This past weekend I went down to U of I to visit my fiance and other friends out there, and my campus church (CFC) was hosting their annual Mini Olymipics event. Though I was on campus for about 5 years worth of Mini-O’s, I had only attended 2. This year, the Indian Christian Fellowship actually formed their own team to particpate, so I joined up with them to give my support. Mini O’s is such an amazing type of event, as it brings pretty much everyone from within the church together for all these different competitions and events. It really draws a lot of eyes to see hundreds of people people gathered around an open field (looking crazy), laughing and competing in all these weird games.
Although there were tons of people out there with their dSLRs (I’m constantly surprised by seeing so many undergrads with there cameras…where do they get the money?), but the official photogs for the event were Dan Lee and Christina Lee, so go check out their shots. Of course, I also had my gear with me, so I grabbed a handful of shots to keep me busy. I didn’t stay the whole time so this is just a small piece of what went on there. Enjoy!
These people are serious, no joke!
These are the ones with the most control – you mess around, you get sprayed.
I used to be an ISR guy when I was on campus, so this is my crew – I seriously thing we’re the coolest ones :)
The first “competition” is the chant, where teams create their own chants and perform it in front of everyone. Best chant gets the most points. These seem to be getting more and more hardcore at each new Mini-O’s.
Here’s Dan Lee doing his thing.
Obviously my fave – Jabba Wockees Inspired (done by an ISR group)
Like I said, each time it gets more complicated with different props and such. This group brought out a sheet a cardboard and had this guy do flares throughout the chant.
Here’s my friend Taniya, who is now a freshman at U of I. She used to be a cheerleader in high school, and they used that to their advantage.
This must be the longest game ever. The premise was to take a hula hoop and throw it around a team member, who was quite a distance away. That person could not move their feet and had to keep their arms to their side. The distance was a bit far, and with the wind, it took forever for people to do this. Funny to watch, but still a long game.
A couple times throughout the day there is something called “Spirit Points”. The main ref (Suggey) would run around through each team and they would scream/cheer/do whatever they could to get his attention and get some points.
There was also an “area competition” (as small groups in the church are broken down into about 6 different areas). One leg of the race was this triple push-up…it takes a LOT of arm/upper body strength to take care of this.
The final leg was a race by the pastors of each area. Here’s the ISR area pastor pushing ahead.
But coming down the stretch, he cramped up and couldn’t finish, allowing the FAR PAR pastor (my small group leader when I was a freshman…small world!) to pull past…
I told you that people will do anything to get some spirit points – this team was ready to do some bribing with cupcakes…
It was fun for all ages too!
And here’s the squad ICF got together:
