Six feet out on the end of a plank, hanging three and a half feet over the water, wondering if his team is going to keep him safe and dry, his outstretched arm holding a four foot stick reaches to grab the much needed item to save his team from almost certain death. Sounds like a scene from a movie, right? Well, it is actually a scene from one of our many team building activities. While death was not on the table, success was and this team wanted to complete the activity successfully.
Learning to debate, discuss and share ideas is an important part of teamwork. It’s an important part of life, both in family and work. Knowing how to make your ideas be heard, as well as listening to others ideas is a skill that needs to be honed and developed, it is not necessarily natural. Learning the role of leader and follower is not natural, it comes through experience.
Camp is a great place for that kind of mentored experience. It helps each individual learn how to cope with different personalities, strengths and weaknesses. How to share ideas and how to listen to others ideas is a critical skill. Learning in action develops these skills in a manner that resonates and is memorable.
Teamwork, is a major emphasis of our programming at Pine Brook. We have multiple ways in which teams are used at camp. It may be the team that you do sports with, or the team of junior staff in our JST program, or our more developed leadership program, Clime. Either way, teamwork is as much a part of camp as eating and sleeping. I know that some of our teen’s favorite memories are of team building times as a cabin group or as a staff team. It’s part of what makes summer camp for life.
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