[Philmont]: team building IS important

I completed my 2nd PHILMONT trek this past summer with a Council Contigent.
After leading a crew from my troop in `1999, I KNEW that the team building
aspect should be the FIRST priority in preparation for the 2003 crews. I
kept emphasizing this with the 2 Council Crews as we prepared last winter.
Some of the advisors listened to me, some thought I was being to
"touchy/feely", and too much of a "MOM".

It wasn't until we got off the trail at Philmont this past summer that the
ALL of the advisors really understood why I kept pushing for team building
activities.............I said many times before we went ---------these high
school age Scouts will have NO PROBLEM hiking Philmont. I agree with a
past statement thatphysical training should be done on a personal level for
each scout and adult......the crews for Philmont need to learn how to
communicate and WORK together.

The mental aspect of putting the Crew FIRST, packing/unpacking everyday,
combined with rain, bugs, mushy food, etc. are the hardest thing about
Philmont.

I am preparing 2 crews for Northern Tier next summer, and working with them
on group building activities, as well as portaging etc. I am even going to
insist that we mix the age groups, so that each crew will have older, more
experienced scouts and younger, just starting high school scouts in the same
crew. I think the mental maturity of the older scouts will help the younger
ones.

www.troop681.org

Kim Pigorsch
High Adventure Chairmun (sic)
and Eagle Scout Advisor
Troop 681

>From: "Larry Sims" <Larry.Sims@halliburton.com>
>Reply-To: philmont@troop47.com
>To: Multiple recipients of list philmont <philmont@troop47.com>
>Subject: RE: [Philmont]: Training Hikes
>Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 10:45:42 -0500
>
>Our troop took multiple crews to Philmont in 2002. Our crew committed
>to earn the Backpacking Merit Badge and so we scheduled four 15+ mile
>hikes before we went to PSR in early June. We trained a fair amount,
>but hiking takes a lot of time and it left our young crew extremely
>tired, so training on the hikes took 2nd seat to the hiking part. They
>are very proud of their Backpacking MBs and their 50-Miler patches, but
>we could have used much more teambuilding time and more training time.
>
>
>
>Consider a C.O.P.E. course for your crew that emphasizes the low course
>stuff. C.O.P.E. is fun. It is great for teambuilding, especially the
>low course stuff. The high course stuff takes much time and is not as
>good for teambuilding in my opinion.
>
>
>
>We had a great time. Seven of the nine youth in our crew are returning
>in 2004. I am wondering what type of trek they will select this time.
>Last time it was a 54 mile typical trek that did not get above 10000
>feet and was chosen for program and reduced hiking difficulty. This is
>what we were prepared for. Due to the fires in 2002 what we got was a
>rugged (my evaluation) 65 mile trek; trail camps with side hikes for
>water; and we stayed above 9500 feet for much of the trek. So be
>prepared, your trek selection is not necessarily guaranteed.
>
>
>
>Larry
>
>Expedition Coordinator
>Philmont 2002 / 2004
>
>
>

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Received on Wed Sep 24 19:09:58 2003