For the fifth year in a row, FSCJ participated in the YMCA First Coast Games (FCG). This program allows Jacksonville companies to engage in friendly competitions in a variety of activities. This year, FSCJ had teams participating in bowling, flag football, basketball, Top Golf, the Healthy Living Challenge and the 5K, in addition to the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. More than 65 FSCJ employees participated in at least one of the First Coast Games events.

Opening Ceremony-The first event of the year was held in March at the DuPont YMCA. Ten FSCJ employees participated in a variety of field games including the egg toss and ending with a tug of war. There was great weather, lots of enthusiasm and everyone had fun.

Flag Football-The team had several exciting victories including winning their division before just coming up short in the semi-final game.

Basketball-While the efforts for all sports were strong, the basketball team was a clear winner for best FSCJ performance as they went all the way to the championship before just coming up short. While past years had seen basketball teams not win a single contest, this team managed to combine talent and desire to produce some outstanding victories!

Top Golf-Not much could be more fun than representing FSCJ at Top Golf! Our team had a great time and managed not to shank any balls into the spectators.

Bowling-Although we were the two-time defending champs, the pins were just not falling our way as we finished third overall. Interest in being part of the bowling team remains high since bowlers had to score well in tryouts to be part of the team. Next year, we plan to strike back and return the title back to FSCJ!

5K-FSCJ had 16 employees complete the 5K race held at the Winston YMCA in Riverside. The course consisted of several loops of running up and down the river walk area from the Landing all the way up to the Fuller Warren Bridge. Despite the warm weather, all employees finished with both Steve Beard and Cyrus Kitto finishing first in their age groups.

Healthy Living Challenge-Our team of 13 employees spent two months participating in this event which included a pre- and post-screening of some key biometrics and also completed a Bingo Card of 8-9 YMCA activities. The overall team goal was to participate in the activities at the Y while making some improvements in such areas as weight, waist measurement, blood pressure and body fat.

Closing Ceremony-The FCGs came to an end on Saturday, June 9 at the DuPont YMCA. All the teams played fun games of kickball, tried not to get too hot and collected their participation plaque. Overall, the games were a great success and of those teams participating in only six sports, FSCJ finished top 3 overall!

This has been a great year for FSCJ in the FCGs as we had stronger participation and better event finishes. Team members are already looking forward to the 2019 games!