LA TRINIDAD – Some 68 students from Itogon Benguet, La Trinida, Cagayan Valley and Baguio City participated in this years’ YMCA Summer Youth Camp at the Benguet State University-Training Center in Bektey, Longlong La Trinidad, Benguet, held from April 30 to May 3, 2016.
The summer youth camp, an annual program of the YMCA of Baguio City, Inc. cantered on values and habit formation in four program aspects of Spiritual, Mental, and Physical development, had much to share in the three day camp that actively indulged the participants in various activities that gave them new experiences that will help them individually grow and be aware of their role as students in present situations happening in their surroundings.
The camp in its training parameter shared the experience of being independent through personal self-care like attending their own beds, washing their dishes, and personal hygiene. With the inception of the now diminishing values of children because of the use of modern technology as the addiction to computer games and the like, participants were given lectures on moral orientation, biblical leadership and team building activities that aim to reorient the youth of the importance of values as a factor to being a responsible citizen.
To increase their awareness of the importance of the environment, lectures and an eco-walk activity was facilitated by a local forester of the training center to introduce the participants of the names and scientific names of plants and trees in the area and the important functions of plants and trees in the environment.
The participant’s physical abilities were also put into tests with the introduction of “Sumba” as a means of fitness activity and were thought the basics and fundamentals of basketball, taekwondo, and a new sport called “TASPONY” which is the latest sport invention of the YMCA by Eizo Yamaguchi of Nagoya YMCA in 1981. The sport used and known as a therapeutic game for senior citizens and the youth in Japan has now spread in Asia with a couple of international tournaments. The sport also incorporates four rocket sports in its rules namely: loan tennis, table tennis, badminton, and volleyball.
Gracing the camp on its culminating activities was a “pasiklaban” where participants and their groups showed all that was learned in the camp through skits, songs, and yells. The camp on its last day was graced by YMCA Baguio members of the board headed by its President Jerome D. Gawidan and Vice President Atty. Matias Angiwan, who pursuant to the YMCA Baguio Mission envision putting up a YMCA Camp site as part of its community programs for youth development programs.
By Bobby Vinluan
