Yesterday marked a very important day of Session B – the kickoff of the Four Fold Tournament!!! To give you a taste of what the campers experienced yesterday, below is a link to a video, created by Merrowvista staff members, to help get you in the right mindset for the Four Fold Tournament.
The Tournament is a way for the entire community to come together and practice the Four Folds we have learned about this summer – the Mental, Social, Religious, and Physical Folds. First, the community is broken up into six teams, with campers from different villages coming together to get to know people they may not have met yet this summer. We talk about the Four Folds and how we can use each of them during the week ahead. We will use our minds and bodies to compete in challenges, solving puzzles and racing from the waterfront to the A-Field in pursuit of the gold medal (or, in this case, a wooden plaque). But the mental and physical parts of this competition are only half of it – the Social and Religious folds are just as important. Teams are also awarded points based on how well they work to get to know each other and include each other in each activity they do.
You may be wondering how the Religious Fold is brought into a competition comprised of relays and capture the flag, and for us, this is one of the most important elements of the game: how you treat an opposing team in the heat of competition. At Merrowvista, we believe in treating each other with respect and kindness, and while this is sometimes difficult during daily life, it is most difficult when you are hot on someone’s heels racing to the finish line. Everyone will have moments in life where they try their very hardest and still fall short of someone who is a faster runner or a quicker problem solver. In those moments when we are disappointed in ourselves or someone else, when we feel let down and heartbroken, how are we going to treat the people around us? And when we are on the other side and ecstatic about winning that race, how will we act around the people who came in right behind us? How you act after you win or lose is just as important as the winning and the losing.
Sunday night saw the first official event of the Four Fold Tournament with Melbourne Cup. Each team was given a variety of materials to build their own chariot and raced it around the A-Field. This morning was the perfect day for the Water Carnival, where campers participated in different water-based competitions, all culminating in the final challenge, Canoe-Sinkaroo! Tomorrow brings Merrowvista’s signature game – Camp Conquest. In a large game of capture-the-flag, each team has a flag they must defend while trying to capture a flag from one of the other 5 teams.
Through each game, campers are learning how to work together to accomplish their goals and trying out the skills they have learned here throughout the session. It is yet to be seen who the winners will be, but we guarantee there will be lots of fun and learning along the way – and here at Merrowvista, “if you had fun, you won!”
-Bailey