Blue Army in Zawoja

This was one of our most successful camps, attended by Małe Smoki, older children, parents and guardians – 75 people in total. For the first time in 13 years, we came to Zawoja in the summer, and it was worth it!

We had already visited the “Jędruś” centre in winter, and now it turned out how much it also had to offer in summer. Above all, there was a large area where, thanks to the good weather, we could hold training sessions and play football or badminton matches. The second outdoor attraction was two outdoor swimming pools – one for swimming and the other, with a mushroom fountain and slide, for the youngest.

The camp programme included two compulsory training sessions, during which we practised patterns, gymnastics, kicking, self-defence and soft-stick fighting. One additional training session each day was devoted to semi-contact sparring. A boxing group for parents was also formed during the camp.

There was also a range of additional attractions. The daily mini-disco was a huge hit, where not only the children but also the parents polished their choreographies to the biggest hits of children’s popular music. The participants’ initiation ceremony and evening sausage roasting over a campfire were also a great success.

The participants, wearing their new blue shirts, went on several excursions. The younger group went to a playground and educational park in Zawoja-Markowa, while the older group visited a mountain shepherd’s hut on Kolisty Groń. Everyone, also divided into groups, visited the museum at the “Korona Ziemi” Mountain Centre and a forest rope park. Each camper could complete a route suited to their abilities and take a walk among the treetops.

On the final afternoon of the stay, an examination for children’s taekwon-do grades was held. All 34 people who took on the challenge passed the test and received a promotion.

A few words should also be added about the camp staff. The youngest group was supervised by coach Ola Raźny. The “middle group” was looked after by coaches Adam Wargal and Magdalena Kotowicz, making her debut as a youth leader. The oldest participants were supervised by coach Rafał Żelazko, who 14 years earlier had also begun his camp adventure in Zawoja as a participant and had now become a member of the camp staff. The head of the entire camp, as usual, was coach Mikołaj Kotowicz.