Eltham Term Week 2 2019

Its week two of the program and this weeks theme could possible be 'learning'. We have a bunch of different activities planned that include learning news things around ourselves and saving lives.

Wednesday started how many of the Wednesdays will this term at Eltham Leisure centre. We met with Jordan and got stuck into our session. With great preparation from Jordan we went into the gym and did a few rounds of strength and muscle work. The workout included working with bands to do core focused exercises, push ups, crunches and planks. We then ended the session with some time of the cardio machines and a quick game of basketball. It was great to see how energised everyone was to move their bodies and see Jordan again. After having worked out core it was time to get outside and work our legs with our bike ride. We were lucky today to have the sun shining and blue skies on this day. To take advantage of this we had lunch at Eltham oval and set up for our ride from there. After gearing up, covering the safety aspects of bike riding, covering gears and loading up on water and sunscreen we took off on our ride. During this term we are fortunate enough to be able to utilise the beautiful spaces that Eltham has to offer. We road along the bike trail to Diamond Creek beside the Yarra River. This ride included both on path and off path riding by the tracks around Westerfolds Park. Everyone gave the ride 100% and had a lot of fun being on the bikes. Its was great to see everyone take up leadership roles and stick together as a group. After riding back to the bus we loaded out gear and said goodbye until tomorrow.

Thursday was a big day for everyone as it was our REACH grounded workshop day. REACH is an organisation that works with young people from all over Melbourne. Unfortunately Brendon and I aren't allowed into the workshops but we know from past experience the students enjoy and get a lot out of these sessions. The grounded workshops is run by REACH employees and past REACH participates who volunteer their time. From what the REACH staff and students have told us the session focuses on reflection, meeting new people, exploring well being and getting free KFC for lunch. When we dropped the young people off they were a bit unsure of what to expect but went in without an issue. When we picked them up they were all smiling and had nothing but positive things to say about the day. They all made new friends and from what they shared gained some perspective on what day to day life is like for people and all the different things that other people face in their daily lives. We have one more REACH workshop this term and I know the students will be looking forward to it.

Friday is a big day on the program as we are doing our Surf Life Saving course with Nick from South Melbourne Surf Life Saving club. Nick is an incredible instructor and long term friend of the program. He has been at South Melbourne for years now and has great knowledge of CPR, Surf life saving and what the clubs and surf life saving clubs around Victoria can offer. We picked up the young people and arrived just as a the storm was rolling in. We are lucky this term as South Melbourne has just opened their new club and so we were able to stay dry in a fresh and kitted out building. We started the session by covering what Surf life saving is and then getting stuck into the CRP. This entailed learning about DRS ABCD which the students picked up quickly. It was wonderful to see everyone focused on getting the compression and breath correct and paid off as they all understood it in the end. After this we jumped into our wet suits, grabbed some boards and got into the water. Once in the water we covered how to paddle, important safety signals in the water and played a few games. We also practised how to save someone if they were struggling and had a race on the beach. Due to the weather and the prospect of getting wet not everyone was keen to get in the water but once in everyone perked up and showed a lot of zest. It was great to see and allowed us to end the week on a high. Everyone tried really hard this week and learnt a lot of new things. Next week we have our first camp of the term and so another big week ahead! We said goodbye for the weekend and left feeling relaxed after showering and getting into dry clothes.