The theme logistics takes much the same shape as theme described in the OOP section and
describes the practical and logistical elements of a successful outdoor activity experience. These are the activity specifics which demonstrate the successful aspects and areas that need improvement as part of the action research process. Firstly some students commented on the comparisons between the ‘top up’ activity day and the OOP. The overt differences are described in the quote below.
‘I preferred that than the residential because I prefer shorter short bursts and days rather than over a continuous amount of time so it’s good that we did about 6 activities in the day I prefer doing that than having 6 over 3 days or over 4 days. I’d prefer to get it out of the way. Go there with your food, don’t take as much clothes and stuff and all that I kind of prefer that. I’d probably rate the second one 9 and the first one 7 just based on the spread of activities. They had activities on the second one that I didn’t even know about like the labyrinth, I enjoyed that
one because it’s something that I’ve not done before and the fact that you were underground in a room its different to being in a cave, it actually feels like you
can’t get out properly which I like.’ (Nathan).
Nathan states that the number and range of activities over a short period of time on the ‘top up’ day was in his opinion better than the schedule of the residential. Towards the end of the quote Nathan also mentions the difficulty and challenge posed by one of the activities which was particularly memorable, this supports activity research proposed by McKenzie (2000).
The quote below from Rose again comments on the speed of which the activities occur and how it enhances the trip.
‘It was better because we wasn’t stood around. On the residential there were parts where we just didn’t do anything which meant that we was getting bored. We’d just be sat around like in between activities, we’d be sat around not doing anything. I mean I think we could’ve fit in more activities in and make it shorter or
we could’ve done some different activities as well. Whereas this one we did quite a lot of activities.’ (Rose).
This is in contrast to one of the students interviewed who viewed the intensity and number of activities as a negative for his experience, yet his assessment does include an acknowledgment that the intensity may be a positive for other students.’
As the day progressed on I got less and less involved because on our schedule it started off easy then all of a sudden jumped from one side of the spectrum to the
other, that’s good for some people but for me it was a case of its too much now, I’ve climbed this wall, then bouldering my hands were just aching, then the high ropes and you had to climb up those tyres then the ladder thing, I just couldn’t do it at that point because I was just physically exhausted so then I felt I couldn’t get
involved or do that type of stuff and felt a bit left out.’ (Steve).
The quote provides a clear demonstration of self-worth and self-efficacy being constructed through ability to perform and participate and that poor performance can create powerful negative feelings. This is where activities for some individuals could be debilitating (Ewert & Yoshino, 2011).
The following conversation from a focus group provides an interesting assessment of why they preferred the ‘top up’ day. The preference was because they were already comfortable with the other students. This quote shows that initially the OOP caused feeling of unease, these were powerful feelings if they were still being remembered months later. Despite the comments the period of transition is one that requires an adjustment in their personal and social worlds (Earwalker, 1992), as commented in the OOP analysis the idea of accelerating this process is a key element of the OOP so creating these feelings of unease that are then remedied quickly is exactly what the OOP aims to achieve. These feelings were to be expected given the difficult transition they were
experiencing.
‘3 – I thought it was better than the residential to be fair 4 – You got a prize for winning as well and our team won 3 – I thought it was better because we knew everybody by then
1 – Yeah I didn’t feel uncomfortable with anyone, on the first one we went on I didn’t want to talk to anyone
Two of the students interviewed commented on the possibility that the two trips could be switched again focussing on the possible transitional problems and the unsettling nature of the first few weeks at university that in Nick’s opinion may be exacerbated. Yet these feelings may still provide a positive in terms of personal growth if they are worked through, resilience is achieved through adaptation to significant threat or adversity (Ewert & Yoshino, 2011)
‘I think the day one should’ve been at the start of the year, they should’ve swapped them around because I think not for me but for other people it can be
quite daunting moving away and getting used to living in halls and for them to move away again for another 4 days that they didn’t know about could be
daunting.’ (Nathan)