic tac toe, a sponge relay (where boys tried to get a sponge saturated with water and run back with it under their chin), and a tin can relay (where boys tried to carry water over their head in a tin can with a couple holes punched in it). There were 6 chances for teams to score points, and twice both teams got 75 points each. However, Green began to inch ahead, and ended up securing the session victory with 1155 Field Day points to Gold’s 840 points. Congratulations to the Green Team for winning the Green vs. Gold title this session!
No matter who wins, the campers love having the chance to compete, challenge themselves, and work together as a team. These small competitions teach sportsmanship, improve teamwork, build camaraderie, but most of all they’re fun. As we begin our Wednesday today, it’s hard to believe that this is the final full day of activities for this session! Tomorrow we’ll still have morning activities, but will be packing and celebrating with awards in the afternoon. We’ll be getting in as much excitement as we can for these final days!