Coaches "Report"
Garry's "Daily Diary"
From the word go I knew this would be good, if young people are as happy and ready in the middle of the night to go away from their parents, some of them for the first time, it had to be a success.
Great work went into the pool, they coped with new foods, room
sharing, winds (not Robert) and a lot more swimming than normal.
With Hannah being there they witnessed a part of high performance
swimming which some of them did not know about, FINA drug testers even
turned up in the middle of a question and answer session out of the
blue. The swimmers found this very interesting and this was the best
way to explain Hannah's strict regime and how much work goes into her
job.
The swimmers were also able to learn from Emily's very good
presentation from her international debut this summer. I could mention
all of the swimmers but Shannon was the swimmer's swimmer (secret vote)
as well as the coaches swimmer.
This could not have been possible without my motley crew, so thanks
to Gazza, Disco Dave, Mary, Phoebs and Carmel. All of whom had taken a
week off work so that they could accompany the children and all their
hard work and commitment is much appreciated. Thanks also go to Patrick
who could not be there but all the planning around the swim programme
and sets was his hard work.
Lastly thank you to all the parents who have emailed their thanks
towards us. You are all very welcome, the children all worked really
hard and it was a pleasure to work with them all.
GITTE
Majorca 2011
Early morning start, and yours truly was last to arrive again.
This time greeted by a ripple of applause, as technically the Holmes
family were five minutes early.Driving through Inverurie at that time
in the morning was an event in itself, as Edwards decanted it's
clientele some of them doing interesting Landwork. The drive down
to Glasgow Airport proving to be uneventful, one fox and two police
cars later and we were there.
Check in and there was some slight confusion, was Dave Dave, was
Gitte Gitte, these passports are tricky things. The weigh in
revealed that Phoebe must be buying her clothes in Majorca with a
single figure weigh in, but hold on, how much homework is Joseph
planning on doing surely not 24kgs worth. Peter seems to think
that he does not need to show his passport and tries to walk off
unnoticed.
Onto the plane, flight is slightly delayed as 2 passengers have
found out that they will be in the next room to Dave and Garry in
Majorca and have decided not to travel.
Chloe comes up with the first "interesting" question of the trip
whilst on the plane enquiring about those white things on top of the
sea, they don't get many waves in Kintore!
At Majorca airport and baggage is reclaimed in record time, this
saving is offset as Clara tries to locate instructions to enable her to
disassemble her case within a bag (not one for dragons den). A
smooth transition into the rooms and somehow Thomas and Findlay have
got themselves an executive suite.
The first pool session passes smoothly with Peter trying to go
undetected as he leaves his kitbag at the hotel. Abbey fails the
weigh in instructions as she struggles to work out which direction is
forwards and backwards and the difference between front and back.
Back at the hotel and Sophie seems to be obsessed with using the
elevators and every floor has been visited on her first day, we can
only assume that she lives in a bungalow.
Lights out and Sarah cannot find her contact lens case, does she find her way to the pool the next day ?
The first morning and Dave is leading the group to the pool at a great
rate, Garry without whistle is powerless to stop the inevitable split
in the ranks. Fortunately 6.30 in the morning on Sunday in
Majorca is not the busiest. Morning weigh in and somehow Sophie
has managed to escape detection, fortunately there is no award for the
most aware swimmer on this trip or there may have been an early
disqualification.
The set itself is performed well by all and Emily's group are being
particularly well mentored in all aspects of warm up and warm down.
The initiative test was the day's next activity with 3 groups taking
part in this, the first test being the upturned boat. Captain
Robert took the helm and able seamanly led his team to an easy
victory. Joseph meanwhile was still complaining that his boat was
too small. The next test involved placing your trust in the hands
of others, Orla was a role model as her team negotiated her past some
tricky obstacles.
The afternoon swim session was interesting as Chloe struggled to
control her buoyancy and had to adjust at half hour intervals.
Hazel was able to see her coaches from 50 metres away whilst doing
backstroke, there's something not quite right about that head position!
Group 2 coached by Phoebe appear very strong in the water, with
their biggest danger being the loss of suncream from their bodies they
are going that fast. Out of the water you have to navigate your
way past the Swiss just to get changed, they are so precise and
obsessed with clockwork precision.
A slight change of plan for the afternoon land work, a trip to the
beach has been outvoted by a power walk to the ice cream shop.
The ice-cream is the best on the island, anyway 25 ice creams later and
the shop does seem to have quite a queue, Gitte is keeping the non
Garioch ice cream purchasers entertained in about 4 different languages
whilst the rest of us try to exit without getting knocked down.
Log book inspection is next, not a good story, 4 people have
forgotten their names, and Thomas has even forgotten what he has swam.
Hannah arrives and David Davies has also turned up, these
swimmers have got some real role models on the scene now. After
tea and Mary is the lady with the lamp, ensuring that all the swimmers
are tucked up for the next day's activities.
Gitte has managed to negotiate a drills and skills session with the
pool staff, it's amazing what can be done with "subtle"
diplomacy. The swimmers are really liking these and Molly has
really taken to the fly drill, Peter and Findlay seem to be paddle
experts but everyone is struggling with the synchronised clap. Once
again the Swiss are trying to muscle in, but Phoebe stands firm and
points out to one of them that White speedos are not the in
thing. We won't have trouble from them again.
Post second breakfast and Abbey and Jessica are being interviewed
by the german open water expert, who informs them that the water
is Varmm and believes that the camp is a vunderful idea.
