Yarra Term Week 5 2019

Week 5 is here and it is an exciting one as we are going on our surf camp this week!

The Wednesday started much like it has before with a session at the gym with Andrew. We picked up the young people from Collingwood station and drove straight to Richmond gym. Once here we got stuck into our workout by doing 10 minutes of cardio. After this Andrew put us to work with a tough 9 station circuit that we went through 3 times. The circuit included exercises such as squats, push ups, crunches, step ups and more. It was a tough circuit but one that the students took on well. We then did 10 more minutes of cardio and finished the session with two rounds of an abdominal workout. After this we drove to Yarra bend park to canoe on the Yarra river. This activity was a program change for us and it was amazing to see how easily the young people adapted to this. We got to the river bank, unloaded the canoes and listened to the safety brief before we got in the water. What is interesting about the spot that we canoe is that it is home to thousands of fruit bats that hang in the trees. On our journey today they seemed to be curious of us as they were active in flying around and making noise. Regardless of this we pushed on and covered what we needed to for canoeing. We covered the skills of an emergency stop, two different types of paddle motions and the correct way to paddle in and dismount/enter a canoe. On this day we were fortunate enough to be cleaned by the rain as the heavens opened up on as as we were paddling back to the bus. Although it was cold and we were soaked from the large amount of rain that fell in a short amount of time, we paddled back, packed up the canoes and left with smilies on all our faces. Overall it was a great day that tested both our mental and physical endurance.

Thursday was the first day of our surf camp! We picked up the students from Collingwood and drove straight to Bancorra surf life saving club. The drive there was a quick and enjoyable one with our playlist playing. Once we arrived we unpacked the bus, had lunch overlooking the ocean and then geared up in our wetsuits to start our lesson. We met Kev from Torquay surf academy and started out lesson. We've been working with Kev for a long time now and we are extremely lucky to have his expertise guiding us through these lessons. We covered the basics of how to stand on the board and then got straight into the water. With props given to the young people they were able to take on the three P's that we were focusing on (perseverance, persistence and patience) and stood up on the board. After the two hour session we packed up our boards, had a quick shower and enjoyed the down time before cooking dinner. Given that we were on the beautiful great ocean road we drove down to bells beach to watch the surfers and enjoy what we could of the beach. Once back at the club we cooked dinner, played some pool and card games and even went back to the beach for a dusk game of touch ruby. We came back to the club, set up our beds, shared some apple pie and hit the hay.

Friday the team woke to the smell of bacon and eggs gratuitously cooked by Stella H! This got everyone moving and in record time we had packed up our stuff and were eating breakfast together. Once we were full we cleaned up the surf club, got back into our wetsuits and got straight into the surf. It was great to see how focused everyone was on this second day and how attentive they were in listening and applying Kevs instructions. With the three P's in mind everyone was able to stand on their board and catch a wave. Each of us truly made the most of our session and spent the whole two hours in the water. Once it was time to pack up we had a quick shower and change and said goodbye to Kev. To finish the day we had some lunch, participated in a debrief of the camp and then drove home. With credit to the young people Kev was extremely impressed in how well they listened and respected what we had to say. Each of them made the most of the experience and we all went home feeling satisfied with our efforts.