Gut Check

Wednesday night was the most amazing night. Gut Check brought the campers to the climax of the week and through their team work they solidified friendships and really gave it their all. Gut Check is a theme night event where all the staff dress up as army officers and guide the campers through a massive obstacle course around the entire campus! Such a good time. I happened to be stationed at the first leg of the course, so I witnessed the beginnings of a filthy, dirty, grimy test of endurance. The four teams, compiled of ninety students, had to stand in line and wait for their turn; the mosquitoes were relentless. Luckily, I kept spray on me at all times. The campers didn't have it as good (once they hit the mud, their spray if they had any washed right off). Suckas. To begin, the campers had to somersault into the watery ditch/trench (which turned muddy after Team 1) and crawled on elbows and knees about 100 feet to a checkpoint. Here they balanced their way across a slippery log and if they fell off they had to start at the beginning again! After this they had to crawl another 100 or so feet and then climb a tire obstacle to finish the leg. As they did all this, we (Ryan Malech and I) the "army officers" at the station, barked orders to stay down in the trench and to crawl properly. They had to address us as "sir" or we would make them pay with push-ups or sit-ups. It was hard to keep a strict straight face because one of the campers had his face wrapped up in fabric and just looked hilarious. He kept addressing me without saying "sir" so I kept adding extra push-ups to his schedule (he just kept talking, even when he was doing the punishment!). As the other teams waited for their turn they were constantly slapping those damned mosquitoes. Ryan and I taunted them by taking my spray and re-applying it to parts of our bodies where there was no chance for a mosquito to get there (they must have been pissed). It's fun being da boss. When one guy was in line to cross the log he said the funniest thing: "Shoot! My iPod is in my pocket." The girl beside him was shocked and replied "You serious?" He was the little camp clown and said, "No, I'm not stupid." Hilarious! I had to turn away and laugh.
Once they were done with our station they ventured on to the next leg for a mile run which consisted of holding on to the same rope (now this takes team work). Once they finished, they made their way to a boot camp mini obstacle section with our military man BJ. He made the kids crap their pants all week long. What a loving guy though! The final stage was a massive Slip N' Slide! My favourite. It was a massive tarp that was laid down on a pretty steep hill and was 10x50 feet. Best ever. It was covered in detergent and the kids had to slide down and bring back pales of water so others could have the ride of their lives! The first ones to go down would overshoot the end and keep sliding over the grass at the bottom near the river. You could hear them yelp in pain as they endured the grass burning sensation.
Now, when I thought all was over, I actually endured some pain myself. I persuaded one girl from the last team to go on the Slip N' Slide one more time. This was a once in a life time thing! She wasn't sure and was talking to one of the other coaches about it. I was standing behind her and reached down to pick up a pale of water to dump on the slide... WHAM! For some strange reason she jolted her hand back and slapped me right in the eye. It hurt (remember the fact that she was covered in slimy/grimy/gross mud all night). I became passive aggressive and asked why she would do that with her hand. Later I realized that I was getting mad at her for something that was very minuscule compared to what they had to go through!!! I went back and washed out my eye and there was literally a muddy hand print on my face (looked bad ass). At the end of it all we ate some snacks and reminisced on the highlights of the night. You should have seen all the mosquito bites! They should be immune to West Nile 'bout now. Some boys took their shirts off during the course... baaad idea.