This morning in chapel the returning members of the St. Johnsbury Academy girls and boys 2012 state championship teams presented the school with their state champs banners! The girls team also presented their first place trophy from last weekend’s NMH tournament. Go Saint J!
Here are some photos and video from the event:
PS. The boys also won the state champs n 2007. The banner will be modified accordingly ASAP.
Want to better understand Ultimate Peace? Here you go:
Ultimate Peace 2012 from Ultimate Peace on Vimeo.
On 3/28/13 I gave a presentation at the Catamount Arts theater as part of the Osher Lecture Series. My presentation was called “Building peace in the Middle East: One game of Ultimate at a time”. I spent an hour talking about my experience working with Ultimate Peace as well as answering questions from the audience. The presentation aired on the local cable access channel. UP on TV! :)
I was very happy with the presentation and the active question and answer session. You can watch the presentation in it’s entirety right here:
Our local news channel came to practice last Friday and the story aired last night! Go STJ!
The wonderful people at Ultimate Peace just put out this promo video. Go UP! :)
Ultimate Peace Video from Ultimate Peace on Vimeo.
At the beginning of the school year I gave a presentation at St. Johnsbury Academy covering my experiences and thoughts on my time with Ultimate Peace. The talk was the first Academy “Fireside chat” and around 50 people from our community were in the audience. The Academy’s news posting about my presentation is online right here, and the original news posting about my travels is online right here.
Over the course of an hour and a half I had a wonderful time telling my story and answering many questions. I talked about the people I met, the places I traveled to, and my thoughts on the region and the Ultimate Peace program.
Our local TV news channel came to the talk and aired this piece the following day:
A few days after I gave my presentation at the Academy I was asked by Catamount Arts to give my presentation as part of their Osher Lecture Series. So, on Thursday, April 4th, from 1:30 to 3pm at the Catamount Arts building in St. Johnsbury, I’ll be giving my Ultimate Peace presentation. Needless to say I am very excited!
Rachael put together a fantastic summer camp slide show!
This morning began with an even higher energy level running through camp than usual. With only a half day left of camp, everyone was trying to savor every moment. After breakfast and a short meeting in the auditorium, all of the non-finals bound teams made it out to the main fields for two simultaneous coed pickup games.
All of the teams were mixed together and the games were played 4-3. The on and off field energy was wonderful. The kids played and cheered hard. Even though the temperature was climbing to around 37 C, everyone was active. By around 10:15, the two mixed games finished up and the four finals teams started their warm ups. Soon after, both finals games were started side by side so everyone could watch both games at the same time. I was impressed by the overall high level of play and how much all four teams had improved over the course of the camp.
After the finals the kids were sent off to clean up their rooms and pack. The center of Manof was eventually filled with bags, which were then all moved over to outside the dining hall during lunch. During the packing time I got to sit in while the 8 campers from Bethlehem were interviewed about their experience at UP. It was wonderful to hear them speak about what they had seen, learned, and come away with.
The last lunch was loud and electric. Teams worked through their cheer repertoires, and there were very few quiet moments. Shortly after 12:30 we all packed into the auditorium for camp closing.
David led the procession of thank you speeches, and other notes of recognition including the all-camp starting 7, the highest player recognition in camp. Team White Noise’s very own Maia made the team! Go Maia!
All of the teams then gathered up around campus for their last team meetings. White Noise’s meeting was full of heartfelt speeches and lots of signing of discs and hats. I now have a coaching hat that will last me a long, long while. By a little after 2:30, campers started getting picked up. I traded my first jersey in a long, long while to obtain a Team Israel jersey which I am currently wearing. Lots of hugs and goodbyes later, all the kids were on their way home.
Given the whirl-wind nature of camp, the transition to post-camp tasks was almost immediate. About 45 minutes after the last camper left I found myself, along with several other Camp UP people, picking up a rental car. I had a great time driving it back to Manof where right after I got back we all packed up and went to the beach. On the sand and rocky beach, the staff had a wonderful time being social, playing games, and swimming. We ate Falafel, enjoyed being amongst our UP family, and wished the evening would never end.
We’re now all back at the Manof the exodus of staff has begun. David and his family has taken off, and so have several other coaches. Tomorrow, many of us head out for community visits, and then on Saturday we’re going rafting.
Good, good times.
Last night’s epically wonderful talent show can now be viewed online:
Yesterday was another whirlwind of activity, starting bright an early in the dining hall with our 7:30am breakfast. Shortly after 8am the boys teams climbed onto two buses and drove to the Eilot field location and the girls gathered up in the Manof courtyard for a short announcement. 10 minutes later the girls walked over to the fields and began warming up for the tournament!
My girls played four consecutive games and did very well! The games were 35 minutes long and stopped immediately when the horn was blown. (Hard cap can result in really long last points.) Overall White Noise went 1-2-1, scoring in all of the games, something other one other team managed to do. The girls did very well at moving the disc quickly down the field and throwing crisp passes to open team members as soon as they became open. By the end of our games at 11:45 my girls were tired but quite happy.
Next we moved back to the Manof courtyard where we played some more social games before lunch. After lunch White Noise piled into one of the buses and went to the pool for a great hour of cooling off. I had a great time swimming around in the deep end with my team. See the disc fly around the crowded pool was pretty entertaining! After a round of popsicles, we bussed back up and got back to Manof where we had an hour and a half of free choice time. I ended up folding more cranes and talking with more players.
At 5pm campers started gathering back up in the center of Manof. About 30 minutes later the last round of the boys tournament was held on the main fields, and the girls teams had some great social time around campus. I helped some players and CITs with their throwing form, and took some time out to swing on one of the large swinging chairs with some of my team members. Things got a little sad around this time with the first departure of a coach — Julie. We didn’t want her to leave but we’re sure we’ll see her again! By a little before 7 the ourdoor BBQ began and everyone had a great time eating together in the central area of the Manof.
At a little after 8pm the most amazing talent show in UP began. The MCs — Jez, Zolo, and JMaz did a wonderful job gluing the whole evening together and the talent on stage was phenomenally entertaining and plentiful. Coaches, CITs, and players danced, sang, did fun tricks, and had a great time showing off some of the things they do best. It was quite the evening. Video of the whole evening will be online soon. In the meantime, you can check out a short clip of me folding an Ultimate Peace crane behind my back while telling a story about my life:
The talent show ran until around 10:20, at which point the campers were sent straight to their rooms to start the (longish) process of geting to sleep. The staff had a good round of fun social time in the Moadon common room, and by a relatively early hour I made it to sleep.
One more half day left until the campers leave. It’s staggering how fast the days have gone.