Posted by: Birch Rock Camp

A picture of a camper in the woodshop.

Everyone! Gather round! Have you heard the news? It’s Wyatt K.’s Big Day!! Today, Wyatt K. swam his Loon, a feat he worked super hard towards all summer, and to honor it, we dedicated this day to him. It began with Wyatt acting as Head Counselor for a day, which included running inspection, carrying a walkie talkie with him, and running a period of General Swim. Of course, he swam his Loon and completed it in a great time. There were also many people creating a church for Wyatt and worshiping him like a deity. The day culminated in Wyatt announcing Evening Activity: Quorum! We all headed up to the field and had a great time playing. Naturally, a good number of campers dedicated themselves to protecting Wyatt as they all raced to the other side of the field, trying not to get their pinnie tails pulled. We finished the night by walking across the field to our neighbors, the Plate’s, and singing them a couple Birch Rock songs before wishing them goodnight. This is a tradition we do every year to thank them for being so gracious with lending us their field to use to play soccer and other various activities every year. We are so thankful to them.

Wyatt was not the only person who had a big day today. Today was the elimination round of the Agawam soccer tournament. Between yesterday and today, Agawam invited us and three other camps (Agawam formed two teams, so six teams total) to compete in a soccer tournament. Yesterday, the boys won the first game and lost the second, but the victory was enough to put us through to the next round. Today, the team returned to Agawam with rejuvenated energy and determination, and played even better than they did the first day.

The first game, the semi-final was against one of the Agawam team, and this game was a tremendously competitive game. It was back and forth the whole time, and both teams had many chances on goal. Birch Rock took an early lead thanks to a goal from Kiran F. and held the lead until halftime. Agawam tied it up soon into the second half off of a penalty kick, and the ensuing 20-25 minutes of play were massively intense. Finally, we broke through with a beautiful goal. Gustavo F. played a beautiful throw in to Ramon P. which set up perfectly for him to volley it first time and drilled it into the back of the net. Everyone went crazy. Ramon was the leading scorer on the team in this tournament, netting 5 goals in 4 games, and none of them were more important than this goal. We held on to the 2-1 lead, thanks in large part to great defending and goalkeeper Will A. standing on his head to make some saves, and advanced to the final– against the other Agawam team. 

This was the same team that beat us yesterday, and it was a game that was pretty one-sided. However, today, in the final, Birch Rock played some of the best soccer they played in the tourney and really made the Agawam team sweat. At the half, we were down 3-2 thanks to two beautiful, yet gritty, individual effort goals from Leland N. Before the game, the team was surprised to see campers and counselors from Birch Rock had come to watch the game and cheer them on. It was so cool to see the supporters go nuts when both goals were scored. Unfortunately, in the second half, Agawam scored three more goals, yielding a final score of 6-2. But, the players displayed tremendous sportsmanship throughout, they gave such a strong effort (so much so that some of them could not even walk afterwards, haha), and they showed such strong improvement and determination. They truly did Birch Rock proud. Huge shout out to the full roster: Jack M., Leo F., Gustavo F., Will A., Jimmy M., Lennerd C., Kiran F., Abe C., Leland N., and our captains, Alex M. and Ramon P.

Back at camp, there were a bunch of badges handed out. Wyatt earned his Loon, as mentioned earlier. Caleb B. earned his Yeoman in archery. Charlie L. and Fritz S. earned their Bowman badges in archery. Kekoa H. earned his Jr. Campcraft. 

Best Bed: Milo S.

Best Cabin: Munn

Super Camper: Wyatt K.

Written by Nick Ferraina