Practitioner Challenge Course Day 5: Exam Prep

Friday, March 5, 2010
Started the day reviewing LOPs (Local Operating Procedures) and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) to prep for the certification exam. Doesn't happen until sometime in April so we'd better hold on to and improve our knowledge. We were given self-assessment sheets to take with us on the course and Beth and Austin would be there with their clip boards assessing us themselves.

Got outside and those of us who had Trust Activities to run ran 'em. Mine was "Slice and Dice" and it's a lesson in perceived vs actual risk. There should be a minimum of 12 people in 2 lines facing each other 3.5' - 5' apart. They have to make chopping motions with their arms and a volunteer needs to walk through the line at a consistent pace. We had fewer than 12 people so I improvised and had the first 4 people run to the end of the line after the volunteer had passed them. We ran through this twice and then went to the debrief. That's when I said I'd have done better had I practiced in advance. I thought my debrief was decent because I tied it to events that happened on the Zip Line yesterday. My group feedback was that my instructions were kind of muddled. Another said that had they all been paying attention and not having side conversations, it would have gone smoother. Thanks for that. Austin said I should have said, "I need all of you to get into 2 lines facing each other and about 3.5 to 5' apart" rather than stand around telling them what they were going to do. Of course. He also appreciated how I did my debrief but said I could have gone deeper with the consequences of actions and the process of helping someone who is frozen on a platform--that was me.

From there we did trust falls from the picnic table. There was discussion about how prevalent trust falls became but that they should be done with groups of people who know and work together well. Apparently that has not been the case and trust falls have become a bit of a joke in some circles. They showed us how to set up, shoulder to shoulder, spotter stance with left foot a little behind and turned, knees bent and ready, and arms alternating with the person across from you no more than to the elbow. The person falling, in this case Austin, needs to put their heels on the edge of the table and be centered so that they will fall in the center of the line. The person trusting needs to interlace their fingers and turn their hands inward so that they fold across their chest. This keeps them from flailing their arms out and hitting someone. They use typical commands: Spotters ready? Ready. Falling? Fall Away. Then the person falls back stiffly (pinch a quarter in their butt cheeks) so that they don't drop their butt which will put a lot of pressure and likely fall through the lineup causing someone to get hurt. After Austin, Marc, Jen, and I tried it. I faltered on the first "falling." Beth said do the commands again and I fell back that time though it felt like I might have bent my knees a bit hence a butt drop but I was told I didn't. That felt good to manage.

Time for lunch and then out to the course again. This time we needed to identify areas in which we feel weak and to ask questions and practice. I felt I needed practice in most all of it but went to the Pamper Pole to review chest harnesses and belaying with a gri-gri. By the time we got back, it was too late to do much of anything else. I was feeling frustrated because while we're supposed to be learning from each other, if everyone is testing and learning, you spin and guess and retry as time ticks. I came away feeling less confident than I had the rest of the week.

The call went out,"Who knows where the ladder chain went?" I found it buried in leaves so we were able to lock up the ladders. That felt productive. Also tied a killich (clove hitch followed by half hitches with the last one on the tip of the rope so that it will go through the pulley smoothly) on the Giant Swing; p-cord is hitched to the belay rope and you pull the cord through the pulley and secure the belay rope out of easy reach and to the tree.

We turned in our self-assessments and Beth saw my scoring and called me the self doubter. Oh, well. I guess you can't have significant days everyday.