The official first day of Second Session. Great weather... check. New friends... check. Pumped up staff... check.
The morning was packed with activities all over camp. Waterfront, Football, Baseball, Ropes, Hoops, Volleyball, Tennis, Track & Field, Golf and Olympic Training Center. OTC takes place in the Gym, working with our Strength & Conditioning Coach Mitch. In Yellowhorn (outdoor science), they made marshmallow towers and spaghetti bridges. Cool Tools is directed by our good friend and favorite engineer Bruce, who works with the guys on building things out of wood. Today’s project was a really cool moose mount.
Clinic Sign Ups today. That’s when counselors do “commercials”, advertising what they’re offering during third period this week. The Ski Dock offered the "Never Ever Clinic", for those skiing and boarding for the first time. With the start of the Olympics just a few days away, a few offered clinics keeping that in mind. Track and Field will specialize on techniques needed become a faster sprinter and throw the discus and shotput farther. Fitness will focus on the snatch, clean and jerk of "Olympic Weightlifting" at the Gym, while Tennis will concentrate on singles and doubles play. Over at SkyDeck, they'll be making dumplings from all over the world, and Shep’s Reading Clinic promises to prepare you for college.
It’s the "Get It Right Clinic" at SkyHoops, where all 10 coaches will provide one-on-one instruction to all who sign up. "Water Volleyball" and "Splish Splash" sound like fun down at Trickey Pond -- and there's Sailing too. Chilltop will go remote there this week, working arts and craft projects lakeside.
Rook asked those in the audience to raise their hands if they never played lacrosse before, or only played it at Skylemar. A surprisingly large number held their hands high, which makes sense since lacrosse is a more regional sport. The Lax Fundamentals Clinic is perfect for this group.
"Super Pitching" at Baseball where the coaches will teach you about safely developing proper throwing motion and how to keep your pitching arm healthy. "Next Level Football" will advance your skills as will "Hockey Refresher" at the rink. There's also "Philosophy of Golf" and Soccer "Goalkeeping and Shooting" clinic. GoPro cameras will be "fun-tastic" to use on the zipline, Giant Swing and Skywalk at the Ropes Course, and "Favorites and Hits" up at Yellowhorn. "Ultimate Outdoorsman" is all about building forts, fires, orienteering and fishing.
Hardest part is deciding which to choose!
Meanwhile, Bunk 19 went on a community service project with Holly. They headed to Back Cove in Portland, where they volunteered for an organization called "Friends of Casco Bay". Lots of trash there had accumulated, so the boys put on gloves and got it all picked up.
“Peter Pan” auditions today! That’s Suzie’s next big production. Forty-some kids of all ages asked for a part, and Suzie will deliver. Not that it matters, but it helps...lots of boy parts in this show. We wonder how she plans on making Peter Pan fly.
Staff Talent Show for Evening Activity. And guess what…they do have talent! We knew they were exceptional athletes, but had no idea that they could sing, stunt, play instruments and do golf tricks.
Gideon could spin far more than just balls with his finger. He demoed spinning clipboards and books too. Holden did impressions, Reed and Austin did the ever-popular “pick-me, pick-me” magic tricks and Zay gave us a Sea Dogs quote. Not sure if it goes in the category of “talent”, but definitely funny. Rayann did 9 flips in the air. Then DQ joined her for backwards flips plus a cheerleader stunt. Rumor has it…a certain camp director held her breath for this act.
Lippy played a camp song on the piano. Marcus read a poem that he wrote. We’re pretty sure the Backstreet Boys were here tonight, with a couple of not-so-attractive “girls” who we guess were fans. Ky, Roxy, Payton and Landon honestly blew us away with their singing... really impressive.
In the interest of bringing good luck to the Baltimore Ravens, Creed (aka Nick, Beags and Blake) was on stage singing “Higher”. We all sang along and noted that Beags was especially impressive on the blow-up guitar.
Best part of the show was seeing how proud the kids were of their own counselors. Such a happy time!
