Day one of the SDS Summer Camp has been action packed with activities and despite the weather’s best efforts, not even the continuous rain could dampen anyone’s spirits.
After all the campers had arrived and settled in, the first thing on the agenda was lunch! The chef, Andy, treated us all to pizza and pasta – a fitting meal, giving everyone plenty of energy for the sporty afternoon that lay ahead.
Campers were divided into three teams: red, blue and green, before they split up to do different activities: tennis, athletics and floor curling. It was great to see the red team tackle the technical skills of tennis so positively. They did drills that tested their hand-eye coordination, before practicing rallies and serving. Although tennis is largely an individual sport, the red team really showed their team spirit today and were super at supporting each other. Grace, the YPSP Administrator, was part of the red team and she said: “It’s been great to see the team working together, cheering each other on and making long lasting memories!”
Faye from Scottish Curling ran the floor curling session which proved to be a lot of fun! The blue team had great accuracy – often finding the center of the target. Their focus and accuracy found them scoring the most points in the final target game – beating the red team by one point to take the win with 16 points. The green team took third with 13 points. A very close competition! Felicity, from the blue team, said: “I’ve really enjoyed today. I’ve been at Badaguish before but it’s even better this time. I think it’s nice to experience it again and it just seems better. I’ve got a couple of new friends, someone called Iona, she’s in my team.”
Athletics was the third sport on in the first half of the afternoon. The green team did well in the running drills, which tested their balance and coordination. There was also lots of laughter and things even got quite competitive in the relay races!
After each team had rotated around all three sports, it was a quick change into waterproofs before climbing into the van and heading to Loch Insch for some watersports and archery.
Archery proved to be a great hit but the watersports seemed to be a highlight of the day for the majority of the campers, with participants taking part in kayaking and paddleboarding – some were even brave enough to go for a swim in the loch!
Ling Mann, a leader for team green, said: “It was a fantastic first day. The kayaking and archery were very popular amongst the team. The watersports were a big hit.”
Lucy, who is also in the green team, had a special highlight of the day: “Ling and Jonny falling off their boats was my highlight. They flipped over and fell out completely. It was really fun!”
Layla from the red team said: “The red team have done brilliantly today! Kayaking was my favourite, it was really fun. I enjoyed making some new friends and very excited for tomorrow!”
It seems like lots of new friendships were formed on day one. “My favourite part of the day was petting the duck that was getting carried out the restaurant”, said Leo, red team member.
Harris, from the blue team, also liked the social element of the summer camp: “I’ve enjoyed meeting everyone and the team mascot is to keep so the other teams don’t steal it, to get points. The flag is to basically fly around so that people know that the blue team is coming. We’re going to win!”
Dinner at Loch Insh heated up the campers, as everyone tucked in to either a steak pie, chicken or veggie burger followed by some ice cream or sticky toffee pudding!
By the time we arrived back at Badaguish, there was just time for a hot chocolate before bedtime. William, a leader from team blue, said: “A lot of them have heard about the itinerary for the next few days and they’re so excited about the opportunity to continue trying new sports that they could possibly take into their day-to-day lives.”
We hope everyone has a good night’s rest – they’ll need it ahead of day two’s adventures!