This last week I spent 3 nights/4 days volunteering as a foreign group leader at a sports camp for kids in Tokyo. I've volunteered in the past for English camps with high school students and short events for children, but this was the most epic volunteer work I've done in Japan.
The premise of this sports camp is to help 5th and 6th graders find a sport they want to do, as well as to encourage friendship, communication, confidence and all the other good stuff through sports. In Japan, elementary school goes to 6th grade and then the students enter junior high school (3 years) and high school (3 years). In junior high, club activities (eg baseball, brass band, or calligraphy) start in earnest and often kids choose a club activity in junior high and stick with it until graduation from high school. Club activities aren't usually casual affairs, either. Many clubs meet 6 days a week, starting after school and going until 7 or 8 at night. They don't stop training during summer, winter or spring, either. The only time they stop is when there is an enforced exam break. Club activities, in other words, are a big deal. They shape the school experience of Japanese students and take up any remaining time and energy they have after regular school hours. So, finding a club you like and can continue at such an intensity is an important but daunting decision for young kids.
The sports camp I volunteered for had around 70 children from various wards in Tokyo. The camp took place at the Nationional Olympic Memorial Youth Centre in Yoyogi Park. This facility is huge! I never knew it existed before this camp. It has dorms, restaurants, a sports centre with gymnasiums, a pool, tennis courts, etc, an all purpose centre which houses many rooms that can be used in various ways (for lectures, seminars, training, etc), an International exchange centre, and more (which I didn't get to see). While we were there, there were many diverse groups using the facilities: groups of foreigners, sports teams, company groups, police academy students, marching bands, etc. Then there was our group: about 30 adults, mostly Japanese, with some foreigners for good measure, and 70 5th and 6th grade children, 80% of which were boys. Mayhem.
In the sports camp, the kids participated in sports clinics, ice breaking activities, introduction activities, international sports presentations, and at the end of it, a mini futsal tournament. The first day was arrival day, the children were separated into 4 colour groups with children they didn't already know. One objective of the camp was to make new friends. The first activities were ice breaker games, followed by an activity with a big parachute. In hindsight, I think it would have been good to have talking time in between the activities, because there really wasn't a lot of downtime for the kids. After that, it was time to go to their rooms and drop off luggage. The kids and most of the leaders stayed in tatami mat rooms, which could sleep many people. I was housed with the other two foreign females in a separate building, not so ideal. After unpacking, it was dinner time followed quickly by bath time. Already by bath time there was a problem in my group with a mean kid. He kept teasing another boy, finally resulting in tears. The boy was so upset he wanted to go home the first night. I and another group leader convinced him to stay, and after that he seemed to be okay. After bath time, the next activity was a group bonding session, where they brainstormed good cheer words and together they were supposed to make a cheer. My group did it, but afterward, I never saw the cheer again, and no one knew it... So it was a wasted effort. After the cheer activity it was back to their rooms to have some free time and then get ready for bed. By the end of day 1, everyone was already exhausted. The kids, being kids, were excited to be away from home and sleeping with other kids, so sleep didn't come quickly. Unfortunately, the morning did.
Day 2: wake up call at 6 am. Ugh. The kids were woken up at 6 am and they had an hour to prepare themselves for the day as well as for breakfast, at 7 am. I quickly learned a lot of new Japanese words, like line up, get in a group, go forward, quickly, etc. after breakfast, the day was to begin. This day was particularly challenging, the kids had 4 sports clinics, each 90 minutes long. Amazingly, they all had so much energy. The first sports clinic was Sepak Tekraw. It was really fun and interesting. The leaders got to participate a little in each clinic. After Sepak Tekraw, it was soccer. Each clinic was led by a national team athlete, so the quality was very high. The soccer clinic was led by Ogura, a famous Japanese national team soccer player (former, he's around 40 years old now). After the second clinic, it was lunchtime. By this point, there hadn't been many problems. But one could see a recurring problematic tendency in a few of the boys. After lunch, the third clinic was rugby. That was another fun clinic, but it resulted in a few injuries, like bloody noses and things. The last clinic of the day was badminton. After that it was dinner time and bath time. By this point there had been a few rough points in the day, some fights between a few of the boys and some injuries, nothing too serious though. The same one was the cause of most of them. After dinner and bath, it was time to do an international mingling activity. Each group was split into four shapes, and then children from different colour groups teamed up with others who had the same shape. The mingling activity was an English activity. It involved saying the following conversation:
"Hi, my name is --."
