A psychologist's experience at the Health Camp for Overweight Children
The experience of Daniela Dociu, a psychologist at the health camp for overweight children
"I went to the Straja Health Camp out of a desire to help teenagers with weight problems achieve emotional balance and out of a desire to have a new professional experience. I never imagined, though, that this NEW would mean so much, such depth in feelings, thoughts, emotions and actions.
From my experience working with children and their parents, this was a camp about emotional openness, courage, tenacity and personal growth. About understanding that our sorrows and joys are alike, and that sharing them gives us a sense of communion and belonging. About the ability to tolerate an immediate, temporary discomfort in favor of a later benefit.
About helping one another and taking initiative, about meeting problems with compassion, for only in this way can we change them. About discovering hidden, latent qualities, or ones never before revealed. About becoming aware of one's vulnerabilities and the resolve to work on one's own Self, to polish and shape it, even if that first involves pain and frustration. About the desire for change and the motivation to become better, with ourselves and with others.
There were many moments when the children impressed me over the course of the 3 weeks, in the interactive psychology groups and the individual counseling or psychotherapy sessions. If you don't reveal yourself to others, you can't reveal yourself to yourself either, because you discover yourself and grow together with others. If you suppress who you are, hidden behind certain fears, you also suppress who you could become, your entire potential. You deny yourself the chance for human connection, growth, fulfillment. When you explore boldly and expose yourself to new experiences that you come through well, you gain a more robust self, more confident and equipped to face life's difficulties. These are a few of the things the children at camp learned and that I myself was reminded of. They learned and practiced patience, the strength to say "no" to an impulse that is unfavorable in the long term, the conviction that they are capable of overcoming the limits imposed by their own minds, the willingness to also feel sadness, anger, frustration, dissatisfaction – emotions that are part of the humanity of our lives.
These children left the Straja Camp richer. But not in material things. Rather in the courage to speak about the things that weigh on them or contort their souls, in the strength to hold uncomfortable conversations, hoping they will lead to a better and more encouraging outcome. They gained the strength to listen to criticism without becoming defensive and to apologize when they felt they had done wrong. The parents left with more attention to their relationship with their child and with more self-awareness. With the desire to rebuild certain shaky foundations of attachment and the intention to add more bricks to the foundation of their relationship with their teenager. It is essential to understand that the little ones, alongside the indispensable affection and warmth, also need discipline. Firm enough to make them respect certain rules and understand their purpose, but not so harsh as to instill insecurity and fear. This is because at their age they cannot foresee the benefits of present sacrifices and efforts, which is why they need from us, the adults, a framework that structures their personality and healthy life habits.
The things we believe in, specifically physical and emotional well-being, give meaning to moments and challenges that can sometimes prove difficult: intense training sessions, 6-8h mountain hikes, keeping to a daily schedule, maintaining self-control, fighting cravings and the determination to continue a weight-loss program. In the end, what we love keeps us alive and gives color to our lives. It drives us to keep going when we encounter obstacles on our path.
I grew fond of the children, the parents, the colleagues. On my return, even people told me I had changed. Most likely. We transform…through others and together with others."
New Year's Eve 2021 at Pensiunea Dor de Munte
The New Year's Eve package includes:
Accommodation in rooms for 2, 3, 4 and 5 people, Half board and a festive meal with tasty traditional dishes and drinks to match, The chance to relax using the hot tubs and sauna available at the guesthouse, 30% off ski equipment rental, 15% off the ski pass and a 20 € voucher at the Straja Ski and Snowboard School.Prices:
All-inclusive accommodation:
Accommodation without meals:
Health Camp for Overweight Children – Straja
What is the Health Camp?
The Straja camp is the first camp of its kind in Romania dedicated to children and teenagers with weight problems. Our approach is multidisciplinary and is delivered by specialists from 3 fields: nutrition, sport and psychology, and changes in body weight are monitored throughout the camp.
Our goal is to help children and teenagers with weight problems reach a physical and emotional balance, gain self-confidence and make plenty of new friends.
Objectives
Over the 21 days, our mission is to help children and teenagers adopt a balanced lifestyle, promoting eating habits and behaviors that last over time.
We know that balance is the key, so at the Health Camp we learn that a healthy weight is not achieved through going hungry, restrictions and a bland diet, but through changing one's lifestyle.
