http://teamalp.com Team ALP provides adventure based leadership and team development programs. Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:25:00 +0000 http://snappages.com en http://teamalp.com/blog/2010/02/23/regarding-the-next-expedition http://teamalp.com/blog/2010/02/23/regarding-the-next-expedition Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:25:00 +0000 David Appleton http://teamalp.com/blog/2010/02/23/regarding-the-next-expedition
So, it's just natural that we've turned to a mountain expedition format with The NEXT Expedition as we take on the challenges of helping to prepare 14 year olds for what they will soon be experiencing at the bottom of the high school totem pole. By heading out into the Tarryall Mountains in Colorado without most of the conveniences and crutches of modern living the team and our ALP guides will have only the mountains and themselves to entertain, blame, question, observe, lean on, discuss and share with. One of the keys to backcountry trips is that a lot happens quickly. Individual team members leave their homes and the world as they know it one morning, hours later they're in a new city with new people, within a few more hours they have left most of the comforts and conveniences they have grown up with behind and another day later they're looking up at a distant mountain and walking toward it with their stuff, some strangers and a lot of questions. There really is little time to take it all in as everyone is focused on the tasks at hand. Life is compressed and experienced in a whirlwind of walk, talk, think, eat, sleep, repeat--a thick and condensed slice of life.

Standing in front of the OWA Base Camp lodge, our NEXT team will look to the northeast at the summits of Bison Peak and McCurdy Mountain. Their backpacks will be packed with everything they actually need, a couple of teachers (or guides if you will) will be at the edge interjecting some "how to's" and "whoa, wait a minute's", and each team member mind will be swimming with a bunch of vague notions about what they will find between the lodge and the not too distant summits. There will be way more questions than answers- "how do we cook?", "will it be hard?", who can I count on?", "will we make it?", "which way do we go?". Eventually they'll put the first foot forward, and as a group of virtual strangers will push and pull themselves off into the Lost Creek Wilderness. Some of the team will be moving forward enthusiastically-- unphased by the physical strain and clueless about where they are going. Some will be breathless and trying to interject the idea that maybe they should think about their route. Someone will follow along, silently questioning the lack of a plan or a wrong turn. Most everyone will wonder how life ever ended up like this.

A few days later, the team will find itself sitting on the top of Bison looking down at some distant specks otherwise known as Base Camp. Some will be eating sardines for the first time and wondering why their mother never served 'em at home. Everyone will be basking in the alpine aura and each person will somehow appear different. There will be inside jokes, duct tape on the heels, bargaining for a Snickers, and more questions than answers. But now the questions won't be so much about how to get to the next point or the basic mechanisms of daily life . Talk will turn to things like "how can we do it better?"and "I wonder what's over there?".

As the group makes their way down from the Tarryalls and crosses the river they will have changed. What began as a disparate group of individuals will most surely be a unified, functioning TEAM. That's just the way it is when you head out on the trail. Everyone will eventually put their best foot forward and find out more about themselves, what a team is, what a leader is, when to talk and when to listen, how to solve problems and how important it is to look out for each other.

Being on the 2010 NEXT Expedition team will not guarantee that everything will be smooth for each individual as they return to the real world and head off to high school. But the high school experience will feel somewhat familiar and each person will have thoughts, ideas, confidence and a scattered, but vigilant set of fellow team members to fall back on when the way forward is less than obvious.









]]> http://teamalp.com/blog/2010/01/24/camps-and-alp http://teamalp.com/blog/2010/01/24/camps-and-alp Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:40:00 +0000 http://teamalp.com/blog/2010/01/24/camps-and-alp
Creating a dynamic, unified and effective camp staff is a long term project, but one that starts somewhat anew each May as new personalities are mixed with veteran counselors with just a week or two of training and preparation before the campers arrive. Counselors are the heart and soul of each camp and the more successful they are in what they do, the better job the camp does in providing the camp experience they want to provide to each and every camper. Try as camps might, I think many directors would admit to a bit of hollowness or even apprehension regarding how ready the staff is as staff training ends and campers arrive.

Effective camp staff training faces a number of challenges. Lack of time, physical camp preparation needs, camp leadership being pulled in different directions, the complexity of the camp program and culture and the fact that the newly formed camp staff will almost always include mostly college age people-- some with years of experience at the specific camp to young people arriving for the first time with no real clue about what the camp (or the US for that matter) is all about.

Realistically, staff training could go on all summer and there's a part of us that would never be satisfied that enough had been done. The truth of the matter is that the vast majority of counselors rise to the occasion and do a great job. Our goal with the CAMP programs is to take staff training up a notch unifyfing camp staff in their common purpose and providing each counselor with more tools and a better understanding of their role and responsibilities. Our aim is to do this effectively with unique and interesting hands-on activities and fresh faces. Sometimes it just takes a different voice presenting the same information in a different way to get a point across.

]]> http://teamalp.com/blog/2009/12/28/this-time-around http://teamalp.com/blog/2009/12/28/this-time-around Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:07:00 +0000 David Appleton http://teamalp.com/blog/2009/12/28/this-time-around
It's not that my earlier ventures have been completely helter skelter in methodology. Exploring the unknown is at the core of adventure and life is dynamic-- so some amount of "seat of the pants" attitude can be ok with adventure programming. We don't intend to do away with spontaneity or our ability to learn and adapt as ALP moves forward, but we are intent on creating specialized and unique programming that is well thought out, to the point, different and fun because we believe that doing it that way will allow us to have the most impact.

Our concept is straightforward-- we identify specific groups and the issues they face related to both their personal and group lives and provide adventure based programs that are unique and allow participants insight and tools for facing those real life challenges.

There is certainly no lack of groups, teams or issues-- our first task has been deciding which ones to focus on and that has come pretty easily and quickly. The big problem was just trying not to do too much too soon. For me, the more difficult and intriguing challenge has been to develop programming that is unique and stands to give us the most bang for our energy. There are all kinds of adventure activities that have been used to great success for years by schools, summer camps, outdoor ed programs, leadership programs and corporate trainers. We're not reinventing the wheel because the wheel works. But we are combining "time proven" and new activities specifically bundled together in ways that are sure to create fresh and pertinent energy.

So, getting back to the topic at hand, I am excited to be thinking this all through and working with such an outstanding group of people toward creating truly meaningful change. The fact that this is happening at all is the subject for continued thought. For now, there are itineraries to fine tune, scenarios to envision and details to check off.

]]> http://teamalp.com/blog/2009/10/22/making-a-difference http://teamalp.com/blog/2009/10/22/making-a-difference Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:37:00 +0000 Scott Starkey http://teamalp.com/blog/2009/10/22/making-a-difference
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