PLEASE NOTE : The following blog is unscripted and written by the swimmers
Day 1 – by Tare, Joseph, Tom, Amelia and Erin E.
It took us ages on the bus but we got to watch Greatest Showman and Paddington 2. When we got there we meet Donny our group leader who gave us a tour, we then settled into our rooms and had lunch.
We went training and the water was freezing so we did an hour and had dinner, it was lovely. We went to the sports hall and played basketball and games, then we did Scrapheap Challenge when we dressed Erin E and Chloe up as robots made of card, Erin E’s group won.
Next we made structures to protect water balloons, which we dropped from an high staircase, this time the other group won and Theo got to drop the water balloon onto Donnys head. Goodnight.
Day 2 – by Keira, Ben, Lily, Alfie, Lucas, Eloise and Charlotte.
When we woke up no one was ready for swimming as we were tired, but we all enjoyed breakfast. One group went on the sky high challenge which had lots of high challenges we went on it lots of times then had the Jacobs ladder only Freddie and Will made it to the top.
The other group did fencing, Lucas won this, then they had a Power fan where you climbed to the top of a high pole and the fan let you down, next they did archery and some of them shot the arrows over the target.
After lunch everyone did the Zip wire including the adults, we even stepped off backwards!
We then had another training session and land training, then dinner and in the evening we played mini Olympics and basketball.
Day 3 – by Lewis, Will, Theo, Sophie, Millie and Farleigh.
Today, Wednesday 31st October we woke up at 6am and did land warm up and then began swimming. At 8:15 we had breakfast then started to walk to our first activity. Jacobs ladder was very challenging and only a few people made it to the top of the ladder.
The other amazing activities were the power fan, low ropes, climbing and aeroball the winners were Will and Lewis ( Team Team).
After swimming in the afternoon we had a campfire with songs and the coaches did up the camp with Halloween banners, gave us bags of sweets with glowsticks and they gave us marshmallows to toast on the camp fire. Happy Halloween from Lewis, Will, Theo, Sophie, Millie and Farleigh.
Day 4 – by Zak, Maddie, Lyra, Chloe, Erin and Fred.
We woke up at 6am and were given our rice krispie bars they were delicious. We have through 20 billion clothes on the nightline and no away walked away clean!
We also did fencing which Keira won. The other team did sky challenge and laser.
In the evening Zak lost his voice playing the guilty woman in the murder mystery.
‘Play it cool Mandy’ says Lucus!
Day 5 – by Dave, Sara, Stuart & Mandy .
‘The end of a long and eventful week. I counted 63 “I need the loo”, 87 “I lost my …” (which was normal followed by “oh, there it is” when asked if it was in their pocket) and countless “I’m too tired to swim!”.
Today started with races in the pool and the swimmers trying to work out how to swim backwards frontcrawl, find bottles and ping pong balls in the pool and having to push coaches on inflatables.
After breakfast it was problem solving and lasers, followed by the 3G swing, with the biggest screams from Mandy and Sara, see pic.
Packing and tidying rooms was probably the hardest task of the week and many swimmers version of ‘folding’ being making a big ball with their clothes and getting someone to sit on the cases as the other closed the zip.
All in all, a good week with a great bunch of kids. They worked hard, swam well and I hope had a great a time. ‘ – Dave
‘Wow what a week. Such an amazing bunch of kids. Not only have they overcome their own fear of heights, they have inspired me to do things I wouldn’t normally do, such as the 3G swing possibly the scariest thing I’ve ever done. Couldn’t of done the powerfan without Maddie. Girl power. Thought cats had nine lives, I had about 20 in our laser activity. Absolutely shattered and broken but hey bring on next year.’ – Sara
‘A bright and sunny finish to a fantastic week with some fantastic kids. Laser questing and 3G Swinging for Team 20 today, with both activities tackled with plenty of enthusiasm despite everyone being tired after a busy week. Highlight of the day must be Mandy and Sara plucking up the courage and facing their fears on the 3G Swing. There was time for one last prank at the end of the bus journey home, with several kids strapped up in slings for fake injuries proudly presented to anxious parents. A wholly enjoyable week, made all the more fun by everyone involved. Can’t wait for next year.’ – Stuart
‘ I struggle on the last day as I am keen to get back to my family but know I will miss my other family, the swimming family. These swimmers never fail to amaze me, facing and over coming challenges, laughing and supporting each other and me. I have been a nurse, a swim coach, a towel and clothes drier, a substitute mum and have loved every minute. Thank you to Dave, Stuart and Sara for helping me to organise this camp, to Gerry, Paula and Dean for behind the scenes support, to the parents for trusting us with your swimmers but the biggest thanks goes to the swimmers, you did us proud’ – Mandy
A broken coach!
