Religious Youth Service representatives, in partnership with sports organizers, presented education to this year's teaching team for Guatemala City's Peace Vacation, a six-week sports and character education program. The RYS teaching seminar has been a time-tested experiential education presentation, which has proved in the past to be valuable in enhancing the development of these sports teachers and service trainers.
Rev. John Gehring, RYS senior advisor, supported by Carol Pobanz, RYS Global Management Team member, presented the RYS training exercises October 27-30, followed by a sports curriculum. The participants especially enjoyed the integration of the RYS agenda and the athletics activities. The curriculum, which applies the practices of good sportsmanship to family and societal interaction, serves to correlate the experience of good team cooperation with positive community interaction.
Many of the youth showed interest in the communication styles exercises and role-playing. The discussions were lively and inspiring. Participants had these things to say: "This was very motivating and thought provoking," "This was the best workshop I have ever attended; I would be deeply grateful if I could attend further workshops in the future," and "This workshop has changed my point of view on sports. I believe that through this I will be able to change my teaching methods quite dramatically."