On April 28, we had our first ever Spring Break Grand Slam! Gathering at Foothills at noon, we took 64 people down to the Ultrazone arena to battle out a few rounds of Laser tag. The 5,000 square foot arena was filled with our students and a few faithful leaders who traded shots while capturing team bases and defending their own. And while I would like to claim Laser Tag King, El Cajon South Director, Josh Simmons, earned the title with the highest score!
As the first leg of our event ended, we loaded up the students and headed to Foothills for a couple big games of dodge ball before going across the street to Skate San Diego. Kids laced up roller blades and old school skates and enjoyed a couple hours riding around the rink. Skate SD played a few different games with the kids including red light/green light, speed races and the Cha Cha Slide, skate edition. When their legs wore out or their stomachs challenged the loud music with growls, the students were able to get pizza and soda at the Skate arena.
Leaving the rink, we headed down to Chula Vista to take over the Skyzone indoor trampoline park. We joined Foothill’s Mission High School Group at Skyzone and they literally had to close to the public because our group was so big! Soon our students we scaling 14’ warped walls, flipping into foam pits and playing dodge ball on the trampolines. We left at 9pm to head back to Foothills and send our big group of exhausted students home.
This event was made even better by the addition of 14 students from Alpine Youth Venture. Furthermore, a shout out to Tony Kram is well deserved. Tony drove the bus for our event and made everything go so smooth.
Overall, our aim was to put on an event that brought in new students and created a type of revelry that would create friendships and stories that bring these students back for more. One student from my center came without any of her friends and did not know very many people in the morning but she now will recognize our girls intern, Stephanie, and some other students. Furthermore, along with many other students, we will be able to remember overtaking the other team in laser tag or landing the flip into the foam pit. Experiences like these give us an invitation into the more difficult challenges these students are facing. With our Leadership Retreat coming in a week, the importance of those connections cannot be overstated.
With our first Grand Slam event in the books, it is safe to say that this will be coming back next year!
Spring Break Grand Slam
