Making Friends and Finding a sense of Achievement

Sports are a very big part of life in the Sea Cadets. There are competitions in every Area in all kinds of sports, including sailing, rowing, canoeing, swimming and 5-a-side football, to name but a few.

Sports competitions are a fantastic way of meeting Cadets from every corner of the country. As the day for the competition gets closer you start to get nervous, and although you can’t wait to go, you are kind of dreading it too. What will it be like? What are the other cadets like? Where will you sleep? Will the food be any good?

Guess what! All the other Cadets are asking these questions too!


Then you finally get there. You and the rest of your team plunge into all the noise and excitement and start talking to the other Cadets, and find they’re just like you! Then you’re finally off. You forget all about the other Cadets and focus on doing your very best with your team. It is all over before very quickly and all your staff are there shouting their encouragement and praising you when it is all over.

At the end of the day the results are given and you may have won or you may not, but you know you did your best. You congratulate each other and to round the event off go to the disco in the evening.

On the way home you sit and reflect on the event. Yes, the team from here were very good and the team from there were good too, but the main thing is everyone had a good laugh and you have loads of telephone numbers and invitations to other Units to think about. You are very tired but yet again have made a whole new set of friends in the Sea Cadets.