Team 4 Week 2

Monday July 25th
La Plant-
We met a few camp counselors from Alabama and one of them was with us last year. They were heading out to Laplant and Swiftbird to pickup kids to go out to camp. There was also a church running VBS this week so we ended up with 4 kids. It was really hot today so we played some water games and did some painting and beading inside of Boys and Girls club.

Swiftbird-
We started off by playing some water games and then played a game of kickball to help the kids learn the game of baseball. We broke off into groups and the first group worked on some hitting drills, group 2 worked on throwing and catching, and group 3 worked on some different art projects. We met 3 new kids today and it took a while for them to come and get involved but after watching us so much fun they jumped in and played with us for the rest of the day.

Tuesday July 26th
Bear Creek-
We went to the Y early to pick up some different supplies and headed out. We met 2 older girls that haven’t been with us yet. They seemed to have a great time. The kids here love to hit the ball so we worked on hitting first and played some kickball. After kickball we worked on some grounders and throwing. We have noticed that all the kids we have met have a natural athletic ability. To end our day we played some tag games and the kids taught us a new one.

Cherry Creek-
We stopped off at the Y and picked up Paul, who is a Sioux Y staff, to come out with us. They weren’t a lot of kids today and started out with some more hitting instruction. The kids here are older so we worked a lot of fielding work. After that Josh hit pop-ups to the kids in outfield and we also worked on some base running, tagging up and hitting the cutoff man. To keep the kids with us the whole time we played the kids in a basketball game. All of us old guys were very tired by the end of the day. Also at the end of the day a few kids came up with some horses and offered us a ride, which Paul jumped all over the chance. The end of the night our reservation mother (Mona) stopped by and we talked until 11 that night. She is such a great person with a great laugh.

Wednesday July 27th
La Plant-
We knew we wouldn’t have a lot of kids and being our last full day with them we wanted to do something different. We had a huge water balloon fight, followed up with an old civil war water fight. Bob and John started a kickball game while Josh did some lanyards and beading with a new girl that hasn’t been with us yet. We also did some more painting and some of the kids made some signs of welcome for the next team.

Swiftbird-
We again met two new older girls today and started of the hot afternoon with some of the same water balloon games we played at La Plant. We then played a game of 500 with the balloons, it was so much fun. Bob did some craft projects with the kids and we worked on catching and throwing. We wrapped up the day with a water war and started meetings with people back in town to set up the last softball tourney. Our hope is to get other communities involved beside the ones we previously serviced.

Thursday July 28th
Bear Creek-
The kids were swimming again so we didn’t have a lot of kids, but we were told this was the last day of swimming for the summer. We got there early to fill up some water balloons and had fun with water. The kids here really love hitting so we worked for a long time on hitting instruction and played some “cotton ball.” It was really hot out today, fitting because this is our last full day.

Cherry Creek-
We stopped by the Y to refill our drinking water and fill up balloons. When we arrived there was another outreach group was setting up a cookout and games, we asked if we could play with the kids for a while. It was a blessing because we met a lot of new kids and had enough people that we split up and played a full game of softball. We used water balloons to hit for the first part which the older kids loved. They are working really hard to beat Eagle Butte in the last tournament. We have really pushed to have a previous contact person step up and be a leader. Good news: He now has asked us to bring him an application to be a Y staff member. We left early due to the cookout and a massive storm that blew in while we were leaving. Tonight we took out Mona and another board member for some DQ.

Friday July 29th
We went to Bear Creek and spent extra time so we could clean up the community center. On our way to the Y we were talking about how great it was that we will be going home yet at the same time we don’t want to leave. We ended up talking with a lot of adults and came away with a sense of love. The members of the community love the YMCA staff for being here because we love their kids, and they seem to be interested in what we’re doing out here. Overall it has been a great week full of a lot of laughs and smiles, which is the best part of us being out here. Tonight we plan on going out to camp and look around; we have been invited to a dinner.

Saturday July 30th
We plan on cleaning up and work out some last min. details for the tournament. We were also invited to go to a Pow Wow of which we are extremely honored and excited.

We would like to thank all the Sioux Y leaders for giving us such a great gift by coming out here. Thanks to all of our Y supervisors for letting us come as well. Thanks to family and friends for sharing us with these great people. Lastly, we would like to thank all the teams that have come before us this year and past, we are now part of a very special family. Good Luck Team 5!