Sunday’s are a special time at Camp Timberlake. Instead of sticking with the daily schedule of classes, the boys spent this day of rest engaging in a variety of diverse and team building events across all cabins. These fun events consist of both tournaments and various contests such as: frog catching, sandcastle building, fly fishing, and dam building.

The day started out first with an extra hour of sleep, which was quickly complemented by a breakfast filled with warm cinnamon buns and cold milk. Followed by a special Sunday chapel, the boys were back in the cabins cleaning rapidly in anticipation for the rest of the day’s activities. Today was also a day of firsts in regards to of our contests. The first fish of the summer was caught during fly fishing. But the real headline was that the fish caught by Tyler S, was a whopping 8 pounds. Eight whole pounds folks! This would explain for why it took Tyler a solid 20 minutes to bring in the big old koi. Sticking with the theme of firsts, the first frog of the summer was snagged by Mason G, Patrick G, and Mason B maxing out at 2 and a half dots in length. Over in the sandcastle competition, team “Viva Castilla” (James B. and Jacob A.) took a solid first place after much patient work in forming the sand to perfection. Finally, it was the oldest campers in Greybeard cabin that ran away with the dam building contest win. Will C, Louis K, Jack J, Ben B, Roy M, and Jack J, used their veteran camp expertise to overtake their younger opponents and effectively block the water.

Beyond the listed contests there were some other events that occurred during the relaxing day. Sunday at the Masters, which is a disc golf tournament, consisted of 7 teams battling it out for the pride of the green jacket. In the end it was the family chemistry of two brothers, James and Jack B, that ran away with the win as they birdied on multiple holes. After a filling lunch of fried chicken and an hour to sleep it off, the boys were back at it again, engaging in many different events. Amongst the many games of football, frisbee, and soccer; the big hit at camp right now is a game called spike ball. Essentially, two teams of two, bounce a small ball on a net, attempting to gain points by returning serves so ridiculous that the opposing team cannot get the ball back on the net (youtube “spike ball” for more details). Nonetheless, this game has taken camp by storm, leaving an end result of many entertained campers. Beyond these other games, there were two other contests occurring in Archery and Fencing. Hudson S. took the Archery tournament win, while Owen S. ran away with the Fencing tournament. Other Timberlake’s took advantage of the free swim at Lake Doris as the water slide and blob were both open to campers today.

The two other major events that occurred during this wonderful day was the Tribal soccer game and the kayaking trip. With CIT Director Cody F taking the boys to the Tuckaseegee River, much progress was made. Accompanying Cody, was Wes H, Harrison C, Jack E, Diego S, Parker B, Trey F, and Cameron S, with Wes getting his “Stern Squirt” and Trey, Parker, and Cameron all getting their “Combat Role”. Back at camp, the Seminole and Iroquois battled it out in an intense soccer game on Spencer’s Green. The game was broken up into two halves with the lower cabins playing in the first half, followed by the upper cabins finishing out the second half of the game. The game ended with a 1-0 Iroquois win, as the game’s only goal came in the first halve by the Black and White’s lower cabin squad. Of course, when the game ended and all the boys shook hands, the Sunday cook out began, with burgers, hot-dogs, watermelon, and cookies being enjoyed by all.

There are various moments at camp where community is at its best and today was one of those moments. Whether it was in the cabin clean up, the dam building contest, or tribal soccer, it was quite special to watch as older campers and younger campers all joined together. While there are 7 cabins and two tribes, we are all one camp, and Sundays truly show that. As we go through the final week of this session, I cannot wait to see more of these unifying moments, regardless of the day.

Big Piney Counselor David F.

“Piney Proud”