RYAN WILLMAN
Arrow Lakes News
Gone are the winter days of trying to entertain energetic kids in the house, augmented by bouts of cabin fever. Sufferfest organizer and local active living enthusiast Janice Neufeld encouraged the youth of Nakusp to take advantage of the warming weather by hosting a spring sports camp for students registered in Grades 3-7. Highlighting the best of what this area has to offer, Neufeld organized a number of healthy activities, drawing on local and regional resources for the 28 registered youth participants.
The week kicked off with an Akido lesson in the Nakusp Arena auditorium with Roland Werner from White Pines Dojo. Akido is a modern martial art form based on the teachings of jujitsu and kendo. The discipline is non-violent and non-competitive, focusing instead on the individual physical and mental benefits of concentrated action and attentiveness.
The week continued with a foray into the mountains on a bike tour followed by a day of soccer orchestrated by the Kamloops based group, Soccer Quest. Thursday was a unique opportunity for camp participants as the group traveled to the Nelson indoor climbing wall at The Cube. The week culminated with a parkour activity hosted by Kootenay Parkour and Development, a pizza lunch and a final game of ultimate frisbee in the sunshine.
“The whole point of this spring camp was to get kids moving and active,” Neufeld explains, “but the theme was to try new things and different things and that everyone is different and may not like the same activities.”
The camp concluded with a group reflection of which activities the kids liked most and a discussion about how to continue participation. Neufeld was keen to help the camp participants “discover their own passion and figure out what they like to do so they can lead active healthy lives.”
The camp was supported by over 10 volunteers from a pool of grandparents, parents and “rock star high school students who came out to help,” Neufeld said. Grant funding from a number of organizations including Nakusp and Area Community Foundation, Community Power, Rec Commission #4, KCSU, Village of Kaslo, Shon’s Bike and Ski, RDCK, and Kootenay Sufferfest who all donated and helped subsidize families so no youth who wanted to participate would be turned away.
