The KYW creates a weekly activity schedule and shares it with campers prior to arrival on camp. The schedule is our timetable of activities and keeps campers informed of what we are planning for the week. Each week has its own unique schedule and you can download last years by clicking on the images to your right.

Knockadoon Youth Week’s daytime activities give campers the opportunity to participate in some of the many competitions ran throughout the course of the week.

Our leaders organise multiple different activities during the afternoon from draughts to football and campers can choose which activities they would like to take part in each day in a relaxed environment.

Campers can partake in these activities and competitions for the chance to win coveted awards at ceremony on the last night of camp.

Due to the diverse tastes and talents of the campers we have, these competitions can range from more physical activities such as football and tag rugby to more relaxed activities like Twister or crab fishing.

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, Quidditch, and Dodgeball: 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 the “old hall”, where the equipment for games like table tennis is used every day. 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.
• Arts and Crafts: Knockadoon Camp also offers a dedicated Arts and Crafts room for creative campers hoping 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 allows quieter kids to flourish in an environment in which they feel more comfortable. These activities allow our campers to uniquely bond with our leaders and fellow campers and are much loved by all.

The evening activities on the KYW schedule vary from year to year and even week to week as our inventive leaders come up with new activities and new ways of running old activities every summer.

No two KYW evening activities are the same; you can go from an intensive Zumba session straight into a murder mystery game. 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, classic camp favourite Don’t Forget the Lyrics was directly inspired by the 2008 Sky One television series of the same name (although I think all of the campers would agree that our version is a lot more entertaining).

Over the years, 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 night time activities are where the camp really comes to life and where many of our campers’ fondest memories are formed.

A key aspect of the KYW’s schedule is the incorporation of faith in the form of Catechesis, which takes place every day on camp between 10am and and 1pm.

The Catechesis programme on camp attempts to introduce the campers to important Christian teachings and the way in which they help us to live our day to day lives.

These workshops examine the ways in which Christian teachings can be incorporated into our everyday lives, including topical discussions on the pros and cons of using social media to 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, who spoke about his battle with depression; former papal nuncio to Ireland, Charles James Brown; Christy May, who spoke to campers about how their faith can help them to live a better life free from crime and temptation; and Finbarr Walsh, who helped promote his late son Donal’s message of safe mental health and suicide awareness.

Day Trip

Part of the camps weekly schedule includes a day trip where all of the camp’s leaders and campers leave camp for the day 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 in order to enhance the kids experience of their time on camp.

Last year’s 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 first half of the Day trip offers the kids chance to spend any of their pocket money that they haven’t spent on camp on purchasing whatever they wish from the array of shops available to visit in Youghal Town. Likewise the second half enables the kids the chance 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 difficult to a standard school sports day as classic games like the egg and spoon race is replaced by more unique games such as Human Battleships.

At the KYW sports days our leaders do their best to design games which our campers won’t have partook in before. For example a maze like puzzle called the matrix encourages the campers to test their memory and problem solving skills to figure out the matrix whilst the hill slide gets our campers endorphins flowing as they attempt to conquer an uphill slide soaked in washing up liquid and water against the current.