Weight loss is not the objective, but the result of our actions, and it is achieved the right way, in a positive manner!
Participants
Children and teenagers aged 7 to 18 who have weight problems or who want to take up a healthy lifestyle.
Activities
Nutrition workshops and personal-development activities.
We learn together, in an enjoyable and age-appropriate way, what a balanced diet means and what role nutrition plays in a healthy lifestyle. We run personal-development workshops and offer individual and group psychological support, both delivered by specialists in this field.
Sporting activities
Over the 3 weeks we practice various sports and games that require plenty of movement, to improve our coordination and mobility.
Outdoor activities
We conquer mountains, visit caves and waterfalls, learn how to build campfires, how to cook outdoors and push past our limits in the Adventure Parks.
Food and cooking workshops
The camp menu includes 3 main meals and 2 snacks, all healthy! The menu is designed by the nutritionist and the dishes are cooked under their supervision, taking into account the children's age and energy needs.
We want happy children, and to help them grow into healthy adults!
Nutritionist-Dietician – Adelina Borbely
Tabere Straja – A story about the summer camps
Out of love for the mountains, for movement and for healthy food, out of a desire to give new generations the childhood of times past, with the help of passionate specialists, we created Tabere Straja. Our hosts are the guesthouses at an altitude of 1400 m, in the Straja resort, in the heart of the Vâlcan mountains, a mountain group of the Retezat-Godeanu Mountains.
"Tabere Straja changes destinies" – a bold statement that children, parents and instructors alike have made in turn. We all know that positive change happens when we step out of our comfort zone. That's why our program is made up of a wide range of activities, carefully chosen by specialists from different fields: physical-education and sports teachers, mountain rescuers, ski and snowboard instructors, psychologists, nutritionist-dieticians, art, music and dance teachers, doctors and athletes of national and international renown.
From the very first hours of camp, the participants get to know their surroundings: the slopes where they ski in winter, the Heroes' Cross, the adventure parks, the Straja Hermitage, Baloo the bear, the sheepfold, beech and fir forests, and they take in the peaks of over 2500 m, Păpușa and Peleaga.
Children of all ages, arriving from all over the country, get to know each other through games as well as through free conversation. Games have a powerful appeal for children and teenagers and an educational value through their wealth of ideas, by heightening emotions and engaging the intellect and the spirit of organization — that is why they are a core activity in our camps, alongside the adventure park trail and the hikes.
The children's artistic side is developed through stone painting, dance choreography and gymnastics, but also through the nutrition and psychology lessons. In the evening, we enjoy fun activities: a campfire, parties, an open-air film, a talent show and cabin games. We place great emphasis on keeping to the schedule, mutual respect, discipline and hygiene, with the participants being equal in front of the instructors. Of course, safety comes first at Tabere Straja.
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Choose your favorite camp:
The adventure camp for school-age children – Come to Straja for the adventure of your summer;
The adventure and nutrition camp for preschoolers – Camps for you and your family;
The health camp for overweight children – We want happy children, and to help them grow into healthy adults;
The sport and nutrition camp for adults – Build the best version of yourself!;
Adventure camps with a second theme of your choice: English, math, computer science, the arts, and more;
Team Building – We build teams!
The Founder of Tabere Straja – FODORAN MARIUS DAN – Doctoral thesis
See the full doctoral thesis in the attached PDF.FODORAN MARIUS DAN
DOCTORAL THESIS
"THE CONCEPTUAL AND PRACTICAL OPTIMIZATION OF THE METHODOLOGY FOR TEACHING ALPINE SKIING TO OLDER PRESCHOOL CHILDREN"
ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR:
PROF. UNIV. DR. NEAMȚU MIRCEA
Bucharest
2019
INTRODUCTION
The place and importance of the topic in the Science of Sport and Physical Education
Skiing, worldwide, has reached an absolutely impressive level of popularity today, being, according to mountain resort statistics, the most popular winter sport, thanks to the unique sensations and experiences it offers its practitioners. The possibility of free expression and of interaction with nature helps improve both physical and mental health, which is why it is one of the main activities during winter holidays for the population of Romania as well.
