So I’m back in not-so-sunny England after a fantastic first camp with BSA. It was great to get back on skis and also return to Zermatt after such a long time. The conditions and facilities for training were top quality as usual.
Essentially, I’ve learnt a lot from my first camp with Ruslan and the other coaches at BSA and I feel that I have gained a huge amount of knowledge in all areas of my sport as well as coming on leaps and bounds in my skiing.
The training and work environment that BSA provide were two of the things I was most anxious about since making the decision of who to join for 2013/14 and beyond. All these doubts were rapidly swept away however, most of them pretty much after the first day. It became very clear, very quickly that BSA care a lot about both the welfare of their athletes and creating an atmosphere where we can work hard and achieve our goals. Having trained in a very similar environment at Telford it is good knowing that I can go training, work hard and develop as an athlete. I look forward to future camps with them.
I set out at the start at the camp with the goals to feel comfortable over the new GS ski and to improve my slalom overall as I feel it has been letting me down for a while. I think moving club and becoming a FIS racer has given me the opportunity of making a new start and setting some new goals which can drive me to take all the opportunities provided and, if necessary, set my own ones as a mature athlete.
Two and a half weeks later I feel that I have achieved what I wanted at the start of the camp. My GS skiing feels in pretty good shape, I feel very comfortable over the new ski and will be looking towards building more speed in October and through the winter. Slalom also feels a lot stronger than what it was beforehand, something that is a huge relief and big achievement for me because as a racer there is nothing worse than having one discipline which is behind the standards you set yourself.
A key aspect of being an athlete is the work you put in off the mountain and in the gym. In the off season I spend some long hours in the gym, on the balance ball or on the road and it paid off a huge amount in my skiing. Looking forward, on the final night of the camp I sat down with Ruslan for an hour and planned a very detailed, strict and pretty intense fitness programme to follow until October. Hopefully the next few months should see some decent changes that will improve my training regime and therefore my skiing as a whole.
Looking forward, I can't wait for October in Les Deux Alpes. It's somewhere I’ve never skied before so it promises to be interesting and exciting. We will also be able to gauge how Ruslan's changes to my fitness & training regime pay off. Hopefully there're be something good to report from there.
Thanks to Malcolm, Ruslan, all the coaches, staff and (most importantly) the athletes at BSA for making me feel so welcome. It was a blast.
Thanks to Malcolm, Ruslan, all the coaches, staff and (most importantly) the athletes at BSA for making me feel so welcome. It was a blast.
Finally, below is a short video I have put together from the camp. I hope you enjoy it.