Kingswood Lotteries

July 25,2025

No, we are not running a racket here at camp, or maybe we are, but of the sort you would appreciate.

Some back story: Once was the time when boys started arriving at General Swim (4:30 pm) at about 4:20, having skipped out of the last ten minutes of A-Block. Not having a staff numbering in the thousands in those days to supervise, those who were in front of the line were the first to go skiing or tubing.  No one really noticed that it was essentially the same lads day in and day out who were gaming the system.

It dawned on us that these chaps were acting out of the same sense of self-indulgence, similar to the campers at my old camp who ate their first portions of dinner while leading the line for seconds! “You can go to Camp Me-First or perhaps Camp Cutthroat, both in North Carolina,” I started shouted at the Kingswood guys early in my tenure here.

On the general swim issue, it was determined that we would conduct a lottery, actually two of them, each afternoon at 4:35. Mattering not at all was the order of the drawers but instead the number they picked out of the stack of cards. One round for waterskiing and the other for tubing.

Here are Julian and Nico, one happy while the other not so much. Actually, Nico is faking it as he actually has been amply forewarned that he’ll be skiing closer to 5:30 than 4:30 and he simply can check in to swim or participate in any other of a long list of B-Block activities. “May I get into this game?” I heard a camper inquire the other day and the counselor responded, “Sure thing!”

As you can see from the photo albums, while I followed the lotteries, Sara was stationing herself down the slope from Lakeview Cabin to take shots of boys careening down the slip ‘n slide in pell-mell fashion. This activity, too, was set up to avoid butting the line as each division (junior, intermediate and senior) had a scheduled time to participate.

Just about everything we do at Kingswood is designed to avoid playing favorites. When too many kids signed up for the Pirates Cove overnight, Mike simply took a younger group one night and an older one the next. Since that made such good sense, no one complained. I think Todd employed the same strategy with fishing trips.

So, who clears the tables at meals? Most counselors play some sort of “clearing game,” my personal favorite being “Tell me why you are physically unable to carry the tray up to the counter.” Lots of fake injuries are related! Not quite a lottery but surely a most logical camp tradition, to include Levi’s most recent morning command, “The guy who makes the lowest sound clears.” Think about that: Brilliant!