Last Day Celebration and Final Thoughts

The Last day event turned out to be quite a success. We believe everyone enjoyed the entirety of the event due to comments from the group and by the looks of how much fun they were having.

We did have a few positives in negatives from the event. I’ll start with the negatives. First, we started out kind of early—15 minutes. The events also took much less time than we expected. I guess I would rather allot too much time than not enough, although we should try better planning in the future to allot correct amount of time. Doing an event in half the time could cause other problems like major scheduling conflicts if this was a much bigger event. We also need to be open to last-minute changes. Since we were not able to get the paddleboards, we had to change the rules slightly for that particular event. We should also learn to keep up with protests. If there are multiple protests to a certain ruling or the way something is being done, we should listen and see if there may be something else we can work out. The last negative thing was that people were upset that the tiebreaker event only included one person from their team. They would rather it had been a team event.

Even with the negative, there were positives. First of all, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the Australian feel of the event. They liked the fact that they were connecting with Australian culture on a certain level and felt it was a good last celebration before leaving. Another positive is that everyone got involved. We had been worried from the beginning about objection to getting involved with the event. We were happy to find that everyone seemed excited and were looking forward to the event. The other positive thing was that everyone was able to cheer on their team. There seemed to be a lot of team comradeship with cheering for their team and telling each other they did a good job. This also kept everyone involved with what was going, which is another positive.

All in all, we believe the Last Day Celebration Event was a success! Events going on that night were also a success. We planned for just the right amount of food and made sure to greet and speak to all the guests who attended. Pam was extremely happy with the way the BBQ had turned out.

I have a few final thoughts on the class as a whole. All in all, I felt like I learned a lot from doing an event with just one other person, but I guess I felt a little unimportant. I understand there was only two of us and we all have busy lives, but I feel I would’ve learned more if we had met at least once a week, or at least had better communication. It got tiring to have to e-mail every week to just figure out a time to meet. I loved the laid-back style of the class, but this was maybe too laid back. I don’t know if I really understand how this class usually works, but I guess I was expecting a little more guidance.

Some things I like overall about the course is that I was able to really hone in on my organizational skills. With many things to take care of in a short amount of time, it was necessary to try to keep things as organized as possible or everything would get out of control. I also liked the theory part of the course a lot. That was really interesting to me. Having worked in the Recreation Department my whole college career, it was interesting to see what people in a higher position than me have to do and think about when a big event is coming up and even everyday due to the department’s popularity. It was good for me to be able to see the real managerial and planning side of this so that I may better understand what’s really important and what’s not. The information I learned in this class will definitely help me as I continue my career with the Recreation department this summer, especially if I’m asked to plan an event.

Thanks for an awesome semester!

Kimberly Lytle

Last Day Celebration Update

BBQ has been arranged. Pam has the meat and salads worked out and gave us some money to get some green salads. She also gave us some money to use for the awards. We haven't decided what we'll use for the reward yet, but we're going in to town tomorrow to look around. The paddle board event is also being changed to a surfski kayaking event due to the funeral being held at the surf club on Friday. Really... the only thing left that needs to be done is to make the certificates, which will be done on the day of, and buying of the awards. We can discuss all of this on Wednesday at 10am.

Last Day Celebration

We finally have an outline for the event. The BBQ area has been booked as well as the kayaks and buoys for the different events. Invites have also been sent out. After finding out abotu the funeral that will be going on thie Friday, we have decided to move the beach part of the event to the beach area closer to the cabins just outside the Lake Ainsworth facilities. We are also concerned with getting the paddle boards. The contact e-mail we had for the boards is no good so we have come up with a back-up event in case they don't come through. We have also had at least two people, so far, that have lacked interest in participating with their team. We have a little help on our side with Pam making the event mandatory, but hopefully we'll be able to persuade them to participate at least a little bit. The following is an outline for the event:

• List of Events:

• Rope sprint:
• Time: 1:30PM
• Location: Beach in front of Surf Club
• Duration: 30 minutes

