King's Dominion

Monday morning the entire camp loaded up and headed east and slightly south to King's Dominion. We arrived by 10:30am. The groups assembled to receive their lunch money and apply sunscreen and then they were off.

Several groups lined up first to ride The Dominator. Not only is it the first ride as you enter, it is considered by most to be the best coaster in the park. Some of the groups got back in line to ride it over and over again. I stood underneath to get photos as they rode and the wind tunnel it created was amazing.

This amusement park is set up nicely. There are plenty of shady areas and places to eat all over. They even have a water park. A few of the fellas cooled off later in the afternoon by taking a ride on some of the slides.

Our group wore bright orange WFS Sports Camp t-shirts. They could be spotted all over the park. Centrally located in the park, is a replica of the Eiffel Tower. From the top you can look down and see groups of orange all over. Check out the photos from the tower. I really went beyond my comfort zone to snag those. I'm not a fan of being up so high, but I did appreciate the view.

The camp spent almost eight hours at King's Dominion yesterday. We watched groups get off rides only to get back in line and ride again. A popular ride to go on consecutively was the Drop Tower. This thing takes you up only to drop you down quickly and then stop mid-air. The look on some of their faces was priceless.

Other favorites included Volcano, Anaconda and Hurler. Additionally, we watched guys win prizes at the basketball shoot, football throw and other games. Some of you might be taking home an addition to your family this weekend!

Everyone arrived back on campus safely by 8:15pm. It was a beautiful day. The temperature held in the mid 80's again and cooled off nicely last night. Hopefully the boys slept well and are ready to begin tournament play. The next four days will be really exciting as the road to the championship begins!

Draft Day!

Sunday here at Woodberry Forest was cool and rainy. After sleeping in an extra hour, the boys enjoyed a hot breakfast and then headed over to the Dick Gym for the morning meeting. As a steady rain fell outside the camp gathered inside on the bleachers. Coach Alexander went over the schedule for the day and then we listened to some words from Coach Frazier Stowers.

Coach Stowers topic was gratitude and thankfulness. He defined these two words through quotes and then asked the group to close their eyes and visualize the people that helped get them to camp. Coach also asked them to think about all the people that help make camp possible at Woodberry from the staff that prepared their breakfast to those that changed the sheets on their beds. He asked them to take time to thank those around them, including their teammates that support them everyday. Coach Stowers words gave us something to reflect upon and were very inspirational. Thanks Coach!

The camp headed down the hill for some big match ups. Despite the light rain, regular games were played all day long. Some very important tournament seeds were set up due to the outcome of Sunday's games.

We had three teams tied for first seed in Lacrosse. #1 Ohio State came out first after winning two important games yesterday. They defeated #1 Oklahoma 3-2 and then #1 Florida 2-1. All three teams were previously undefeated. Go Buckeyes!

In basketball USC and Texas needed to face off in order to determine the number one seed. In the end it was USC over Texas 31-24.

Yesterday's football match up between Texas and Florida turned out to be what Coach Alexander feels was the best football game he's every seen at Sports Camp. Both teams came into the game 5-1. The second seed for the tournament would be determined by this outcome. After 3OT, Florida defeated Texas 38-32!

Today Coach Alexander will finalize championship play. The big games start tomorrow!

After lunch it was time to head over to Slane Lecture Hall for the 3rd Annual Counselor Draft. The campers divided themselves up into groups of 4, 5 or 6. This is the group they will travel around with at King's Dominion. The groups chose 2-3 counselors that they would like to have travel with them at King's Dominion. Each group had a name that they chose. "The Monders" were quite clever with their word play - each boy is from the Richmond area and the "Pansies" was considered appropriate for one of the groups that is made up of "non-coaster" riders.

Each counselor that was eligible for the draft placed their name on the large chalkboard. Coach Alexander shuffled the cards containing the group names and chose randomly. The first group chosen then announced their "draft choice". First up was Aramide Olaniyan. He was this year's number one draft choice. The crowd cheered and "high fived" him as he walked down to greet his group! The draft went on for well over an hour. Between rounds one and two, Coach Alexander spontaneously promoted a dance contest. One of our darling campers vs. Landrus Lewis. In the end, it was the darling camper that won over the crowd. Wow is he talented!

Outside it was pretty gloomy all day, but the camp toughed it out and I have to say Sunday was quite successful. After evening games and canteen the campers headed to dorm with anticipation of another field trip. Today promises to be mid 80's and sunny. We're looking forward to it.