Water Ski Camp

This summer I was visiting family in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and my cousin became interested in water skiing. My aunt found a camp for him, and quickly enrolled him in it.

The camp was a week long, and went from 6 in the morning to 5 in the evening, and the kids were out at a man-made lake all day, taking turns going out on the boat, which was driven by two guys in their 20's. 

On the last day of the camp, the two guys who were in charge of not only driving the boat, but watching the kids, decided to pack up and leave, with no previous warning. This left the 12 kids unattended to, and the parents had paid a lot of money for them to go out to this day camp. The wife of the camp owner had a license to drive the boat, so that was covered, but that left the other 11 kids, not skiing, unattended to on the dock. So I volunteered to go out and watch the kids, while Karen (the wife of the camp owner) took care of the boat driving.

I got out there at 6 and played with the kids, watched over them and helped them change into and out of their ski gear. 

Around 8 I took the littler kids, leaving the older kids with Karen, with me up to the house and made breakfast for everyone, then brought it down to the dock for everyone to eat. After everyone ate, the kids took their turns on the boat, and I spent the morning watching them. 

In the early afternoon, I went back to the house to make sandwiches for everyone, and brought them back down just like I had for breakfast.

After everyone at lunch, they went back out on the lake for a few more rounds, as I entertained those left on the dock. Karen needed a break from all the driving around 2, so she sat on the dock and watched the kids while I went out and helped Roger (the camp owner) set up the other docks for a water skiing tournament he was hosting at his house (he had two man made lakes) the following day. We hung flags and posters around the docks and put up signs telling visitors where to park.

After we had finished setting up and cleaning up, I went to watch the kids while Karen took them out on their last run.

Volunteering out at the water ski camp definitely taught me a lot about dealing with kids, ranging from ages of 2 to 15.  The littler kids were very unwilling to mind, and I had to work with that, to keep from causing conflict and stressing out Karen, and the older kids weren't much help either. They were off in their own world, not really interested in being part of the group, until around lunch. After lunch I had everyone playing games together and interacting, so they would not only gain the skill of water skiing out of the camp, but also make friends and memories to last.