Today was a blast. With about 95% of the staff on hand, the energy levels have risen to new highs. Everything is on the right track for a fantastic opening tomorrow!

I had once again hope to get up before 7 to get out onto the fields for a bit of exercise, but once again my plans were foiled by my need to sleep a bit more. I really am aiming to get to bed at a semi-normal hour tonight. We’ll see how that goes.

Breakfast was the standard fair, with me mixing a way, way too concentrated mix of instant coffee, which I replaced with some pretty good cocoa. I then got some more work done and at 10 we al grouped up in the auditorium for our first staff meeting.

David and Nancy then led up through various orientation sessions. We started by having everyone introduce themselves and say a bit about why they are working at Ultimate Peace. Here is what people had to say:

This is the best tool to get kids to respect and know each other. Ultimate is the best tool.

The mission of UP. We always stay true to our values.

Meeting other people who are also passionate about Ultimate. Learning from each other.

I am surrounded by Ultimate players, although I am not one. It’s life changing. Impossible to stay away.

Attracted to the power of UP to teach most respectful interpretation.

Believe in non-violence. Culture of team sports. A great way to build community and friendships.

Fun. Amazing experience. Helps me grow as an individual.

Ability to affect kids, more than experience of new stuff, being a model, break through frames in every culture.

Can’t think of a better way to bring kids together.

Engagement. Fair and just, best way to bring people together.

Literally broke into tears when she heard of UP.

Live his life to create the greatest good in life. Do it in a direct way. Dream big. Plan big. He needs to do something now.

Super excited about the community.

All about the campers.

Lives for the transformation of the kids during the week, from just getting to know them to huge hugs.

Camp is magic, incredible, setup fast, then a different world compared to the rest of the world.

Loves it all, your life will change.

Comes back because of all the relationships, unlike anything she has ever seen before, can’t imagine not coming back.

Only place where everyone is completely accepting, no stereotypes.

Hopes the camp will change the kids’ lives like Ultimate changed his.

Always been around, here with the idea of thinking globally and working locally, beautiful people and all the friendships, constant in his life.

When you love UP and you are not here, there is something missing all the time… The personal connect. Camp is where it all comes together. Watching what happens with everyone who comes through the program. The small miracles that happen all year long. Camp is who feeds me. Camp puts all the pieces together.

Didn’t realize how big of an impact UP would have on his life, changed me… Changes us all. Got pulled into the family.

Something different about Ultimate, everyone feels the same way about Ultimate having an impact.

After the morning orientation, we had a short break and then gathered outside for a tour of the campus led by Tomer. We saw the boundaries, learned about the two shelters, and saw various building, including the edge of the expansive farm. We then went to lunch and then returned to the auditorium for more orientation training. Towards the end we broke into groups based on which task teams we wanted to work in. I pulled in 5 people to work on media with me and we retreated to the Mahodoun to plan out our media blitz. After the jobs were distributed I setup a second wireless router for the staff and planned out a few more details for my training session. Oh, and my bag arrived! So, that’s awesome.

At shortly before 4:30 I was setup for the coaches training session, and coaches started streaming into the auditorium. The next two hours went very well. We covered everything I had planned for us and the coaches asked good questions. We got exactly the kind of traction I hoped for. During the evening we managed to cover:

• Spirit of the Game
• Important points
• How to teach a skill
• Drill sharing: on the field
• Drill sharing: sketch out the drill
• Summary

Here are some stats for the people in the training session:

Average # of years playing: 12.6
Collective # of Ultimate years: 303

Whoa.

Here are short Spirit of the Game definitions that several of the working groups came up with:

Spirit is the base and unbrella on and under which Ultimate must be played. Playing with the other team and not against the other team. Meeting teams as well as opponents in fair games.

Helps keep fun and perspective. Opponent is opponent not your enemy. It’s what makes Ultimate’s team communication unique. It’s unique.

Unique practice of at all levels pf playing and coaching that prevents winning from taking over sportmanship. 5 UP values. SOTG needs to be coached, glues us together. Fosters good relationships.

SOTG is supporting and encouraging peope no matter what. Golden rule. Value based game that defines the game. It’s in the rules.

SOTG is to be able to trust a person on and off the field. Mutual understanding and respect that keeps the game fun.

In the second half of the session we were outside on the field. Each of 8 groups taught up how to teach a basic Ultimate skill, and then we broke into two groups to discuss horizontal stack and vertical stack offenses. I then brought everyone in, talked about the homework (!), and prepped them for tomorrow. David brought us in, spoke, and then we were off to dinner.

After dinner we all met up for an hour in the Mohadoun so we could go over some more important points for tomorrow and the rest of the week. At 8:15 we broke into our coaching teams to work on our skits — each group has to act out one of the 5 UP value or one of the three C’s. At 9:15 we were all out on the fields playing various and VERY important games like Slack Jaw, Look Up Look Down, Wah!, and Ninja! Very important stuff.

It’s now 11pm and everyone is spread out either working on their homework, sleeping, or socializing. Tomorrow we finish off prep and training… and then the campers arrive on Tuesday.

What a great day.