Homeschooling Camp III - Sports and Games

A highlight of the camp is the Sports Carnival. One of the dads handles most of the organisation (here is our report last year) and every child has a go. Even our less than athletically gifted children each get a participation point just for entering each race so help their team. James was so intent on doing his best he strained his recently repaired arm during shotput. He didn't tell anyone and went in the 1000m (5/8 mile) marathon. I saw him crying as he neared the finish line and helped him finish the race.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "A stitch, did you fall over?"
"No," James replied and told me how he strained his arm. So we bandaged it up and by the evening he was much better. At the beginning of the sports award ceremony James was called to the front.
"Who me?" he asked with a shocked expression.
"Yes, you. Come on up."
The organiser and one of the priests had their hands on his shoulders and told the audience how he had gone that extra distance just to get the participation point. James was quite embarrassed - but happy too.
Ariel was also embarrassed. She won the "Best and Fairest" award. This is a perpetual trophy and is awarded to the child who is the most helpful and generally all round good child for the camp. Ariel's face at the moment her name was announced as the winner was worth a photo. But I missed it so she is shown here after the event.
We also learned new games from other families. In this photo I joined Ariel and her friends playing "Hands". Players sit around a table and place their right hand over their neighbour's left hand. Then it begins. One tap means go forwards, two taps means reverse and three means skip the next hand. If you don't tap when you should that hand is removed (from the table, not surgically). It gets quite tricky especially after hands are removed. For example, I tap my hand once on the table and the person on my right taps their hand once and the next hand taps twice. So it reverses and the next hand taps once and I have to tap again. If I tap 3 times, the hand on my left is missed and the next left hand has to tap.