Friday, July 13, 2012

Scaling Walls Together

I wasn't completely sure what to expect before we arrived at the ropes course yesterday morning. I had heard rumors about what it involved, including talk of having to climb up a wall, so I was both excited and apprehensive.

Our class got split into two smaller groups once we arrived. My group started out by playing some funny ice breaker games, and then moved onto a teamwork exercise that involved flipping a tarp over while 12 people are standing on it. This was definitely an interesting experience, and my group developed as a team during the exercise.

The rest of the course was similar in that teamwork and communication were needed in order to complete the tasks that were posed to us. One course involved swinging on a rope between two platforms, another involved balancing a giant seesaw, and a third involved lifting people through a rope spider web. It was interesting to see how the group communicated with one another, and what challenges we had. We had definitely improved in communication by the end of the day. At some points during the exercises, a few members of the group would be "muted," which meant they couldn't talk or vocally contribute ideas. This gave others in the group a chance to speak up.

The most exciting part of the course by far was the wall. This was a 15-foot smooth wall with a platform on the other side that we had to try to get to. We had lots of supervision during this one, because it was more risky. Using teamwork, we lifted one person at a time up onto the wall, where they were helped over by someone at the top. It was exciting, and definitely an accomplishment that we were able to trust each other enough to complete this.

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