Each year, nearly 2,000 kids ages 5-17 spend a portion of their summer at Dalplex. holds 27 different camps over the course of nine weeks ā everything from soccer to badminton; from outdoor recreation to "Mini University"; from Shakespeare by the Sea to leadership development.
Dal News student writer Katie Park spent her summer as a counsellor with Dalplex's climbing camps, and offered to share her experience.
Camp: itās a defining experience for many children and the young adults who help make it happen. Although it involves long hours, sticky children and conversations about toys or games that youāve never even heard of, being a camp counsellor is one of the best experiences a young person can have.
I spent my summer as a rock climbing camp counsellor at Dalplex. The opportunity came about as I was searching the Dalhousie job postings for a summer job. I wanted to stay in Halifax for the summer, and this job was going to be my way to do it. I have a long-standing love of climbing and camp, so it seemed like the perfect fit.
After many training sessions and getting to know my fantastic co-workers, camps began. The rock climbing camps run in four levels: the 1-2 level and the 3-4 level, for beginner and experienced climbers respectively. For the 1-2 level, many of the children were quite young and had never climbed before so it was such a pleasure to be able to share this unique and exciting sport with them. Many took to it like ducks to water (or climbers to mountains, if you will).
The 3-4 level, for more advanced climbers, offered new and exciting challenges to kids who had some previous climbing experience, or others who just wanted to perfect the skills they already had.
Over the course of the summer we took kids rappelling, top rope climbing, bouldering, hiking, swimming and ascending. We taught basic skills like how to spot properly, how to belay a climber, how to use equipment such as harnesses, caribeeners, belay devices, ropes and, of course, how to climb. Some kids were naturals at the sport; others found it challenging. No matter which they were, every kid did their best, leaving tired and happy with blisters on their hands and giant smiles on their faces.
But climbing isnāt all we did. Campers also had the chance to go swimming and try jumping off the tower, using the Tarzan rope and goofing around with their instructors. They also had the chance to slackline (which is like tightrope walking between two trees low to the ground), to rappel, to ascend and to try their hands at different types of games involving climbing.
It has been such a fantastic experience getting to know so many different kids, each and every one of them bringing something new to the Rock Court. We, as instructors have learned a lot about kids, a lot more about climbing, a lot about each other and a lot about ourselves. When youāre leading a large group of diverse kids you really learn what your strengths are and areas you can improve in. But itās always nice knowing, that even if there is an area you could improve in, chances are someone else has that down pat.
That goes for the campers too. All summer long, the kids have been eager to help each other, both in climbing and everyday encouragement and friendship. With the positive attitudes we see all day, every day, and the huge smiles, coupled with a reluctance to leave at the end of the week, we feel generally awesome knowing weāve been able to do our jobs in the best way possible.
Thanks to my fellow climbing counsellors Brianne Meikle, Jordan Hawkswell, Jake McCloskey, Shawn Smith, Kim Babirad, Sam Maize and Stephen Fyfe for such an amazing summer.