The national ski schools with an international tradition invest a great deal of resources in research and in developing methodical systems in line with new materials and equipment. One example is the French Ski School, which in 2017 developed a new methodical system and introduced different teaching approaches in learning and two tests for ski instructors, Eurosecurity and Eurotest, which give them the right to reach level I and, implicitly, the right to practice freely. The teaching methodology is the main "weapon" used by ski instructors to learn, improve and refine technique, in the shortest possible time and safely, in line with current requirements.
From this point of view, we want the research to be an invitation to ski instructors to study and make use of it in the lessons held on the slopes of our country.
The relevance of the topic
Today we can no longer speak only of skiing, but of snow-gliding sports as leisure activities, thanks to the multitude of equipment and the many possibilities for practicing them. The new elements that appear are welcome in the world of snow sports, while also bringing great challenges to the instructors who teach these sports.
From the daring feats of some skiers and with the support of the major sports equipment manufacturers, other variants of skiing have also emerged: off-piste skiing, freestyle skiing, acrobatic skiing, ski touring, monoskiing, big foot skiing and others.
The ski schools in the mountain resorts offer the possibility of practicing skiing in an organized setting, giving importance to the relationship between sport and tourism.
The number of people learning to ski in Romania in an organized way has grown in recent years, according to ski resort statistics. At the same time, the number of instructors who successfully integrate into the labor market, in the new ski schools, has also grown.
The motivation for choosing the topic
I chose the topic titled "The conceptual and practical optimization of the methodology for teaching alpine skiing to older preschool children" first of all because I am the founder of a private ski and snowboard school with 45 instructors. The majority of clients are between 5 and 7 years old, and the lack of an up-to-date teaching methodology adapted to this age leads to the formation of incorrect habits. I organize ski and nutrition camps for preschoolers at the Straja mountain resort with over 500 participants each year, having at my disposal a private beginners' slope and a conveyor belt.
From the instructor's point of view, teaching alpine skiing is a task that involves great responsibility because of the risks of accidents that exist at all levels of training. Preschoolers can quickly lose interest in lessons, and motivation can be achieved with the help of games and stories that can keep them captivated on the slope for up to three hours per session.
In this work I wish to emphasize the importance of developing a methodology for teaching skiing through games to children aged 5 to 7. The idea I started from is that correct early learning and training, adapted to the new conditions, would increase the quality of the technique of Romania's skiers.
The importance of the topic is given by the need to optimize, conceptually and practically, the methodology for teaching skiing in Romania, something demanded by the current requirements of Romanian recreational and competitive skiers and by the new equipment and uphill ski lift installations.
Through this research I wish to improve my scientific and practical competence in the direction of leading lessons for preschoolers and to share these innovations with the instructors I lead.
Taking into account the experience of the world's oldest ski schools and of the specialists in Romania, combined with my own experience gained as a competitive skier, ski instructor, performance coach, graduate of the eurotest and the eurosecurity course at the "Ecole Nationale de Ski et d'Alpinisme" (the French School of Skiing and Mountaineering), student at the National University of Physical Education and Sport Bucharest (U.N.E.F.S.) and founder and director of the Straja Ski and Snowboard School, we wish to develop a methodical guide adapted to modern working materials, to the level of development of mountain tourism and to the motor abilities of tourists.
The overall purpose of the research project is to improve the teaching of skiing at the older preschool age and to help Romania's private ski schools guide their activity by an up-to-date methodical guide. We carry out extensive documentation of the teaching methodologies used by the world's major ski schools, with the desire to find the most modern and effective learning methods.
We wish to emphasize the correct informing of ski instructors, so that teaching is no longer done "by ear", while in the world's major ski schools scientific methodical systems are applied.
By publishing this work we wish to meet the needs of Romania's ski instructors with a modern methodical system for preschoolers, appropriate to Romanian realities and adapted to the new equipment, working materials and transport installations. This methodical line will not be conceived as a conglomerate of heterogeneous elements borrowed from different countries, but will be based on the French and Romanian methodical systems. In this context, it implies adopting a selective and critical attitude towards existing information, bringing innovation and borrowing ideas from other sports.
We wish to emphasize the importance of an optimal adaptation of the set of intervention procedures in learning the basic technique, woven together with movement games that consolidate and refine what has been learned. The idea we started from is that early and correct training, adapted to the new conditions, would increase the quality of the technique of Romania's skiers, thus reducing the number of accidents on the slopes.