Week 1, Day 2

Breakfast every morning was at 8am (I know, painful!). We then had our first activity of the day which started at 9:30am. The itinerary for Tuesday was: Team Challenge, Orienteering and Sailing.

The most important activity of that day was the Team Challenge because, as you can probably guess, it was a team building exercise which encouraged us to interact more with the unfamiliar faces within our group. In simple terms, the Team Challenge was an obstacle course that our group had to complete numerous times, and each time, a new ‘challenge’ was added. We were split into 2 further teams which had to race against each other.

The first time round, one person from each group had to complete the course while holding a water balloon and if it dropped, that person had to start the course again. Assistance was needed at certain points, for example, a particular obstacle known as the ‘Washing Machine’, involved crawling and squeezing through 2 rows of heavy tyres and possibly losing your trousers in the process. A spare pair of hands to pull up a few tyres or a good shove was all that was needed to successfully overcome this obstacle. There was also a fairly high wall which we were supposed to volt over, but for the more… petite members of our group, another ‘Proposal’ came in handy in overcoming that obstacle.

The second time round, we had to pair up and take turns guiding the other through the course, as they would be blindfolded. This involved a lot of trust, communication and crossing our fingers in the hope that we weren’t guided straight into a tree... and there were a lot of trees!

The third time round, each separate group had to be linked in a chain of some sort, either holding the hand or ankle of the person in front of them, and completing the course without breaking contact for more than a second. This was probably the most difficult and frustrating challenge as certain obstacles (such as the wall and the Washing Machine) required both hands to complete but, thankfully, both groups reached the end in one piece.

The final time round the groups had to complete the course holding one cup of water each, spilling as little water as possible. However, one person in the group was able to hold 2 cups of water at a time which we found to be very useful during obstacles such as the one involving a large net on the floor that we needed to crawl under. The winning group was the group with the most water by the end of the course.

After the team challenge, we then had a short break and were moved swiftly on to the next activity - for us was orienteering! We split into 4 or 5 small groups and were told to find markers which were placed around the YMCA site - some were definitely easier to find than others. This task involved a lot of teamwork and delegating responsibilities like compass reader and map reader. It was a great way to improve our communication skills.

Lunch was soon given out at 1pm. We had time to relax and talk, but a lot of us were very excited about our next activity - sailing. This was the first watersport we did at the Manor. A lot of us took to the water naturally and managed to stay dry. However, a few of us were very new to the idea of sailing and balancing a 2 manned boat. Unfortunately this led to the capsizing of a few boats... All in all, it was a great day which was packed full of unforgettable experiences.

#team #orienteering #sailing #boat #obstacles #skills #watersports