Daily Report from the Journalism Committee:
The Game of Nuke-Em
Jules Hinske
22 June 2007
At North Pole beach today, everyone enjoyed the warm and dry weather, allowing them to swim in the cold and clear water. Some people played Frisbee, and some played basketball, but many others started the amazing game of Nuke-Em.
Nuke-Em, a very common gym class game, is played on a volleyball court where the ball is thrown back and forth, caught each time it crosses the net. The object is to get the other team to drop the ball when it is thrown; the person who drops it then is ‘out’ and leaves the court. Each time a person of the opposite team gets out, the other team gets to bring one of their players back in. The first team to have all of its players out are the losers.
With 15 players to each team, it was decided that the winner would have to win the best out of five games. So, with everything all set, the games began. The first game lasted only ten minutes, and the winner was team 1. Here’s what team captain Rachel Lord had to say about it:
“It was very intense and sweet”
Teams then switched sides on the court and game two was underway. This game lasted a lot longer, a whole twenty minutes longer. The winner was again team 1.
Under clouds darkening with the threat of rain and thunder, game three began. The game lasted 45 minutes, with many comebacks and falls. At some times, a team would be down to only two players, but then would pull through and gain back some of its members. Feet started to hurt after running barefoot on the volleyball court, which was made of gravel. Some players acquired scratches and scrapes, but everyone agreed they were well worth it if you won the game that way. In the last ten minutes of Game Three, Team 1 got down to its last five players, and a couple minutes later was down to only one. With one last throw over the net, Team 2 got its much-wanted victory. Unfortunately, before any fourth game could begin, thunder was heard and it startled to drizzle, so everyone was called into the vans and we headed back to the campgrounds. Team 1 might claim that en the victors since they had won two out of three games, but Team 2 argued back that had all five games been played, they surely would have been the champions.
Here’s what some of the Nuke-Em players had to say about the games:
“It was hard core” ~Michael Misiak, Team 2 player
“It was very fun because a lot of people got to play.” ~Cody Hoehne, Team 1 player
“It was a competitive sport made into a fun game.” ~ Derek Klingaman, Team 1 player
“It was fun and I’d play it in high school if it was an official sport.” ~Chas Mayo, Team 2 player
As you can tell, a lot of people enjoyed playing the hour and a half worth of Nuke-Em. A new favorite game was found in which a lot of people can play and have a TON of fun!
A Very “Beachy” Day
Karissa Kalisz
22 June 2007
We all woke up early in the morning like every other day and ate a delicious bowl of cereal. Everyone was very excited because today was a laundry day! You learn to enjoy the simple pleasures of life when you are in Alaska. Everyone hopped into his or her vans as we took a drive to the laundromat. Pretty soon we were all doing our laundry and buying tokens and detergent. Whether we were trudging around with our bags full of smelly clothes or waiting in line at the coffee shop, we were happy to have nice clean clothes.
After the wonderful laundry time, we went back to the Tanana Valley campground to eat some sandwiches (P B & J, of course) and to gather our swimsuits. We then headed for the beach in North Pole, Alaska. The town was all about Christmas, but we didn’t catch a glimpse of Santa!! When we arrived, the weather wasn’t what we expected it to be; it was cloudy. We still enjoyed the beach, except for the fact that I was thrown in the freezing water. Some people had the guts to swim while others sat in the sand wrapped in their towels.
After a while, some other people and I started a game of elimination catch volleyball. The rules were that if you missed the ball that was thrown to you over the net, you were out until someone from the other team got out. You played until one team eliminated all of the other players on the other team. We had so much fun and ended up having a lot of people play. We played best out of five and we were each tied at two when it started raining. We had lots of fun, though.
On the way home, the Mackat van ended up passing Ishtar’s van (which is against his rules!) and our van was the first back. We jumped out and grabbed our things and sprinted for the showers. It was a nice hot shower (another simple pleasure). We then settled down and had a nice dinner of chilidogs, potato salad and green salad. We just chilled for an hour and had hug time before we slumped into our sleeping bags after a long day. This trip has been going by so fast, but we’ve only just begun.
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