The annual October Sports Challenge PMH Diabetes Camp at Ern Halliday was a huge success with all people involved having a great time.
This year the theme for the camp was The Wild West and the program was filled with plenty of fun Wild West activities for all to enjoy.
On Wednesday once everyone had signed in and the rules covered, the kids had a chance to socialise and make new friends, as this was the first camp many of them had been on. It was very brave for the children to come to a camp where they knew nobody. The Sports Challenge ice breaker games helped engage all of the children and encourage them to mix with everyone. It created a positive environment for the kids to get to know each other and the staff and to make friends with other kids who know and understand exactly what they experience on a daily basis.
Wednesday night was the famous quiz night where in groups students had to answer many fun questions based upon video clips from Toy Story as well as questions to see how much they really knew about Diabetes.
- The Cowgirls ready to take on the Wild West Quiz Night
Thursday was the closest day we have had to summer so far. It was warming up to its top of 30 degrees so we set off for out Wild West Beach Olympics early. Events such as the great balloon stomp, horse races, lasso the cow, gumboots throwing and sack races were a huge success with everyone having a great time.
Following the Olympics was the Wild West sand sculpture competition where we saw the Tepee Village and the abstract cowboy claim the major prizes.
After lunch was Boot Scooting time, Clare taught everyone the Nut Bush followed by 5,6,7,8 and then we finished with some partner dancing to The Heel and Toe Polka which at the start was a disaster because of boy and girl germs but after some heavy convincing all had a great time, it was great to see the boys dancing with the girls and having fun doing so.
Next was the Marshmallow Indian Tepee (tower) competition. Each group did a wonderful job at working as a team to build a high and sturdy tower. The end products were great with the highlight being how well the teams worked together, communicating, filling their roles and building something to be proud of.
After afternoon tea it was arts, crafts and drama time. We made team bandannas, horse shoes and wanted posters which were all used later on that night at The Wild West disco.
The disco was a huge success with everybody getting into the spirit of the night dressing up. Including our mentors Kye Middleton, Clare Woolfrey and Christal Ryan. The children got to display their boot scooting skills they had learnt earlier in the day as well as engage in many fun disco games such as bobs and statues.
The next day was the final morning and it was sad for all to say goodbye, autographs were collected, email addresses given which was great as it meant that lifelong friendships had begun to form. It’s definitely true what they say “time flies when you’re having fun.” It was great to see the children come in shy and leave confident having made new friends who understood them.
We here at Sports Challenge love working with PMH and WADiabetes, we are already excited about the upcoming January camp with lots of fresh fun new ideas. If the October camp is anything to go by it’s going to be a huge success and lots of fun!