The afternoon session is going swimmingly, Sarah has trouble locating
her heartbeat whilst Alastair and Robert are battling the gale force
wind that seems to make fly look like sculling. The return
journey is dominated by the Grants as first Chloe struggles to find her
kit bag (it was in the changing room) and then Jemma goes lame due to
barefoot walking, but fortunately the first aid kit is stocked with
emergency socks !!
This starts off with a steady set in the morning, I would like to
say that Sarah remembered her heart rate, Chloe did not need the
toilet, Peter had put his cream on, Hannah and Carmel were fully
synchronised but due to other preparations required for the day I
cannot say whether any of the previous statements were true.
The afternoon session was varied with all the swimmers starting to
look good, Peter even managed to get a photo with David Davies, he
looks really tall in person (David Davies that is, not Peter).
Phoebe does some nifty underwater photo work and Dave captures all the
action on the surface. Later that afternoon and a trip to the
most scenic beach on the island is next and it does not
disappoint. The next round of initiative tests have been
specially requested by Ruth as the previous ones were so
interesting. All the groups solve the problems in record time,
the teamwork is obviously coming to the fore.
Special mention should go to Abbey for the dipping for the tennis
ball technique, if she only knew where it had been. Robert for being
the water inspirer / diviner and to Alastair, Thomas and Emily who
seemed to be able to get a stick to move upwards when the instrutions
were quite clear "lower the stick". On the way back to the hotel
it took all our efforts to stop Mary from joining the Tai Chi and the
Karate classes, in the end we just decided to invent our own class and
call it Karachi (it may catch on in India one day) !!!
There is mist on the pool surface so the day is set to be a
scorcher, the Swiss have left and there is a more relaxed
atmosphere. The morning set for group 3 finishes early so there
is some time for David "Bailey" Adams to do some under the pool filming
of turns, Sophie and Nicole perform excellent turns which are capured
on camera for review later.
In the afternoon distance work is the order of the day for groups 2
and 3. Shannon blazes the trail in grp 3 and in grp 2 Molly and
Findlay are chasing each other hard.
In group 1 the coaches have got the swimmers going in head to
heads. The senior Mileys are breathing down each others necks,
Thomas and Robert are literally joined at the hip in the breast and
free with Orla and Joey sharing their sprints. The only training
left for the day is the evening land training for which much detailed
preparation has been done back in the UK. Warm up is a brisk walk
to the nice beach, there are some interesting techniques viewed en
route (maybe some ideas for another day). There are even a couple
of people taking suitcases down to the beach. Oh well we ....
hold on a minute suitcases, a quick about turn to check this out and
there are speakers going up also. Further investigation reveals
beach ZUMBA starts at six. Now I am not sure what Zumba is but
Hannah seems keen, so for land training now read ZUMBA. The sight
of the three Zumbateers (Robert, Alastair and Thomas) bare chested and
doing some Latin American dance routines is something, after half an
hour of this everyones starting to sweat. The hottest mover is
definitely Chloe with Sophie shaking her way to a close second.
The younger boys look to be zumbfounded and cannot concentrate as
Jessica, Abbey and Shannon show them how it is done. There is
some interesting coaches ZUMBA video footage that may be released back
in the UK, not much lateral movement !!
Rest day and the morning leg is down on the beach with all parties
relaxing. An impromptu sandcastle competition is won by Clara,
Chloe and Hazel the reward being as much ice cream as they can
hold in one hand. Hazel is on such a high that she misplaces the
ball that she has had since yesterday, at least she will not be too
attached to it.
The afternoon is the dreaded shopping trip... All passes peacefully
Jemma does not dwell on her shopping decisions and Emily leaves the
footwear behind. Ruth seems to be the multishopaholic.
Injuries come thick and fast, Chloe has swimmers earache, Joey has
table tennis elbow, and Hazel injures her shoulder (improper use of
lane ropes). The sets are quite tough and the swimmers do well to
compete with sickness, achiness, soreness and anything else ending in
"ess".
The evening is presentation night and all of the sketches are of a
very high quality. The star of the show is Jemma who does an
impression of Gitte that has everyone doing a double take. Beware
the morning training sessions from now on, you never know who may be
taking the set.
We are all up at the usual GASC start time for a brief morning
session. Shannon as swimmers swimmer gets to present Pat Blake
with the most " perfectist" personable poolside person award as he has
ensured that our pool time has been fully optimised at all times.
Four swimmers who shall remain nameless sleep in, they do make it in
time for training however.
Alastair and Hannah haven't been told that Scotland have been
knocked out of the rugby and have decided to stay behind to watch the
match on television and are not seen again.
To the airport and check in goes smoothly until the last passenger
(Clara) discovers her "case within a bag" is not something that the
Majorcans have seen much of before. The big rip in the side
requires extensive brown tape repair work before they will allow her to
check in, not one for Madagascar I feel. Peter and Sophie have
various liquids confiscated by security (they were told), Mary and Ruth
have to be forcibly evicted from duty free but eventually we board the
plane for the journey home.
At Glasgow Airport we handover Hazel Nutty Nut Nut prior to boarding
the coach, we arrive an hour ahead of schedule in Inverurie and the
rest is history as they say.
Only the swimmers know how hard they trained and how much fun they
had, but all the staff would like to thank them for making the trip so
enjoyable.
Adios Mallorca dos mil y once