• Beach Sprint
• Time: 2:00PM
• Location: Beach in front of Surf Club
• Duration: 15 minutes

• Walk to Classroom by Lake 2:15PM-2:30PM

• Lake Swim
• Time: 2:30PM
• Location: Lake in front of Classroom
• Duration: 15 minutes

• Surfboard
• Time: 2:45PM
• Location: Lake in front of Classroom
• Duration: 15 Minutes

• Kayak
• Time: 2:30PM
• Location: Lake in front of Classroom
• Duration: 15 minutes

• Tiebreaker/Wrap-up Event 3:15PM-3:30PM

• Teams (6 teams of 6):

• Team 1: Gardner, Zach K, Pat, Ryan H, Lindley, Ashley M

• Team 2: Mickey, Ryan A, Courtney, Kyle, Ashley V, (Ashlyn)

• Team 3: Kendra, Sean, Andrea, Kevin, Taylor, Kevin T

• Team 4: Mishayla, Darrell, Nate, Kaitlin, Erika, Matt

• Team 5: Fiona, Sam, Amanda, Nathan G, Henley, Nick

• Team 6: Eric, Steve, Ray, Luke, Stacy, Nicole

• Points:

• 1^st place = 6 points
• 2^nd place = 4 points
• 3^rd place = 2 points
• Participation= 1 point

• Rules:

• General:

• Each team must have one participant for each event.
• No one on a team is allowed to participate in more than one event.
• If someone chooses not to participate in an event, they will forfeit their participation point for that event.

• Rope sprint (1 team member):

• 1 member from each team will line up on the ground opposite of the rope.
• Each person will lie facedown on the ground with their arms crossed in front of them. They will face the ocean.
• At the whistle, each person must jump up from their position on the ground, sprint to the ropes, and grab one of the ropes.
• There is always one less rope than number of participants so whoever does not have a rope at the end is eliminated.
• The remaining participants will line up again after a short break.
• The race will continue as before until there is only one person left. That person is the winner of the event for their team.

• Beach Sprint (1 team member):

• 1 member from each team will line up at the starting line.
• Participants may start however they like (crouch, standing up, etc.) as long as they have only one foot on the starting line and are behind the line.
• At the whistle, participants must sprint to another line indicator at the opposite side, touch the line with their hand, run back to the original starting line and touch the line with their hand two consecutive times.
• The first person to cross the stating line after 2 laps is the winner of the event for their team.

• Swim in lake (1 team member):

• 1 member from each team will line up at the starting line on the dock.
• Participants may start however they like (crouch, standing up, etc.) as long as they have only one foot on the starting line and are behind the line.
• At the whistle, participants must enter the water at a run and take 4 steps before diving in the water.
• Swimmers must then swim to a buoy placed in the lake, swim around the buoy, swim back, exit the water, and cross the finish line.
• The first person to exit the water and completely cross the finish line is the winner of the event for their team.

• Paddle Boat in Lake (1 team member):

• 1 member from each team will line up at the starting line with their board on the dock.
• Participants may start however they like (crouch, standing up, etc.) as long as they have only one foot on the starting line and are behind the line.
• At the whistle, participants must enter the water at a run and take 4 steps before getting on their board.
• Participants may use both hands at the same time to paddle through the water and sit on their knees, or they may use one after the other and lay flat on their stomach on the board.
• Participants must paddle to a buoy, paddle around the buoy, paddle back, exit the water with their board, and cross the finish line.
• Whoever exits the water and crosses the finish line first is the winner of the event for their team.
• If the participant exits the water without their board, they will be disqualified from placing and will only get 1 participation point.

• Kayak in Lake (2 members of team):

• 2 members from each team will line up at the starting line with their kayaks on the dock.
• Both members must help in carrying the kayak and putting the kayak in the water.
• The member in the front of the kayak must have their foot on the line and be behind the line for the start.
• At the whistle, participants must enter the water and be in the kayak after 4 steps in the water.
• Participants must kayak out to a buoy and judge.
• The first participants to pass the buoy and judge will be the winners of the event for their team.
• If a kayak is flipped during this event or any participant falls off the kayak, those participants are disqualified from placing and will only get 1 participation point.
• There are not double points for this event to account for two team members. The two team members count as one unit.