"Hi --, my name is --, nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you too! Do you like --?"
"Yes, I do." Or "No, I don't."
"Thanks! Bye!"
Each kid had a sheet of paper with boxes arranged in a grid (like bingo), and they had to collect as many names as possible by finding kids who answered yes to their question. It was an easy and fun little activity that got the kids speaking in English, and to other kids who they didn't know. After this activity, it was free time, followed by lights out (and hopefully bed time) at 9 pm. If you're keeping track, that's 15 hours spent with the kids and no alone time... 6 am to 9 pm. Exhausting. In addition, group leaders had meetings afterward. So we didn't get back to our rooms until 10 or 10:30 pm.
Day 3: it started with waking the kids up at 6 am. They weren't so eager to be woken on this day. The kids were starting to fade. After breakfast they found their energy though and they had a "spoglish" activity and two sports clinics: basketball and volleyball. Spoglish is "sports" and "English" together. It was a short exercise workshop with directions given in English. The kids had to listen, watch and follow along, even though they probably didn't understand what was said. It was interesting, but it was done with everybody at the same time. I think it would have been more successful in smaller groups. Basketball resulted in a few injuries, like jammed fingers and getting hit by flying balls. Volleyball was okay. After the clinics, it was lunch time. Each lunch was a bento box, and the kids all ate together, picnic style. It was fun... Until the aforementioned problem child turned into a real problem. I'm not sure of the details, but the boy ran off and when chased by a group leader, there was some punching and biting. The kid ended up being picked up by his mom. It was unfortunate, but after he went home, things were a lot more peaceful. That kid was trouble from the start. He never paid attention or tried to do anything the instructors had the kids doing. He just distracted others and picked on a select few kids. Problem child. After lunch, the kids played crab soccer and the foreign group leaders joined in for a bit. Then we had to leave to set up for the international sports presentations. Everything was way behind schedule, so the presentations were rushed, unfortunately. I presented cricket with a guy from Pakistan. My job was to plan the activity, but we didn't get to do it as I planned due to the scheduling problems. The presentations were in easy English, and the kids took notes on "who," "where," and "what." Then in their groups they prepared a poster and short presentation to make in front of their larger colour groups. As before, the groups were split up and the kids watched different presentations. Aside from cricket, there was boxing, Mongolian wrestling, and soccer. The kids' presentations were really cute and the kids seemed to learn a lot. After that, it was dinner time and bath time. The final activity of the day was uniform making. Each group received tshirts in their colour (my group was yellow) and they got to design and decorate their own uniform. I had to do a lot of handwriting on tshirts that day. The kids thought my handwriting was so cool. That's a first. Hahaha. After that activity, it was free time and bed time. Amazingly, at bed time, the kids found their energy and were up late again... After the group leader meeting I was sooooo dead. Just mentally exhausted, I think it was partly due to operating in mostly Japanese.
Day 4: As usual, wake up time was 6 am, but their was more panic and activity than usual because everyone had to pack and tidy up their rooms. Breakfast was at 7 and the kids returned to finish packing and cleaning. Then we had to leave the rooms and head to the tournament place. Everyone boarded buses going to a Sports Centre in central Tokyo. The buses were wayyy late, so in the end, the tournament had to be drastically shortened. Each colour was supposed to have 6 - 10 minute games, but they ended up with 6 - 5 minute games. This left the kids frustrated and feeling like it was a waste of time. I couldn't help but agree. After that, we returned to the Olympic Centre and had lunch. After lunch, it was reflection time. The kids had to fill out a survey and then present their reflections about the camp to their team mates. At the end, one person was chosen to represent their colour and speak in front of all the kids, staff and parents that came to watch the closing ceremony. Then awards and certificates were presented and finally it was home time. Yay! But the group leaders' work was not over. After the closing ceremony and the departure of the kids, the staff and group leaders had our own closing ceremony and reflections. We spoke in Japanese. My brain was fried and I was the last to speak. I managed to say something in terrible Japanese. Then we had to fill out a LONG survey and then we could go. It was long and exhausting, but it was rewarding and fun as well. I would definitely do it again next time.
