Spring Huddle Holidays 2024 Recap!

Spring Huddle Holidays 2024 have come and gone, and what an awesome couple of weeks it was for The Huddle! Huddle Holidays is a school holiday program offered at the end of each school term for primary and secondary school students aged 8-18. The program provides children and young people with opportunities to try new experiences, developing their skills and capacity across social inclusion, health and emotional wellbeing, leadership, education, and careers.  

Over the most recent holidays our Juniors (8- to 12-years-old) engaged in three awesome activities: Ninja Warrior, ACMI and a trip to Werribee Zoo. This term some of our most excited participants were our first time attendees who were ecstatic to have reached an age where they can attend all the activities. One enthusiastic young person shared that it was their “first time going without my parents and (they) made new friends”. They were thrilled! 

First on the junior itinerary was Ninja Warrior with Fighting Lyons Gym. On this exciting morning, the group was challenged both as teams and as individuals.

They played whole group classics such as ‘The Floor is Lava’ and ‘Hide and Seek’ before splitting into groups and trialling different sections of the challenging Ninja Warrior course. This involved tightrope walking, swinging on the flying fox, jumping on the Trampoline and lots of climbing! The activity was an opportunity for some who had a background in gymnastics and circus to demonstrate their skills, but for most of the group it was a completely new experience.

At the end of the activity when asked if they found anything challenging throughout the day almost everyone raised their hands. Then, when asked if they kept trying when the challenges occurred, they raised their hands again – how good is that! Leaving our first activity we were excited for the rest of the holidays; we knew we had a group of resilient juniors ready to try new things! 

Next, the juniors headed to ACMI in Federation Square. At ACMI, our young people got to explore the universe of Film, TV, Video Games and Art.

The first stop was the ‘Beings’ exhibit, produced by Universal Everything. Here, young people had the chance to move, dance, and play to interact with a vibrant array of larger-than-life digital creatures, each reacting uniquely to their movements. 

Following this, the group moved into ‘The Story of the Moving Image’ exhibit, where they got to explore an interactive space that encouraged them to learn about the past, present and future of all things moving image. A big hit in this space was the Video Game zone. Participants identified that this was a different activity than what is normally offered at Huddle Holidays, which gave students the chance to learn new things – and who knows, maybe inspire a potential future artist? 

Our last activity for the juniors was heading to Werribee Zoo. This was our most popular activity these holidays, booking out weeks before the holidays even began.

At the Zoo the participants spent time exploring the different enclosures, playing on the themed playgrounds, and dancing to some rhythmic African drumming. The highlight of the day for most was the safari. The Huddle group all loaded into a bus that drove us through some wide-open enclosures, passing Rhinos, Giraffes, Zebras, and so much more. While most commented on seeing the animals as their favourite moment, one young person shared that they liked “the zoo because it taught me new information”. We love that our participants love to learn! 

While exploring the Zoo the participants learned about the different animals, their diets and habitats, but also how to care for the world we live in and contribute to its preservation. It was a great way to cap off the junior program! 

Our seniors (13- to 18-years-old) these holidays had the opportunity to sign up for two activities and one career-ready training opportunity. We facilitated a Basic First Aid and CPR course, a Martial Arts life skills workshop and a 3v3 Basketball Tournament. One participant identified that their favourite thing was that “I get to meet new people and expand on various skills.”  

An additional focus of the senior program is to also provide experiences that can enhance career opportunities for young people through skill development, such as nationally recognised training.

Our first activity these holidays engaged young people of employment age (14+) in a Basic First Aid and CPR course at The Huddle in North Melbourne. Young people spent time learning the basics of bandaging, injury management, CPR and more. Each young person left with a certificate of completion that they can add to their resumes, alongside important life skills that they can take with them everywhere. 

Next up for the seniors was the Martial Arts Life Skills workshop with Tessa Inc. and their MAT program, which was run at the Werribee Football Club.

The theme of the session was connecting the values and fundamentals of MMA with mental and emotional wellbeing principles. Participants left the session with a greater understanding of the value in controlling what they can control. 

Through the acknowledgement of their resilience, they demonstrated they can overcome anything - even physical challenges such as squats, push ups, holding the T-Pose, evading, punching and so much more. Connecting our mind and our body is an essential part of wellbeing, and a valuable lesson to learn during adolescence. 

Our final senior activity was the 3v3 Basketball Tournament at Eagle Stadium in Werribee.

Excitingly, this activity was planned and run by young people employed by The Huddle through our Employment Experience program, Game Changers (learn about Game Changers (thehuddle.org.au) here). The young employees’ contributions were acknowledged by the participants as a highlight of the day. One shared, “I like how some students our age helped organise and run it and I like how the day was set up and organised.”

The tournament was a massive day that saw all the teams play a minimum of 6 games before finals, where we crowned both mixed and all-female competition winners, as well as a 3-point contest champion. However, the biggest win on the day was the demonstration of sportsmanship that filled the stadium. This excellent sportsmanship was embodied by the kindness of a team that took on one of the youngest participants after realising that his team had to leave halfway through the day. 

Thanks to our participants, their families, activity providers and partners – Victorian Department of Education and Bendigo Bank Seddon. We couldn’t have this much fun without you! 

Huddle Holidays will return in January 2025 with an all-new, exciting range of activities across both junior and senior age groups. If you would like and further information or to join our email list to be notified when we launch registrations, please email huddle@nmfc.com.au.  

If you’re looking to get involved in our programs that run throughout the term, please check out the below links: 

Study Squad (thehuddle.org.au) (10-25 years-old) 

Huddle Up! Junior (thehuddle.org.au) (5-12 years-old) 

Huddle Up! Senior (thehuddle.org.au) (12-25 years-old)