Activities

Activity Schedule

The KYW creates a weekly activity schedule and shares it with campers prior to arrival on camp. The schedule is a timetable of activities that keeps campers informed of what is planned for the week. Each week has its own unique schedule; you can download previous examples by clicking on the attached images.

Example Schedule One
Example Schedule Two
Example Schedule Three

Some Activity Highlights

Daytime Activities

Knockadoon Youth Week’s leaders organise multiple activities during the afternoon. Campers can choose which activities they would like to participate in during the day. On account of the diverse tastes and talents of our campers, these competitions can range from more physical activities such as football and tag rugby to more relaxed activities like Twister or crab fishing. In participating in these activities and competitions, campers have the chance to be given awards at a ceremony on the last night of camp.

Check out some of the activities and competitions on offer across the KYW programme below:

  • Football, Tag Rugby, and GAA: Our leaders organise multiple sports matches throughout the week to make use of the full-sized sports field on camp.
  • Basketball, Dodgeball & Jugger: Many of our daytime activities take place in the camp’s new sports hall, where our sporting equipment is stored to ensure that our leaders are adequately equipped to organise group sports and games.
  • Darts, Pool, and Table Tennis: Several of our most popular competitions throughout the week take place in our multi-purpose hall, fondly referred to as the “old hall”. These activities give campers a more carefree alternative to physically intense sports and provide a great way for campers to get to know each other and relax while on camp.
  • Pier Jumping, Cycling, and Crab Fishing: Due to the camp’s location along the coast, we have the opportunity to organise a host of seaside-based activities. The beautiful coastal view of the Knockadoon Peninsula offers great cycling routes that our leaders and campers can both enjoy whilst the pier and nearby beach area are an ideal location for activities such as swimming, diving, and crab fishing. Supervision of our campers during these activities is of utmost importance to all KYW leaders.
  • Arts and Crafts: Knockadoon Camp also offers a dedicated Arts and Crafts room for creative campers to tap into their artistic side. Over the years, dozens of campers and leaders have used this space to produce stellar drawings, paintings, and other creations fit for a gallery.
  • Twister, Jenga, Draughts, Chess (etc.): Games like Jenga and chess are a fantastic way to introduce campers to new friends and allow our quieter campers to flourish in a comfortable environment.

Evening Activities

The evening activities on the KYW schedule vary from year to year (and even week to week) as our inventive leaders are always looking to update our KYW programme.

No two KYW evening activities are the same – campers may go from an intensive Zumba session straight into a murder mystery puzzle. One night, campers could be taking part in a game of Leader vs Camper dodgeball and the next, they could be performing in the talent show or dancing the night away at a jungle-themed disco.

Many of our evening activities draw inspiration from popular game shows, television programmes, and social media challenges – for example, ‘Don’t Forget the Lyrics’ and ‘Jeopardoon!’. We have also seen quiz shows like ‘The Chase’ exceptionally parodied in ‘The Ultimate Game Show’ while leaders’ bravery has been put to the test in ‘I’m A Leader… Get Me Out Of Here!’.

To make each of our evening activities as enjoyable as possible, we use a state of the art sound and lights system paired with our leaders’ incredible presenting skills.

From Lip Sync Battles to Leader Camper Football, The Hypnotist to KADchella, the KYW’s nighttime activities are where the camp really comes to life and where many of our campers’ fondest memories are formed.

Catechises Programme

A key aspect of the KYW’s schedule is the incorporation of faith in the form of Catechesis, which takes place most days on camp between 10am and 1pm. The Catechesis programme attempts to introduce the campers to important Christian teachings and how they can help us live our day-to-day lives – for example, topical discussions on the pros and cons of using social media and looking after one’s mental health.

Additionally, KYW leaders work alongside members of the Dominican Order to hand pick guest speakers who visit camp and share their own testimonies about their lives and faith with our campers.

Previous guest speakers include former Aston Villa footballer Michael Drennan, former papal nuncio to Ireland Charles James Brown, and Finbarr Walsh who helped promote his late son Donal’s message of safe mental health and suicide awareness.

Other Camp Activities

Day Trip

Part of the camp’s weekly schedule includes a day trip to visit a different location and experience activities that wouldn’t be possible on camp. Over the past number of years, we have had several different day trip locations, enhancing the kids’ experience of their time on camp.

A previous day trip began with a nature walk in a local “Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty” followed by a shopping trip to Youghal and a trip to Perks Entertainment Centre. The day trip offers the kids a chance to spend some of their pocket money that they haven’t spent on camp in the array of shops available to visit in Youghal Town. Similarly, the second half allows the kids to openly explore the Amusement Centre and partake in whatever games they wish, ranging from Bowling to Laser Tag.

Sports Day

Similar to the day trip, each week’s schedule on camp has time set aside for the KYW Sports Day, in which all of the campers are split up into teams to participate in a competitive sports day environment for the chance to win awards and bunkhouse points (see night-time activities). However, the KYW sports day is extremely different to a standard school sports day as classic games are replaced by more unique games such as Human Battleships.

At the KYW sports days, our leaders do their best to design games that our campers won’t have played before. For example, a maze-like puzzle called the matrix encourages the campers to test their memory and problem-solving skills, while the backfield slide gets our campers’ endorphins flowing.