It’s been a blur of phenomenal energy here at the Manof. We’ve played lots of Ultimate, had many spirit circles, and had so much fun together on and off the field. Over the past two days we’ve had four practices, a couple of scrimmages, and several hours of team bonding time. This time around I’m coaching a girls team and I’m having lots of fun. On Monday we spent lots of time getting to know each other and playing silly games. I have three assistant coaches and 3 CITs along with 12 campers, so the coaching staff to camper ratio is great! Also, one of my CITs is Ava Schein, so I’m super happy! My three assistant coaches are Chelsea (local American transplant to Israel), Wanda (Hong Kong), and Julie (Nebraska). Our team color is White and our team name is White Noise!

At our first practice we found that the girls were all quite good at catching. We focused on several key drills including the button-hook drill, a cutting order drill, and a mini-layout drill. As expected, my CITs acted like rockstars helping to teach the girls various skills as well as translating all of my instructions. It’s a little tough to get used to the pacing of coaching with a translator, but after a little while it’s not that difficult. In a way, I think it helps me be a better coach by helping me to focus on only truly important items.

On Tuesday we moved through a continuation of more drills, mixing in a scrimmage with team Brown. The girls played well and I was really happy with how they looked to move the disc down the field without stopping. Tuesday morning was also a bunch of fun because the CITs ran an all-camp activity which included lots of cool games. The highlight of which was definitely finding lots of tennis balls inside a big room of foam!

On Tuesday night the camp came together to watch the CITs vs. Coaches game. While the crowd was definitely in favor of the CITs, the coaches cleaned up 9-2 on lots of crisp passes and dominating defense. That being said, the two goals scored by the CITs were strong goals and they did have a couple other chances to score.

Each night has been notable for the vortex of energy out on the fields for the hour of free time the kids enjoy right before heading to their dorms. The kids play games all over the field, music is played, and it all ends with one huge spirit circle. It really is something special.

This whole place is something special.