'Hunger Games' Camp In Florida Allows Children To Experience Simulated Deathmatch

So, there's a Hunger Games camp in Largo (near Tampa) that allows children to train for a week before competing in a simulated deathmatch a la their favorite dystopian YA novel series. Why? Because Florida (also, children and people who like to make money off of them are typically monsters).

The Tampa Bay Times chronicled kid's adventures at the "kill each other for the sake of your home province" sleepaway and while the results weren't as bad as say... this scene, they were still pretty ridiculous.

Highlights:

"What are we going to do first?" shouted 14-year-old Sidney Martenfeld. "Are we going to kill each other first?"

"No! No violence this week," the camp's head counselor was busy telling the children. But keeping the kids from talk of murder would prove difficult. That was, after all, the driving plot point of The Hunger Games - and this was Hunger Games camp.

...

What's your specialty? Ours is primarily weapons," said Frances Pool-Crane, the youngest camper at 10 years old.

"Ours is, like, half weapons," said Briana Craig, 12. "Alliance?"

"Sure," Frances said. The girls were decorating posters for the Games. "LOSING MEANS CERTAIN DEATH," Frances wrote.

(God, that poster anecdote...)

A clinical psychologist weighs in claiming that allowing children to bring the distanced killing of a fictional world into the active parts of a child's thoughts is harmful and the counselors apparently agree because they switch from the term "killing" to "collecting lives."

 The girls ran off, first across the basketball court, then through the grass, between buildings, by the water fountain, past the body lying on the ground . . . 

The body lying on the ground. CJ Hatzilias, 11, face-down, in the grass. He was crying. "They stepped on me," he said.

Someone went for help. "CJ, what happened?" Gillette asked.

"They stepped on me," he said.

D'Alessio knelt down. "I'm sure it was an accident."

CJ shook his head. He said some boys had knocked him down and kicked him.

D'Alessio got him up, wrapped an arm around him, walked him over to the camp offices.

The boy wiped his nose. "I got stepped on," he said.

Jeez, I love my home state but sometimes, they make it hard, you know?