Week in the Creek!

During my time away in California, I was unable to access this blog, so therefore everything is going to be uploaded at once! Enjoy!

Schedules

The full days of camp started from 8:30am and finished around 8pm. All athletes and visiting coaches were transported to and from Las Lomas High School (the venue of the training camp and the training base of Walnut Creek Aquanuts) in big yellow school buses – In true American style might I add.

After arriving at the pool, the girls had a land session, followed by a land drill session. The girls then got in the pool for a stamina and routine session. This was followed by lunch at 12:30, then another land session and another pool session. The second pool session was a contrasting activity and then afterwards the girls concentrated on figure work. After this last pool session, there was dinner and an evening activity and then we were all transported back to the hotel to bed!

Land Sessions

The land sessions took place first thing in the morning after arriving at Las Lomas and another session took place after lunch, both lasting 1 hour.

In these land sessions, the athletes worked on cardio, strength and flexibility. (I’ve noted down a couple of new exercises that could be helpful!)

In relation to the cardio segment of the session, there was a 3 minute intense workout, followed by a 1 minute rest. This was repeated three times at maximum effort for each different exercise. 

For strength, the athletes normally worked in pairs, concentrating on core, arm and leg strength. Exercises included squat jumps with turns, handstand push ups and plie holds and pulses. Flexibility came last of all when all the athletes were properly warmed up. Funnily enough, flex was the one segment where less time was spent. As well as this, there was no oversplit work for the girls who already had flat splits. I asked Rebecca how she found the land sessions:

‘I thought the workouts were quite easy in some parts, but some of the exercises were really hard; especially the ones I haven’t done before. I would have liked to have done more flexibility work like oversplits which would have challenged me more.’

I noticed that during the land sessions, all the athletes did the same exercises even though they were of mixed age and ability. (The youngest athlete being 7; the oldest 19 of a total of 144 girls) In order to develop the athlete, rather than having a general exercise for the whole group of 144, they should have been split into groups of similar age or ability and given the exercise based on what they could do and what would challenge them.

Pool Sessions

The morning pool sessions consisted of stamina and then routine work. For the stamina session, all the athletes were split into groups based on age and then given the workout. Again, like in the land session, all the girls were given the same exercise regardless of age or ability. Having a timed set, or more reps would have definitely been more beneficial for the older swimmers. Commenting on the stamina session, Rebecca said:

‘I would have preferred to have had harder sets, because I found the stamina easier here than what we normally do at club sessions. The stamina at the camp was repetitive, which is good for some people, but I hate doing the same things over and over again. If there were some changes, I would have enjoyed the stamina sets more.’

After the stamina sets, the athletes worked on routines. For these sessions, the athletes were split into groups based on age and given a coach from Walnut Creek who choreographed their routine. In these sessions there was highlight practice, choreography and drilling (both in the water and out). Rebecca said:

‘Overall, learning the routines and swimming them were exciting. I would have liked to choreograph parts of the routine with the other swimmers though. I felt that in the groups we were given, I had the chance to meet and get to know other athletes and make more friends at camp.’

On the last day of camp, the athletes had the chance to showcase their routines to the rest of the athletes at camp, coaches and parents. This acted as a finale, before everybody said their goodbyes.

The afternoon pool sessions consisted of a contrasting activity followed by figure work. The contrasting activity on the first day was a ‘Belly Flop’ competition which is pretty much self explanatory. The athlete with the best ‘belly flop’ won. Followed by this was a ‘ballet leg’ competition where all the athletes had to hold a ballet leg for as long as they could. The existing record was 18 minutes, but this was broken this year with one athlete reaching 22 minutes. The winners of these two competitions won a place in the money box in the carnival (more on this later!) 

Ballet Leg Competition!

On the second full day of camp, there was a highlight competition. The girls all split into their routine groups and had to come up with the highest, most exciting lift. The winners of this competition all got Walnut Creek merchandise.

In the figure sessions, the athletes were taught sculling techniques and improvement for figures targeting the new FINA figures. These were coached by Tammy Crowe, former Olympian for US synchro. She got in the pool with the athletes and gave them demonstrations on the most efficient ways to use sculling to an advantage to gain height in figures. Rebecca said:

‘The figure sessions were actually really interesting. I learnt some new techniques I can use in my own figures. I also enjoyed being coached by Tammy Crowe and liked the way she demonstrated some of the figures in the water.’

