49/365

Katelyn and Stephanie cheering the West Pony delegation

I found West Pony to be a unique delegation. I'm not sure if it was the mind set of the staff or the attitude of the campers but West Pony was great at looking past the negative aspects of competitiveness and just enjoying the short time we had together. Whenever someone was not playing a game they were at another game cheering on their new found friends. Win or lose it didn't matter, West Pony knew how to gain the fullest potential out of this camp.

48/365

Jay Hicks with his grill

Only knew the kid for a week and by the end of those seven days I felt like me and him were best friends. That was feeling I got from many of the campers. I'm not sure why but in these situations (camps or spec) it seems like people go into them knowing that they're going to meet new people and to be ready and willing for the relationships to happen. I wish that was the view of everyday life. Just picture if everyone had that mindset while walking along a street or something like that. Just think of how many friends we could have gained.

47/365

Elliot (from Australia) creating awareness for Outreach International

Outreach did a great job this year making sure their voice was heard during Spec. They were very action oriented and involved not just the outreach staff, but the campers in their outreach. If you haven't yet, I suggest going to their website and finding ways to support their ideals because they really are very efficient and effective in the way they use the money they receive.

46/365

Some of the members of the glorious green basketball team

Spec is usually pretty competitive and many people dislike that camp because of the divisions the sports causes but these boys took that matter into their own hands. They created a team that did nothing but goofed off the whole game and Jeff and I (we were the coaches) ran with it. We brought poster boards with plays written on them, such as the sling shot and barn yard, and had a great time acting like complete fools.
because of this team a new rule for spec was actually created. The new rule is this, you cannot roll on the ground while in play of basketball because that creates sweat spots on the floor.
The Sweat spots were from Justin Mullens when he was instructed to do nothing but break dance while on defense.
can't wait to see what rules we create next year.

45/365

West Pony delegation at Spec

The camps are over...
5 weeks of non-stop movement.
5 weeks of 6 to 7am mornings and 12 to 1am nights.
5 weeks of strangers becoming friends.
5 weeks of incredible love that I am so thankful for.
5 weeks of camp.

so now what?
now the real work starts.