We’re now in full swing getting ready for the start of camp on Saturday. Everyone has arrived and we’re all in motion. We are so excited for the campers to arrive!

On Wednesday morning we worked through more camp setup tasks, and had a bunch of free time to explore. Maggie, Zolo, Nathan, and I walked the grounds and saw all of Manof, specifically looking for anything that needed to be fixed or worked on by the grounds crew. We found very few items that needed to be worked on. Later in the day, we checked the rooms in two dorms to make sure everything was set for the kids to arrive. Almost all the rooms were perfectly setup. In the late afternoon Maggie and I explored the large farm area adjacent to the fields. The farm contains at least 300 goats, 100 sheep, many birds, a whole kennel of dogs, and a bunch of horses. It’s quite the operation. By the early evening, many more coaches and CITs had arrived. I made a run to the train station with Abe and picked up three CIT/campers from Atlanta. Back at the Manof Nancy (Programs Director) was in full swing getting the schedule set up for Thursday. We all gathered for a nice Falafel dinner, which was followed by a group viewing of the Spain vs. Portugal Eurocup2012 semi finals. While people yelled and jumped while viewing the game, I folded. It was quite fun. After making a bunch of headway in creating a 60-piece star, I eventually crashed for the night.

This morning I woke up early and finished up the star before everyone headed over to the dining hall for breakfast. Our first big dining hall meal was then followed by the start of training and orientation. David led us through a history of the program, our purposes, what we’d be working on for the next couple days, as well as led us through some roll-play situations that may come up during camp. We then had lunch and another round of free time. During the free time slot, Abe, Liz, and I met to discuss coach training. After some more training led by David, we then met regathered in the large lounge in the main admin building where we signed up for task groups. I spent my time with the media communications group, coming up with a plan for daily media offerings. (More on that to come!)

After task groups we gathered back up in the auditorium where Liz, Abe, and I started the coaches training. We talked about Spirit, how coaches operate within Spirit of the Game, and then had the coaching pairs group up to work through several roll-play situations. The four groups did an excellent job of acting out each situation and how’d they’d intervene as a coach. We had a great time. The training went straight into dinner which was followed by more team task time. By 9pm we were all out on the fields where David led us through some fantastically entertaining team bonding exercises. After a bunch of hilarious games, we transitioned into a kind of “reverse capture the flag” game with discs, and then scrimmaged for a while.

We’re all quite excited after a very full day of getting to know each other and learning about everything that’s coming up very quickly! Tomorrow is full of more training and setup… and then the fun really kicks off when the campers arrive on Saturday morning!