Eltham Term Week 5 2018

Wednesday was a day where we worked on our body and mind. We started at Eltham Leisure Centre with Jordan who had finished and printed all of our personal fitness programs. It was great to see how enthusiastic everyone is to get stuck into the programs and to work up a sweat at the gym. We started the session with a tree of life activity. This activity allows us to visually reflect on where we are, where we want to go and what has allowed us to get where we are. After this we played some basketball and headed into the gym. We were extremely lucky on this day to have one of the spin teachers at the leisure centre stay back to take us for a 10 minute class. Once we were sweaty and warm we spent the rest of the time working through our personal programs. The second half of the day was spent at headspace with Liz. This is our second time with Liz and this session focused on the same topic of emotions. Through interactive activities we spoke about different ways we can deal with our emotions and how we approach different situations with different attitudes. Each young person was really reflective during this session and it as awesome to see everyone getting involved.

Thursday was an exciting day as we were heading to our surf camp! we picked up the young people from Collingwood and headed straight to Breamlea. During this camp we are lucky enough to stay at Bancoora Life saving club which is walking distance from Bancoora beach. After an hours and a bit drive with our playlist pumping we arrived and unpacked the bus. We then met Tol the club manager and settled in. After some games of pool and lunch Kev from Torquay surfing academy arrived and we suited up to get surfing! With Kevs knowledge we went over the techniques of surfing and safety around water. Once we knew the basics we all ran straight into the water. It was heartwarming to see everyone with smiles on their faces as they were trying to catch the waves. During this camp we focus on the 3 P's needed to get through the surf sessions. These are participation, persistence and patience. On this day each young person demonstrated all 3 of these as most of them had success within the first half of the lesson. When it came time to get out of the water most of us didn't want to leave. From here we showered and headed to torquay to get some hot chips and relax by the beach. After this much needed fed we headed back to Bancoora to cook dinner and relax. After dinner we played pool, had some individual catch ups and enjoyed some apple pie before heading to bed.

Friday morning we all woke a little tired but excited to get into the water. We got up, packed up our stuff, had breakfast and were in our wetsuits before 9am. We met with Luke our new instructor and got straight into it. The waves today were a bit rougher than yesterday which allowed us to take on a new challenge. Each young person took the day in their stride and made the most of this opportunity. It was great to see each of them get up on their board and really get involved until the very last minutes of the session. Once our two hours were up we packed up our boards, gave our wetsuits back and prepared to head home. After a shower, clean up of the accommodation, lunch and debrief we made the journey home. This camp is always a tiring one that is filled with a lot of highs. Each of us made the most of this opportunity, (wipeouts and all!) and enjoyed these two days. On this camp we all saw some of the biggest smiles we have had on the program which really showed how much we all enjoyed it. We said goodbye for the week feeling tired but good.