We woke up today to an uncharacteristically overcast sky. The weather forecast called for clearing skies with little to no chance of precipitation throughout the day. I must admit, there is something to the accuracy of the Doppler radar system because we played outdoors all day without any significant rain. We hosted a fourteen-and-under round robin soccer tournament, as well as our invitational swim meet.
Today, I was very proud of our senior campers, some of whom were not interested in participating in the swim meet at first, but recognized that, as the host camp, Takajo deserved to field a strong team. At the breakfast meal, a few of our older boys came to me and said that they had not swam competitively in years, however they did not want us to be a host of an event that was not going to be successful. While our Warrior and Junior age groups competed very successfully, our fourteen and fifteen year-old boys relied on positive attitudes and enthusiasm to represent Takajo with good sportsmanship and dignity. (Side Note: Camp Takajo finished first place in the thirteen-and-under age division.)
After Warrior dinner, I met with a bunk that was struggling a bit with a bunk mate, who they felt was not being a team player. I marveled at these nine-year-old boys as they calmly expressed their concerns as a group. What was even more fascinating to me was that these campers not only expressed their concerns eloquently, but were willing to listen to constructive feedback from each other. Too often in life we are conditioned to think about our own needs, so we do not take the time to listen to others.
As I consider the inter-camp competitions that we participated in today, I cannot help but think that the greatest victory took place not in the athletic arenas of the camp, but in my office with this group of nine-year-old boys.
