a camp story: boys are wimps

i absolutely love watersports. in fact, i enjoy it so much that i can't believe when people don't like it. but what frustrates me most is when people are too afraid to try. i dealt with plenty of that working on the waterfront.

boys are wimps. i learned that this summer. growing up, i always had this impression that boys were tough...they would run around the playground playing army, punching each other, making explosive sound effects...the works. they were always sweaty and covered in dirt when we came in for class again. witnessing that everyday in elementary school, its no wonder i had that impression.

every morning and afternoon another counselor and i would take a cabin of kids (8 or so) out for three hours of skiing, wakeboarding, and kneeboarding. girls would go to the lake one day, boys would go the next, alternating every other day. on my first day, i assumed it would be a battle to decide who would go first. turns out, it was more of a battle to get anyone to go. i couldn't help but be shocked that eleven-year-old boys were too afraid to get in the water. why? because of fish.

after the fifteen minutes or so it took to convince them that the fish wouldn't bother them, a boy who we volunteered would reluctantly get up to kneeboard (kneeboarding is most likely the easiest thing to do...the kids would just hang on and drag). finally, we'd get a boy going and suddenly the toughness boys are known for resurfaces and all the boys want us to go faster, turn sharper, throw the boy going off. that’s right. they wanted to make the other boy scared.

"do the donut of death!" one boy cries.
"the circle of doom!" yells another.

its not as bad as it sounds. we just basically do a wide turn and go slowly over the wake. anyway, we'd do this occasionally. but fear struck every one of those boys who called for the "donut of death" to be inflicted upon his friends when his turn came.

"i'll only go if you PROMISE not to do the donut of doom! i don't want to do it!" they'd plead. so brave, aren't they?

while i spent an entire day persuading boys to kneeboard, i spent the next day trying to remember what 9-year-old girl i told could wakeboard next. i'm not even kidding. the girls were fearless, up for anything new. i found that funny.

anyway, one of my most memorable moments at camp this summer was on the lake with a boy who was scared out of his mind. it was the second time his cabin had been on my boat that term and his little toe hadn't even touched the water yet. i was determined to get him to conquer his fear of, what else, boy-eating fish. he had never tried anything like this before, either.

he was a quiet kid. he wasn't outgoing like the others and was a little on the chubby side. after all the other boys had their turns, my co and i decided he had to try. at first, he flat out refused. there was no way he was going to get in.

laura, who was on the boat with me that day, is amazing with kids. she took it one step at a time.

first, she got him to get up and sit with her at the back of the boat. he wouldn't answer her questions, so she asked if he treated his parents like that. he shook his head and began to respond to her questions. she slowly gained his trust, and she wanted him to just put his feet in the water. then just to sit on the "back porch". then she wanted him to just get in the water. then just to hold onto the kneeboard.

then he said that he would give it a try. this was huge.

laura got in the water with him to help him balance and for assurance. he just wanted to be dragged, so i started off really slowly. next thing i knew, he was on his knees and signaling for me to go faster. then, a huge smile was on his face. he was having so much fun! all the boys in the boat were chanting his name and cheering for him, it was amazing. when he let go, he begged us to let him go again!

i can't even tell you how excited i was for him. he went from being too afraid to even touch the water to loving it so much that he didn't want to stop. on the waterfront, there’s nothing better.