Competing in Brawn and Brains at the Mind & Body Games

Students, faculty and friends exercised their minds and their bodies this weekend at the second annual Mind & Body Games. The event pitted teams of eight, identifiable by shirt color, against each other in physical and mental challenges.

The event benefited the SPH Alumni Chapter and QUENCH, University of Maryland's organization striving to make clean drinking water accessible at schools around the world.

I attended the event to observe, and right away as teams scattered the volleyball gym, it was evident which athletes to watch in the plethora of events....

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The Blue Team, self-dubbed "Blue Steal" arrives early and warms up at the basketball hoop, ladder ball and mini golf. A quick team huddle, breaking on the cheer of "Blue Steal," indicates that these eight players are here to perform. Not hurting their chances either are the return of team members from last year, when they took home the crown.

The Red Team lacks a name, but who needs a name when you've got aim? It seems the team has a star at the hoops as well as one at water pong.

The Orange Team isn't much for warming up their muscles, but they sit over coffee at their team's home-base. Perhaps they are strategizing?

Two Yellow Team members practice the bounce strategy at the water pong table. Sneaky. Clearly, they're going for the gold.

The majority of the Green Team rolls in a bit late, moving at a turtle's pace. As a Terp, I find myself rooting for them, being also clad in the best color ever.

I'm settling in, out of the way and ready to observe a competition of brawn and brains, but things are changing suddenly was Team Red needs a eighth person. I'm called in! I feel myself getting revved as I throw on a red T-shirt to match my team members. I stifle the thought of Blue Steal's history, motivation and unity. I forget about my prior favoritism toward the color green. Consider me pumped.

Especially now that we've decided I will be one of four from our team competing in the first event - an obstacle course in the Gymkana gym. I was apprehensive at first, but now that I know there will be a moon bounce midway, I am in.

My team has named me first leg. How quickly I went from observer to integral team member. I toe the start line, and there's the signal. I dart up, down over mats at different levels, dive under a tiny tunnel formed by a wedge, leap up to the top of a mat as high as my shoulder, then back down again. The mats are wobbling, I focus as I pretend to be coordinated. Moon Bounce, straight ahead.

We all remember the moon bounces at carnivals and kids' birthday parties. This isn't your little sister or little brother's moon bounce. There is a small mountain, flimsily inflated, that we are to climb over. I pull myself to the top, lean a bit too far forward, and flip feet over head to the other side. The secret is out - I'm not coordinated.

My three new teammates charge through the course, and we set a time of 3:59. We are beaten by two others, the Yellow Team and the Orange Team, who outpace us by 6 and 10 seconds, respectively.

It is back to the gym for the physical challenges. Seven team members compete one each in ladder ball, put-put golf, bean bag throw, basketball foul line shots, water pong, bowling, and a poker run.

My warm-up observations now have more meaning. I am proud to be on a team with a star pong player and b-ball shooter, though an Orange Team member ultimately wins at the hoops. It turns out one of my teammates is a star bowler as well.

The poker run, one of the most dynamic events, goes down to the wire. One representative from each team runs 10 laps inside the gym, picking up a playing card at the end of each. The Blue Runner and our own Red Runner run together the whole way, pushing the pace, but in the end Blue sprints to the finish first.

Lucky for us, Red collects the better poker hand, good for extra points.

Exhausted, we think for sure we had to be winning, but alas, Team Red is tied with Team Yellow after all the physical activities. Exhausted, it is time to hunker down for the mental challenges, and enjoy the free pizza.

The teams compete in eight games maxing out at 15 minutes each, ranging from scrabble to lyric guessing games. Morale is high at Table Red, until the puzzle round. Each team is given two puzzles to assemble, and again Red has to settle for a middle-of-the-pack finish. Blue Steal wins the round, who has also beaten us on the last four games.

Red Team pulls together in the last round, Scrabble, to gain two more points than Blue Steal. Yellow also makes a final push with 13 more points in that round than Red, but they finish in third place.

And at the top of the ranks: Red. I had entered the day an observer. I finish the day, a winner.

That's all in good fun, however. (Seriously.) Win, lose or draw, it was a fun time had by all, even for those of us left with a stiff neck from the moon bounce mountain. And besides, EVERYONE walked away with a prize.

MANY THANKS go out to the main coordinator of the event, Janet Anderson, her sister and SPH Health Services Administration coordinator Sue Anne Swartz, Mind & Body enthusiast and SPH Dean's Office Coordinator Gloria Friedgen, Jason and Nadia Monroe, Joanne Perodin, Todd McCloskey, Shirlene Chase, and Scott Welsh of Gymkana. Also, BIG thanks to SPH alumni Bill and Sonia Franklin for donating the pizza.