By: Curt Williams, Founder & Executive Director
OK… well, this may sound serious, but much of the activities, contests and behaviors were far from serious as this year’s games commenced. While some of the boys enjoyed the competition, the competition brought out the raw testosterone in others.
These games were born last year when we saw cabin fever increasing during the Covid lockdown.
The twisted minds here at Youth-Reach came up with a series of games and contests that would span a full week and would include games that were physical, mental and even scholastic, in both individual and team contests.
The team events included 3-on-3 Basketball, Sand Volleyball, Pickleball, Water Polo, Capture the Flag, The Amazing Race, Dodgeball, Tug-of-War, Pandemic (a timely board game where the players must work together and all either survive or die), and Pig Roundup (with live pigs).
The individual events included Donut on a String (an annual laughfest), King of the Hill (played on the water trampoline in the pond), Cops & Robbers (a sick amalgamation of Hide & Seek and Capture the Flag, but with the staff pitted against the residents at night), Knockout (played with basketballs), a swim race, and the Mental Decathlon (with tests on ten topics: math, literature, music trivia, science, sports trivia, art, Bible, movie trivia, history, and Youth-Reach trivia).
The winner is determined by a series of points awarded for both individual and team wins, and this year our overall champ was Logan. We will not tell you about his fierce competitive nature that can turn him into The Hulk, but he was consistent and strong throughout the week of competition.
Logan was the overall champion of this year’s Olympics. He is a fierce competitor, and along with bragging rights, he won a ton of points good towards purchases in our Youth-Reach General Store.
Water polo always seems to bring out the competitiveness, the killer instinct, and the cheating.
Pickle ball in shorts and cowboy boots? Why certainly.
Bije won the art contest with this awesome watercolor.
The Donut on a String event is always a spectator favorite.
The Dodgeball event is always the most intense of all the games.
