Last week, we kicked off 2018 with a return to YMCA Campfire Conference - a gathering of about 300 YMCA camp professionals from across the Southeast. We have been involved in the conference for close to ten years and love returning to Black Mountain, NC in January to reconnect and share new skills. This year's theme Sow Much Good focused on growth for campers and staff so we thought it would be a perfect time to introduce flop ball. Flopping helps players to see failure as a source of growth (and even kind of fun!) instead of something we hide from and avoid.

As you can see from this collage, the attendees enjoyed playing with flop balls and other skill toys. As in-kind sponsors for the event, everyone left with a flop ball of their own customized for the event. During our break out session, we introduced individual, partner, and group flop challenges including a stack challenge in which one person flipped 6 flop balls at once. 

One of our favorite things about the conference is setting up our invigoration station in the lobby to engage attendees in between sessions and during breaks. Generally a group of people that don't sit down a lot in their jobs, coming to a conference and sitting through sessions and keynotes can be challenging for camp professionals. So we challenge them with physical skills that result in renewed energy and lots of high fives all around.