KINGSTON — Sick of the Olympics?
Why don’t you go to the Olympics instead?
More than 100 North-Kitsap based Girl Scouts will gather from 1 to 4 p.m. tomorrow to play their own version of the Olympic Games.
But instead of Salt Lake City, they’ll hit Kingston Junior High. And instead of ice and bobsleds, they’ll be racing across the floor on (safer) socks and cardboard boxes.
Cindy Smith, who is coordinating the event, said it grew out of the Girl Scouts’ annual “thinking day” when they think about girls from other countries. Usually, Smith said, girls will play games from that foreign country or learn words in their languages.
This year, they will play the Olympics.
“It’s more topical,” Smith said.
So girls from ages Daisy (kindergarten) to junior high will hit the “slopes” and compete in all sorts of converted attempts, from skiing to speed skating, from curling to hockey.
Of course, Smith added, the games have been softened a bit in order to not damage the KJH floor.
Figure skating will be done on decorated socks; the cardboard skis will be lined with felt — “We even lined our box, which is our bobsled, with felt,” said Smith.
Other sports have been changed as well. Curling now requires a giant paintbrush and a balloon, and the hockey will employ inflatable sticks so the floor (and the girls) don’t get damaged.
But the event is sure to be fun; more than 100 girl scouts have signed up, and some high-schoolers will be along to make sure everything goes smoothly.
“We don’t know how it’s going to go,” Smith admitted. “We can’t really practice these events.”
Smith then added one event she had forgotten: the biathlon. That challenge includes riding a tricycle and firing Nerf darts.