I came to AYC to achieve my goal of being a stronger, faster and better person. I knew this was going to take a lot of work.

One of the activities I was most excited about was my favorite sport, soccer, which took place on the first Wednesday of camp. The bus ride to the arena took one hour and 10 minutes, so I was glad I had powered up beforehand with a delicious breakfast of cereal, egg casserole, and yogurt.

When we arrived at the soccer arena, we were given teams. We named our team of eight the “Dropkicks.” A few minutes into a game against another team of boys, I ran for the ball, but suddenly found myself wriggling on the ground. Someone had accidentally tripped me. Though painful, I continued playing until I eventually had to come off the field to recover.

This did not mean that I sat out for the rest of the games against the other boys’ teams. I have played soccer since I was three and did not want to give up playing my favorite sport at camp. As soon as I rested my leg a bit, I headed back to the field. I ended up scoring three goals in a row!

Having to play through the pain helped me build endurance and perseverance. Since I really wanted to keep going, I pushed myself, which made me a stronger person.

Even though it was disappointing that our team lost most of its games, I was picked for the boys’ all-star team. We first faced off against a team of staff and then against an all-star girls’ team. We tied with the staff and lost to the girls.

Losing to the girls’ team was hard to take. But since I arrived at camp, I had been learning to develop my personality and be a better loser. Before camp, I would have probably gotten upset about losing, but at AYC, I was told that this is not how one should act.

In addition, AYC taught me to be faster. At camp, I lived with many boys that all competed for time in the bathroom. We were required to line up in front of the dining hall for breakfast by 8:00 a.m. sharp. Since we had a limited amount of time every morning, I had to learn to quickly shower and put on my camp uniform or else I would be late. If those in my dorm were not there on time, we would have to run laps around the campsite or do push-ups to teach us the importance of timeliness.

Throughout the two weeks, we were also instructed on how to be gentlemen. We learned to let the ladies go in front of us in line and to hold doors open for them.

But that was not all. On the first Thursday of camp, we learned several line dances and a partner dance called the foxtrot. This helped me become more of a gentleman. At the dinner dance two nights later, I felt I had more courage to ask girls to dance. I was really nervous at first, but since I knew how to dance, I felt more confident that I would not trip over my feet. I know this skill will continue to help me at future Church dances.

AYC is a great place to grow. But this can only happen if you put 100 percent into all you do.

Any campers planning to come should prepare themselves physically for all the challenges camp will present. They should practice doing push-ups, jogging, sprinting up hills, and doing jumping jacks to stay in shape.

As for myself, I will make sure to jog more and do more push-ups before I return to camp next year so that I can continue to become even stronger, faster and better each year I attend!