Summer Revelry

VENTURA —  Camino Real Park was on the verge of kid anarchy Thursday when hundreds of happy, squealing and screaming day campers gathered for the west county’s annual YMCA summer games.

Youngsters from Camarillo, Oxnard and Ventura tripped and tumbled over each other in potato sack races. Errant water balloons took flight across the park’s baseball field during balloon toss competitions. And kids ignored their counselors and laughed among themselves.

But for event organizers, the day went like clockwork.

“This was great, this was a nice day,” said Megan Fercho, program director at Camarillo’s YMCA.

The summer camp “Challenge,” in its 12th year, is in homage to the Summer Olympic Games. But years ago, the long jump and the 50-meter run were dropped in favor of games kids want to play. And what is preferred most is anything that involves getting wet.

Leia Ferguson, 12, reveled in the YMCA-invented “water bomb” competition, in which contestants lob wet, soft spongy balls at each other. The Ventura resident wore her sopping wet clothes like a medal of valor.

“Everything on me is soaked, even my underwear,” Leia proudly told her mostly male rivals.

Her 14-year-old brother, Will, said he was tired of going to the beach, and enjoyed the day in the park.

“You get sick of being sunburned,” said Will, who will be a ninth-grader at Cabrillo Middle School in the fall.

The Ferguson siblings and their teammates lost the water bomb competition to the Camarillo chapter, which had Dominic Sonsini, a defensive lineman for the Camarillo Road Runners, and Leaha Allen-Murrell, a pitcher for the Camarillo girls’ softball team.

“My dad taught me how to throw a ball,” said Dominic, 13.

Fresh from her victory in “Sponge, Sponge Goose”--modeled after Duck, Duck Goose, only with lots of water--Nicole Ray, 8, attempted a repeat performance in the potato sack race.

But the Camarillo resident came up short against JazmyneWhitaker, who couldn’t believe she made it across the finish line first.

“I’m not normally the fastest at anything,” said Jazmyne, 8, who is awaiting the start of third grade at Laguna Vista Elementary School in Oxnard.

While the day started out Olympic-style with an opening ceremony, event organizers did not award anything special to winners, but handed out ribbons to everyone at the end of the day so no one’s feelings were hurt.

Participants said they were looking forward to watching the real Olympics on television next month, but the younger ones may have been a little confused about the kinds of competition that will occur.

“I love ice skating the best,” said Nicole, twirling on the grass.

Organizers said parents appreciate summer camp because kids come home exhausted from a day of play. Indeed, as the day wound down, the youngsters started showing signs of having run wild for hours.

“I’m tired,” said Jazmyne, yawning. “It’s nap time.”