Summer camps at Sibun- July 2011

PROBLEM SOLVING and much more fun at the camp!
Chess and art camps are taking place at the same time. The theme for these summer camps is Problem Solving, so in addition to chess and art instruction there are a lot of activities that require participants to solve various tasks together as a team.

Creating poster for the talk show about their favorite books that they read at the camp:
Our chess camp talk show: camp counselors are the hosts who interview all the participants on the books that they read during the camp:


Working on creating the second volume of the chess book at the art camp:

Playing various sports..

..including chess:
Working on egg-preservation device-with very limited resources, the teams need to create packaging device for an egg. On the last day of the competion, their devices will be tested.


On the last day of each camp teams compete in the adventure race: they have to go through the obstacle course, cross the river, tube down through the rapids and race back to the lodge. Through all that, the team captain carries an egg, that needs to be well preserved from being smashed and in the end tested for the 8 feet egg drop.



Team effort in action:

Egg drop: most of the teams managed to build such well thought through packaging that the eggs survived the 8 feet fall.
week 1 participants:
week 2: By the end of each week, each participant took home awards for participation,positive attitude, special efforts and sportsmanship and in addition, a chapter book of their choice to read at home. Thanks to the donation from the Lincoln Land Community College Child Development Center and the Memorial Child Care Center from the United States, 130 children enjoyed reading books at the camps and we still had enough books to send home with every single participant and junior coach.

SPECIAL GRATITUDE TO:

Belize Telemedia Ltd (BTL) and
Caves Branch Jungle Lodge

for their co-sponsorship of the 2011 summer national chess camps. Without their sponsorship many children would not have had the opportunity to participate.

SPECIAL THANKS :

Head camp directors: Micah Williams, David Coombs and Jose Teul

Head Chess Coach was Sonia Zepeda, International Chess Master.

Caves Branch Jungle Guides responsible for safety and adventure part:
Edgar Martinez and Pablo Garcia

Please remember the names of the coaches who assisted in running those camps- they used their vacation times to volunteer at those camps and make them so successful. So if you will see them in your community- shake their hands and say THANK you for all what they did for the kids:

Corozal - Omar Huitz and Elvia Huitz
Orange Walk - Kevin Frasure, Gabriel Campos and Eric Cal
Cayo - Abdul Lotiff
Stann Creek - Pedro Pixabaj and Allen Sanchez
Toledo - Policarpo and Aurora Coc

Additional thanks to the junior coaches- their job was not only to assist in teaching chess, but also to supervise the activities - from washing dishes to morning exercises. They were a real pleasure to work with - excellent attitude, energy and enthusiasm. Parents and coaches of those youngsters should feel exceptionally proud of them:

Cayo: Maricela Cocom and Akeem Jenkins
Stann Creek: Kris Sanchez, Rick Pascasio and Colleen Tate
Belize : Steve Flowers

Art Camp: was directed by Micah Williams and Ella Anderson.
Art coaches: Rebecca and John Shannon

Volume 2 of the Chess Mystic Quest will be published by the end of August.
The young artist who created all the illustrations to the book are:
East Cayo- Rasheed Palacio
West Cayo- Gozberto Coy and Roberto Maneur
Stann Creek- Ivan Pixabaj
Belize- Tiago Tonaco

2010 summer Sibun camps

Adventure race on the last day of the camp. All teams were training for 5 days for that day and now it was time to put their skills to the test.

One of the weeks Grand Master Maurice Ashley was leading one of the teams through the race.

Since he is known in Belize not just for chess, but also for his great physical shape, he was a perfect motivator for our players.

First part of the race: tubing through the rapids to the next station.

During one of the weeks due to the flood we could not do tubing, so teams had to measure the distance from the lodge to the cliff- not an easy task to do, when you have to race but also have to be accurate with your measurements- good life skill.

After tubing: leg-lifts

and push-ups

After that : rappel 120 feet of the cliff at Sibun river and race to the next station...

Tying knots is not as easy as it was during the training sessions- by this time everybody is exhausted, and the pressure of time is adding to the difficulty. The good thing though is that it is all done as a team, so kids can guide each other through the difficult parts.


Then, the race continues, now as a team they have to run all the way up and down the hills 3/4 of a mile back to the lodge where they have one more station- obstacle course.

All participants and coaches were working together and bonding during the camp, it was a truly national event- making friends from all the districts. Cayo player, Gabriel Cocom, and Toledo coach,Policarpo Cus finishing the race with the spectacular results.

The main theme of this year camp was Leadership and Team Work. Emphasis was on learning the 7 major Chess Knights Skills:

Effective Communication

Intellectual Curiosity

Physical Fitness

Swimming and Tubing

Chess

Tying Knots

Sport Competence as a team

Effective Communication: Culminating event - Book Talk Show. See below our favorite hosts and the participants:

Close-up to one of the book posters for the Talk Show:
Sharing their impressions from the books with the visiting Team of Golden Kings and Queens:
From the library of almost 300 books that were donated to BNYCF by scouts group in US, each participant had a chance to pick a book for reading during the camp,
as well as a lot of participants were awarded books of their choice to take home.
Intellectual Curiosity: culminating event- geography game. Teams were studying hard for that game: population of different countries, making comparison graphs of density of populations,,

During the game, watching photos from different countries around the world about nature, adventure, natural phenomena, architecture, and as a team they had to take notes during the presentation and then answer 50 different questions by going thru their notes and discussing with each other.

Sport Competence as a team: helping each other to learn or to improve.

Swimming: always with life jackets, combination of water games and learning how to swim.

Chess:

Grand Master Ashley was working with 24 best and most active players from all the districts

We also had 2 wonderful Mexican Coaches working with us for 4 weeks at the camp:

We did a lot of team chess activities as well:

Helping each other during puzzles time:


Blitz tournament

And now,, as these kids go back home they are eager to teach their friends and parents to play chess as well as share all the other useful skills that they learned in the camp. Each week they met players and coaches from other districts and made new friends. Our chess family keeps growing!