It's a 4th of July tradition at Ramah to celebrate Yom Sport, a day in which the whole camp is divided into four teams and participates in a day of friendly competition. There's basketball, floor hockey, kickball, Israel trivia, boating, swimming, drama…something for everyone. The biggest competition of the day, however, is ruach. All day, all through camp, you can hear the shouts of the campers as they cheer on their teammates in every eidah. Some cheers have been around forever, others are made up on the spot. Campers can earn points for their teams throughout the day by participating in the team activities and showing their team spirit.
As we woke up this morning, the weather for this year's Yom Sport did not look good. The sky was gray, and a fine mist filled the air. Campers were energetic though, and a mood of anticipation filled the room at breakfast. Since it was just drizzling, with no forecast for lighting, the decision was made to go ahead with the day. The morning activities were a lot of fun, though sometimes a little wet, with campers going through rotations with their own eidah and with campers from other eidot.
For the afternoon activity, the Apache relay (a relay that takes campers all around camp), a last minute decision was made to move the starting time up an hour and a half in order to beat what looked to be more than just some drizzle. The campers worked together to get through all the stations before meeting down at the waterfront for the final station–building campfires. It was getting colder and the drizzle was picking up, but there was no stop to the cheering. The Nivonim campers huddled around their firepits to shelter their flames, while the rest of their teams shouted out their colors. The flames grew higher and began to burn away the ropes that would crown them the winner of the Apache. Suddenly, one rope burned through, then another, and another. The teams cheered, but there was still one team that barely had a flame. Without even being asked, the Nivonim campers from the three teams that had finished gathered around that last campfire to help the last team finish. All day the teams had been competing against each other, but when it came down to the end, the teams all worked together to make sure everyone had a chance to complete the race.
As the events of the day ended, with Nivonim continuing the tradition of running into and dancing in the lake, the sky opened up and it poured. It was almost as if it had been holding off so we could finish our day, just as the first three teams made sure the last team finished. The weather may not have been the best for a day of sports, but as always, we made the best of it and still had an amazing day.
