The Blog for Penryn (UK) -based Kernow Youth Society for the Performing Arts. Our society is open to young people aged 9 upwards from the Falmouth and Penryn area. Our aim is to allow members to explore their interest in the performing arts through drama and film activities. KYSPA has a strong citizenship theme with activities aiming to promote self confidence, teamwork and communication skills.

Thursday 3 May 2007

"What happens if we try this?"

KYSPA's members attended their second residential last weekend at Toc-H's Lindridge House in Devon. Aside from making plans for the rest of the "Making Waves" project (details to follow), the group extended their team work and communication skills through a series of challenges.

This was the "electric fence" challenge. Simply put, the group had to get everyone from one side to the other without "electrocuting" themselves. Easy enough, you might think, but they also had to hold hands for the entire process. If anyone let go, or got zapped, the whole activity had to begin again. They got there eventually, but there was some head scratching along the way!


As you can just about see, the solution involved two lucky volunteers acting as "steps" which allowed the rest of the group to gain the necessary altitude to clear the deadly fence (I know it looks like a rope but use your imagination, folks!).

The fence was by no means the only cunning challenge our intrepid team had to face. A real stumper was the simple test of walking in a line from point "A" to point "B". The only rule was that the group's feet had to be touching for the entire journey. As you will see below, this is really quite tricky but Tia came up with a different approach in the end. Not dignified, I'll admit, but it worked!



Yes, well I told you it wasn't that dignified! Not that I can talk after my little incident with the rope loop (I got a bit stuck) but fortunately there's no photographic evidence that I'm aware of so we can move swiftly on!
One of the last outdoor team building activities was the "nightline". This required trust, teamwork and communication skills. The group split into their two teams. All but the group leader were blindfolded. They then had to follow a rope trail using touch and the instructions from the group leader to guide them. This activity was quite a good example of how far the group had come from their earlier efforts. Both groups made it to the end of the "nightline" without major incident and, in the case of the group pictured below, as a single team unit.



So, we got rather used to asking "What happens if..." It's a good way of solving problems and sometimes having a good laugh along the way!

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