Challenge at the Ridge

Senior guys: this time it’s not a game. 

See you on the field.

These words, accompanied by the strains of Derek Minor’s “It’s Not A Game,” appear on a giant screen in the dining hall during lunch. They’re part of a video featuring the Ridge’s leadership team dunking, blocking, and throwing basketballs and dodgeballs. (They’re also dribbling while reading books and getting hit in the head by dodgeballs while spinning frisbees, because #ThisIsPineCove.) These staffers are challenging some campers to an epic game on the field that afternoon. It’s all part of a massively popular tradition at the Ridge that campers look forward to all week long: the leadership versus seniors game.

For the girls, the game is touch football. Senior girl campers take the field against the female Ridge leadership staff (which includes senior counselors, head media, and the details director, to name a few) and attempt to play their way to victory. The skill level may vary week-to-week. One Friday, a counselor had to double-check that the senior girls had someone on their team who could throw the ball. The next, the girls were running trick plays. Either way, just playing on the field is a win!

As for the guys—the game changes as quickly as the weeks. Football is certainly on the table, but sports getting equal love this summer: soccer, ultimate frisbee, kickball, and dodgeball. It’s completely up to the campers! And they could truly pick anything—we’re still waiting for the day they want to play chess and the whole camp is on the sidelines cheering on a game played by just two people.

And what is the rest of the camp doing during these games? Cheering on the players, of course! More specifically: the seniors. (Because as we all know—campers always win!) Every time the senior campers score, everyone goes crazy applauding, screaming, and even rushing the field!

The leadership team has a blast playing these games, and even go out of their way to encourage their opponents. For instance, the female leadership team has been known to “accidentally” fall on the ground while the senior girls are on the offensive, helping to ensure the campers get a chance to score. 

Would a game as prestigious as this be complete without its own commentators? Not likely. Each week the Ridge sports field is visited by a pair of the industry’s best (and wearing the camp’s finest skit costumes). These commentators always provide hilarious narration of the game, and no one is exempt from a gentle ribbing—especially the staff!

The heat of the summer afternoons when these games are played call for something refreshing to cool everyone down, and the Ridge delivers! Cue the Kona Ice truck pulling right up to the field to provide snow cones to players and spectators alike.

At the end of each game, all of the players circle up and take a moment to celebrate not just the end of a match well played, but the end of these campers’ time at Pine Cove. The staff prays over the seniors, thanks them for being campers, and encourages them that the same God they experience at Pine Cove is the same God in their homes, churches, school campuses, and beyond. It’s an awesome opportunity to honor the seniors and give them a spotlight on their last day as campers.

The senior games have already been established as an integral part of the Ridge experience. Whether a camper has attended Pine Cove Central Texas for one summer one or ten, they’ll always be able to look forward to taking their turn at the center of the field.