Nutrition

In regards to nutrition at the camp, the girls all ate breakfast at the hotel and had lunch and dinner at Las Lomas (with the exception of one night) The breakfast was a buffet with cooked foods like scrambled eggs, bacon and sausages as well as cereals, fruits and pastries.

For lunch and dinner, the meals were all healthy and freshly cooked. There was always fresh fruit and salad available for the athletes. However, in terms of recovery for the body, the food was low on protein (such as meats or dairy produce).

Drinks were always provided for the athletes and coaches whether it was water, juice or Gatorade sports drinks. This was especially important taking into account the amount of work they were doing as well as the hot Californian sun!

The athletes had short breaks after land sessions to snack on little things to boost their energy. Personally, I think the breaks should have been either longer for the girls or more regular as they were doing a lot of work throughout the day.

Evening Activities

Every evening, the athletes took part in activities away from the pool. On the first full day, the girls attended a circus school, where they did a range of activities such as tumbling, spinning plates, flexibility and lifts. This session was taught by members of the circus and the athletes and coaches were all enthusiastic on attending the session. We all had an insight into how some of the things learnt in the circus school could be adapted in water!

Circus School!

The next evening, the girls went to De Larkey park, where the girls had a BBQ and played skits. Being from the UK, myself and Rebecca had no idea what skits was, but we found out its where a group of people have to act out a certain thing – Similar to our version of charades. Groups were split totally randomly which meant a lot of the girls got to know each other a lot more! Always a bonus!

All the athletes!

On the second to last evening (The last full day) the coaches and some of the older swimmers of Walnut Creek Aquanuts held a carnival at Las Lomas. There were plenty of games, candy floss, a photobooth and a disco; totally irrelevant from synchro for a change! Some of the girls got to go in the money booth; Rebecca being one of them! She won 8 dollars and was ecstatic at the win.

Overall

Rebecca said:

‘I enjoyed the camp, mostly for the experience of being a part of synchro in a different country. I loved meeting new coaches and swimmers from Canada and the US, and have made some really great friends who I’ll definitely keep in contact with!’

As a visiting coach at the Week in the Creek, I found that I learnt a lot from other visiting coaches (most from different parts of Canada and the US) as I spent most of my time coaching with them. I also realised that my own instincts were more precise than I originally thought and I think this whole experience has made me more confident as a coach overall!

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I'm Angelique (a.k.a Ange), 18, a swimmer and coach for City of Leeds Synchronised Swimming Club.
As many of you may (or may not) be aware, I'll be jetting off to sunny Walnut Creek in California, at the end of July to take part in 'Week in the Creek' held by the Walnut Creek Aquanuts! 

The Walnut Creek Aquanuts are a world-renowned synchronised swimming training team based in Walnut Creek, California. They are 12-time National Champions and winners of over 200 national and world titles. They are home to 18 Olympians (8 of them gold medalists), and have come a long way since being founded in 1968 with only two swimmers!

The 'Week in the Creek,' held from July 26th - 30th, is an intensive synchronised swimming camp led by the former Olympic and National Team Coaches from the Walnut Creek Aquanuts.
Rebecca (my younger sister) will be swimming in the camp and after she had registered to take part, I was asked to coach for the duration of the 'Week in the Creek' after having received my Level 2 qualification in Coaching Synchronised Swimming. As you can probably tell, I'm super excited to have been asked to be involved with this camp!

During the camp, the following will be covered:

• Figure and Element Technique
• Choreography
• Transitions
• Lifts
• Flexibility
• Swimming Technique
• Mental Preparation

There will also be evening seminars for coaches covering topics such as music selection, strength training/cross training and synchro specific periodization.

I'll definitely be taking notes and pinching tips for lifts, flexibility and technique for routines and figures!
I'll also be making daily blog posts with pictures and videos, so watch this space!!

Angelique :-)

Links:
Walnut Creek Aquanuts Website
Walnut Creek Aquanuts Facebook Page 
Walnut Creek Aquanuts Twitter Page