ROPES Challenge Course Program

Who Should Participate in our Program:

Any individual, organization, company, not-for-profit, and student group that are interested in developing team skills, overcoming a personal challenge and building cohesiveness.

Course Objective:

To build cohesiveness within groups and self-esteem and awareness in individuals by creating a sequence of physical and mental challenges for the participants to overcome. These challenges will compel the group to work together and therefore build unity.

Each activity or challenge concentrates on fostering skills such as

Following each challenge/activity, instructors lead a debrief discussion that focuses on a teamwork topic relative to that event. These open discussions allow participants to analyze the experience and apply what is learned to other situations. Each challenge course experience is carefully designed to accommodate the group’s specific needs and goals.

For Corporate, Non-Profit and Youth Group pricing & availability, please contact Austin Companion at austin.companion@ucf.edu

Core Approach

The core of this approach has four significant properties which serve to motivate and maximize the learner and the experience:

• Participants carefully define and openly share their personal goals and expectations of the experience. The process of goal setting should be as specific as possible and reflect a realistic opportunity for attainment. It is essential in the goal setting process to consider what you may need or want from yourself, your peers, and others to support your efforts towards personal growth and behaviors change. 
• Participants personally experience within a supportive atmosphere, a variety of group and individual activities which combine cognitive, emotional, and physical challenges. These activities allow for direct feedback and reinforcement.
• The utilization of the Experiential Learning Methodology; an inductive process, whereby participants engage in meaningful activity, critically analyze and reflect upon the experience, abstract useful insights from the analysis, and apply what is learned into practice.
• Participants enter into a “Full Value Contract”, whereby agreeing not to discount or devalue themselves or others during the experience. Within the context of a Full Value Contract, participants are to understand and agree that they have both a right and a responsibility to confront and be confronted when we observe others or are observed ourselves engaging in non-productive and/or devaluating behavior. Respect for all individuals is stresses in the Full Value Contract.

Methods of Measuring Achievement Goals:

There are two main ways of measuring if the course objective has been achieved:

• Debrief Discussions: The debriefing process emphasizes how to utilize past experiences in making future decisions, and therefore how to direct or alter future behaviors, and thus achieve desired results. Learning resulting from the experience is of greater significance than the nature of the experience itself.
• Personal Evaluations: Through written questionnaires, participants can share what they learned about themselves and about their group after experiencing the Ropes Course.

General Low Ropes Course Sequence

• Warm-up Activities: These activities are used to stretch out muscles and evaluate the group.
• Acquaintance Activities: These provide the opportunity for the group to get to know one another and are primarily fun, non-threatening activities that can be accomplished together.
• De-inhibitizer Activities: These activities give the participants the opportunity to take risks. They can make participants more committed to improving and more willing to look inept in front of others.
• Trust Activities: These initiatives provide the opportunity of group members to trust their physical and emotional safety with others, by attempting a graduated series of activities, which promote trust.
• Communication Activities: These initiatives provide the opportunity for the group members to enhance their abilities to communicate thoughts, feelings, and behaviors more appropriately. These activities should emphasize listening and verbal skills.
• Decision Making Activities: These activities provide the opportunity for the group to effectively communicate, cooperate and compromise, through trial and error participation, in a graduated series of problem-solving activities.

Canterbury Challenge Course CHECK LIST

• Sun Screen
• Tie up shoes/Tennis Shoes
• Bandana
• Water Bottle
• Bug Spray
• Comfortable clothing (jeans, shorts, sweat pants, T-shirt)
• Hat/Sun visor
• Inhaler (if problem with asthma)
• Rain Poncho

General High Ropes Experience

After the group has completed the sequence of Low initiatives, they are ready to experience the High Ropes Course. The High elements focus on the individual’s emotional and physical insecurities, helps them set and complete personal goals, and fosters perseverance, risk taking, and motivation. The group acts as an emotional support for the individual who is on the element, putting to use the skills that the group developed during the Low Ropes Course. The debrief is also an important part of the High Ropes Course.

Canterbury Challenge Course CHECK LIST

• Sun Screen
• Tie up shoes/Tennis Shoes
• Bandana
• Water Bottle
• Bug Spray
• Comfortable clothing (jeans, shorts, sweat pants, T-shirt)
• Hat/Sun visor
• Inhaler (if problem with asthma)
• Rain Poncho