The Ice Breakers

For those of you who have never been in a new place or have never met new, interesting people, I feel sorry for you. You are missing out on a lot. But, I doubt that many of you reading this are one of those people. Everyone, almost everyday, has experiences with people they have never met, or don't know very well. When you come to SOUL, it is more than likely that you are going to meet a lot of people that you don't know. Meeting people can be hard. It can be awkward. That is where ice breakers come in.

Ice breakers are games that the staff have come up with in which the participants are forced into getting to know one another, at least on a surface level. For example, my favorite ice breaker of the summer (and it's pretty high on the list of being my all time favorite ice breaker) is called "Make a Date". To start with, everyone gets a paper plate, which they draw a clock on. Then at every number they have to find someone that you don't know, or don't know well, and put their name down. Once all 12 slots have been filled, the real game begins. Now it's time to go back through the numbers. As the numbers on the clock are called out, you must find the person whose name you wrote down, and that's your "Date". Each number has been assigned a question to serve as a conversation starter.

Now, after having met 12 new people, at least that can serve as a starting place for the week to come. Another bonus from this game is that the questions can be used to get to know the kids that come to Sports Camp also.

Unless a connection is made with the campers, the impact that we are able to have in their lives and on the community is minimal.