There were fireworks at Woodberry Forest on Saturday July 4th... Only they weren't at night and they weren't in the sky. All day long campers participated or watched their teammates compete. The "Individual Challenges" began in the morning and stretched right on towards dinner. All twelve teams chose one guy to take part in each challenge.
After the morning meeting and the "Camper of the Day" awards, the camp headed down the hill for the Lacrosse Shootout. Each competitor took 10 shots on the goal in a 30second time period. The shooter with the most number of goals is the champion. The camp went crazy when one camper in particular made about 7 out of 10 shots. It was incredible to watch this fella! We have a lot of talented lacrosse players at camp this year.
The group crossed the road to the soccer field for the Soccer Shootout. This was particularly interesting to watch as the kickers had a target, Aramide Olaniyan, Michigan's assistant coach. While Coach Olaniyan "talked smack" to the kickers, they were given 10 shots and 30 seconds. Again, the participant with the most number of goals wins the challenge. As quick and explosive as Aramide is, these soccer players managed to get in some goals.
At our new outdoor track, twelve runners took part in the 100 Meter Dash. Twelve more participated in the 400 Meter Dash. The camp gathered on the infield to watch the runners. It was so exciting to see the runners gain momentum as they passed the crowd cheering them on. I saw some future Tiger track stars yesterday. It was pretty impressive.
The camp headed inside for the 50 Meter Swim Challenge. Our pool is equipped with an upper level spectator area, so everyone gathered up there to cheer on some future Tiger Sharks. There were two heats of 6 swimmers. The top six times were placed in the final heat. You could see that some of these guys clearly have swim meet experience.
By 11:30am, the camp separated to finish up some more competition's before lunch. Part of the camp stayed for the basketball shootout which was held at the Barbee Center. The rest of the camp headed up the hill for the Strongest Man Competition and the Tennis Challenge.
The hoop stars were given 10 shots to take in 30 seconds. The most baskets defines the winner. The Strongest Man competitors had to do pull ups, dips and push ups. The camper with the highest number in each category is the champion. The upper body strength of some of these boys is really incredible considering their age. The tennis challengers played 10 balls which had to be returned to a target area. The player received points based on whether or not they made the target. Wow, they were really good!
The last challenge prior to lunch was the Home Run Derby. Twelve of the teams best hitters were given a maximum of 20 pitches or 10 hits. Within those hits, the batter with the most "homeruns" is the winner. They had to hit these balls far and they did! To make things real exciting for the crowd, several of our counselors took the challenge. Coach Hannenburg who is a former college baseball player and current high school coach hit 90% of his pitches way out of the park. Of course, Conference Director Frazier Stowers performed equally as well. Coach Stowers just finished his baseball career at Middlebury College in Vermont. Very impressive guys!
Finally, it was lunch time. The morning was really exciting and fast paced. Lunch and rest period was much needed by everyone.
After lunch everyone gathered at the Riley Wrestling Room. The grapplers had weighed in and were ready to go. This is one of the biggest highlights of the day. The entire camp cheered and chanted their fellow campers names during the matches.(What is it about boys and wrestling?)In the finals, we watched some brothers face each other. Things got real exciting at the point. If they're anything like mine, they've had plenty of sparring practice.
Another exciting wrestling tournament came to an end and we headed outdoors for the Golf Tournament. The conferences divided up and placed themselves near a green to watch. The 12 golfers divided into three teams and began playing at either hole one, two or three. After watching some great play yesterday, I told Coach Alexander last night that it's a shame we don't take more advantage of having a golf course in our back yard. What a great skill these boys have. Even if they don't go on to play professionally or play in high school, it's a great past time.
It was finally time for the last individual challenge of the day. The entire camp situated themselves at Johnson Stadium to watch the Quarterback Challenge. Each QB was given 10 throws and three different targets. First they had to throw four balls for what's called a curl route. This was about a 15 yard pass. Then they threw a "fade", this is about 20 yards and finally, they had to hit a moving target. The target? a counselor on a golf cart, and yes, the counselors heckled the QB the entire time!
At this point the entire camp was ready for some food and "r and r". By the time we descended onto the outdoor pool area, Coach Hannenburg, Mrs. Lewis and Mr. and Mrs. Firman, with the help of a few counselors, had the food ready to go. The campers got in line and waited to fill their plates with either hot dogs, hamburgers or chicken. Many of them took all three items. These kids can really eat! The food was hot and really good.
The campers didn't waste anytime after dinner before jumping into the pool. Some of them opted to play a volleyball game on the sand courts outside the pool deck. The competition just never ends!
We had one more thing in store for the guys though. The last event of the day was the Tug of War. This is where the "teams" come back together to compete. The entire group gathered around one of the sand volleyball courts to watch two teams face off with each other. Eventually we were down to the final two teams. USC was victorious in the end. In between team match ups, the counselors faced off by conference. The overall counselor/coach championship went to the Eastern Conference.
At the end of the day, Coach Alexander announced the team with the most number of points for the day. It was really close between 6 or 7 of the teams going into the Tug of War. In the end, Texas had the overall most number of points. Once again Texas shined. Go Longhorns!
Hopefully you enjoyed your day as much as we enjoyed ours. Have fun viewing the slide show of our day.
