Warriors BIG V stalwart Bill 'Window' Winder took some time to reflect on the BIG V pre-season camp which took place last weekend at the Summit.

It’s okay to admit I was nervous. I wasn’t the only one. We had heard there were some fairly challenging tasks ahead of us.

On the weekend of Saturday 9th February the Pakenham Warriors Senior team headed away to the Summit, Trafalgar East for their pre-season camp. Nestled in the countryside approximately half way between Pakenham and Traralgon, the camp was the perfect setting to test our limits individually and, ultimately, as a team.

The activities involved many tests of courage. The Snowy River Challenge is an obstacle course that involves crawling through underground tunnels no wider than our shoulders, confronting even the least claustrophobic of us. For those with fear of heights the rock climbing, Sky Bridge, the 30-metre-high giant swing and Leap of Faith proved daunting. The Monster Course Elite was a series of team challenges that demonstrated the essential need to work collaboratively.

Due to the obviously challenging nature of the activities of the camp, encouragement, communication, trust, a positive attitude and team work were paramount. Coach Rogers’ mantra of ‘positive or its pointless’ couldn’t have been truer from this point on. With major encouragement, people who suffered fear of heights were suddenly willing to give a 30 metre free fall a go. Others who were extremely claustrophobic were willing to trust their team mate to lead them through the dark tunnel. Oh, and not to be taking everything too seriously, there was plenty of time for a joke or two as well (One player described it as ‘I’m getting a six-pack from laughing so hard all weekend!’) These are just examples of the blossoming team camaraderie that could not be hitting a peak at a better time.

There was an opportunity to reflect once all the activities for the day were completed. People trusted their team mates to discuss their personal lives, their aspirations and hopes for the future of the team. My personal aspiration was to help the club to develop its culture into the future so that my children have a wonderful place to play basketball.

I believe this camp was one of the major steps in the right direction.