My Year 8 English Experience

I’ve just been going through my drafts, and found that I had written about an 8Alive activity that our class did last term. I think it’s a waste of writing not to post it, so here it is. Hope you enjoy reading! 

Last term my class went rock climbing as part of the 8Alive program. I really enjoyed it and I’d say it’s one of the best activities I’ve done this week!

The minute I stepped into the centre, I was already staring at many walls covered in coloured rocks for climbing. No, the walls were not small, nor medium. They were gigantic, and the height of them was unbelievable! We stared up at them in astonishment, many of us already scared from seeing the height of those unbelievable walls! Few people were looking confident and I heard cries of fright coming from around the room. However, I felt very different to most people. I stared up at the walls and my heart was already beating fast. Not from fright… but from excite! When I first caught sight of these walls, the first thing that came to mind was seeing me perched at the very top of one of them. I’d set myself I goal. A goal to get to the very top of that wall without falling off once! No one was going to stop me getting there, and nothing was going to get in my way. I was planning to get to the top no matter how hard it was. To reach the top just like a mountain climber.

The centre was just like a cave, and we all got led off to some walls out the back. They looked so miniature compared to these huge walls out the front that I just wanted start climing straight away, but first we needed to get trained how to put on a harness and manage the rope while climbing. It took a little while to get everything ready, and even longer for me because I had picked up a dud harness. After a while though we finally got the chance to start climbing the small walls. They seemed pretty tiny just looking at them, but when I reached the top they didn’t seem so small!

Down below our partners were handling the rope. Many terrifying thoughts loomed around my head such as, “What if the rope wasn’t done up properly, and when I let go, I end up falling?” and, “What if my partner lets go of the rope and lets me fall?”. All these thoughts were starting to scare me, and I stared down at my partner who told me to let go of the wall. I wasn’t sure whether I should trust her or not; just about anything could go wrong! Slowly, I took one leg off the wall and then the other, making sure I was still hanging onto the wall with my hands. I couldn’t feel my weight, so I knew that things were going all to plan so far. I removed my hands from the wall and dangled from the end of the rope while my partner pulled me down. However, I kept lightly grabbing the rocks on the wall just in case anything went wrong. All this came down to one thing… trust.

As I reached the ground, I got a second go at climbing the wall. It was so easy that I just raced up there, but the hardest part was still letting go of the wall when you reached the top. Slowly, I began to trust my partner more as I climbed more walls.

This time it was my turn to manage the rope while my partner climbed the wall. Many thoughts and worries raced through my mind such as, “What if I do something wrong and my partner falls off the wall?” and, “What if I can’t hold her weight?” I felt much safer when an instructor was nearby incase something happened. All my worries were answered in the end though, because I left it up to my partner to tie the rope up, the intructor taught me how to handle the rope while my partner was climbing, and I found out that you didn’t have to hold anyone’s weight because the rope was hooked in the ground (which held their weight for you).

Next up was those huge walls sitting out there in the other room. My partner wasn’t so keen on them, but I was fully charged! I wanted to get onto them as soon as possible and start climbing!

I think seeing other people have a go at something gives you more confidence. Well, I know it does for me. When I’m scared of doing something, or trying a new challenge, it often helps me to know that a friend or a sibling has been through the same thing. When my partner and I saw others who had started climbing the walls, I think it gave her the strength to have a go at it. However, this didn’t change the fact that I was going to challenge the walls, even if everyone had a go, or no one.

When I was ready, I grabbed hold of the first rock and pulled my self up. Seemed easy so far… well maybe I was wrong. When I got about half way up the wall, the nerves suddenly became obvious. I thought I would never get nervous. Well, I decided that this would not stop me from getting to the top. Nothing was going to stop me, because I had decided I was going to get up there, and nothing could change my mind!

Well when I reached the top, the sight was amazing, yet terrifying. All those bumps and difficulties along the way tried to stop me, but I got passed them. Now was the big issue of letting go.

The trust for your partner was extreme here. There were so many things that could go wrong when I let go of the wall. I sat up there for a while, and finally came to the conclusion that if I had to let go sooner or later, or I would be stuck there forever. I slowly let go of the wall, and found that I didn’t fall. As my partner let me down, I still kept hands near the wall, just in case!

Well, this sure was a game of trust! I think all those practice walls really helps build up the trust between you and your partner. I also learnt how important goals were to success. I also have a deeper meaning which I got out of today, which I would like to share with you. On the walls, the bends in the wall represent the things that get in the way of you completing your goal. The key to getting through these difficulties is determination. The rocks are what help you get to the top of the wall. These rocks represent the people that you love, who will help you and support you throughout your determination to complete your goal. If I wasn’t so persistent, I don’t think I would have kept going. It was my determination which led me up those walls, and it is that experience which I wanted to tell you about today.

This entry was posted on October 10, 2006 at 6:07 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.