We also have a tiebreaker event so that if two or more teams end up with the same amount of points at the end, we can declare a winner. If there's an event with a tie, we'll just have those two teams compete in the same event again.

Things that still have to be done are buy/make awards, arrange food for BBQ (we have to discuss this with Pam to see how much money we have), and figure out the paddle board situation. These will, hopefully, be taken care of by Wednesday.

Intramurals Update

We are in a final week of Championship games. Due to people being gone these past couple weeks on days of events, the schedule of games had to be changed multiple times. We were able to finish our volleyball tournament last week and had Team #4 win that sport. the rest of the teams will play out their games this week starting with soccer and basketball tonight. ultimate frisbee and football will be tomorrow. An "awards ceremony" will accompany the banquet we have on Friday afternoon after the Last Day Event.

Intramural Games:

Soccer- Monday 4:30PM
Basketball- Monday 5:00PM
Ultimate Frisbee- Tuesday 4:30PM
Football- Tuesday 5:00PM

I believe that the Intramural games provided me with a lot of experience in working with busy students. Having to organize an event that only works when people are available is quite difficult at times, but I really feel like I learned something on the planning side of things. All in all-- a fun an informative experience.

Intramural Update

We have started all tournaments for all 5 sports in our intramural games.

Volleyball is set up with a double elimination bracket because of the amount of teams involved. The way we determined their place in the bracket was their record. The team that never lost a game since the games started was 1st cede, while the team that only lost one game was the second, etc. It took 3 days to get down to our final match. Team 1 and 4 will be competing for the title next week during the final games.

Soccer, Basketball, Ultimate Frisbee, and Football are all single elimination since there are only 4 teams. It only took one day for each of these sports to get down to the final match which will take place next week. We schedule all the games these past 2 weeks to make it so that all the final games of each sport would happen in the same week. This decision was based on preference and participant suggestion.

Schedule for final games next week:

Sunday- Volleyball 5:30PM

Monday- Soccer 5:30PM

Tuesday- Basketball 5:30PM

Wednesday- Ultimate 5:30PM

Thursday- Football 5:30PM

Come out and see them if you get the chance!

Sydney vs. Melbourne

The main thing I thought about with events in Sydney versus Melbourne was the fact that the transportartion in Sydney seemed to be a little bit better than in Melbourne. The trams in Melbourne seemed confusing coming from someone from the outside who has never used the system before.

Another thing that struck me as a difference is that the Olympic park in Sydney is farther away from Sydney than the Olympic park in Melbourne. In Sydney, it takes a 45 minute ferry ride or a train ride for 20 minutes or a bus for an unknown amount of time. There were all these ways to get there, but they all made it clear that the park was well out of the hustle and bustle of the big city. The good thing I can see from the park being so far away is that it separates the traffic in the city. People visiting the city for the games will hang out outside the city more and be more at the games area-- especially since many hotels were built for that reason. This makes the city less busy and able to control the usual amount of people that are in the city. The bad thing I can see from this is that after the games, the park is so far away from everything that the park is virtually dead. No one visits the park nearly as much as I had suspected. It seems like a waste to me.

In Melbourne, the Olympic park was a 5-10 minute walk from downtown. I believe this was because, since the Olympics were so long ago in Melbourne, the city was probably not as developed as it was today and it also probably wasn't a big deal to develop so close to the city because the city wasn't as big. There probably weren't as many buildings that needed to be built either. Because it was so close, it was very easy access to anyone staying in the city during the games. The good thing I can see from this is the convenience of the park being so close. The businesses in the city won't lose any business from all the Olympic enthusiasts because they will all still be in the city. The bad thing I can see from this is that it will really stress the city out. With all the people that already live in Melbourne and the usual traffic, it seems as though an event like this would stress the limits.