Words: Del Read

Photos: Del Read

Del Read

https://delkayaks.co.uk
@del_likes_kayaking
tom clare @tomclaremedia

The GB Freestyle Academy Camp 2024

Another summer, another fantastic week here in Nottingham with the GB freestyle academy camp! Thirty-five young paddlers aged 12-17 travelled from around the country to spend a week at Holme Pierrepont white water course. They came to develop their freestyle kayaking under the guidance of 6 of the best freestyle coaches in the world! We had a brilliant week, and this article is here to tell you all about it!

What is the GB Freestyle Academy camp?
Following the huge success of the GB Freestyle Academy camp in 2023, we brought the camp back for another year! The camp develops and inspires young paddlers in freestyle kayaking. The camp aimed to ensure that the paddlers had a great week, developing their freestyle kayaking and their confidence on the water, learning about what being a freestyle athlete entails, making friends, and growing themselves both as paddlers and people.

The underlying goal of the academy camp and all entry-level freestyle events is to spread the love of freestyle kayaking as a sport. By nurturing the enthusiasm of these young paddlers, the hope is that they will be able to encourage and inspire others they know (parents, clubs, school friends, etc.) to get involved and give it a go!

Paddlers had to be nominated by their club to get a place on the camp. It needed to be clear in the nomination why the paddler would be a good fit for the academy, what they would gain from attending the camp and how they could share that knowledge and passion for kayaking with others. The freestyle committee went through the nominations and selected the paddlers who would be invited to attend the camp. The quality of the applications was very high, and with only 35 places in the camp, it was a tough choice to make – a huge well done to the 35 young paddlers invited to this year’s camp.

Coaches and staff running the camp?
The camp would not have been possible without the volunteer coaches and staff who ran it, so let me introduce you to the teams behind the scenes!

Coaches
The six coaches we had on camp this year are all world-class freestyle kayaking coaches, and we were fortunate to have them participate in the camp! This year, Dennis Newton, Mike Shaw, Matt Stephenson, Tamsyn McConchie, and Lowri Davies ran the freestyle sessions. David Rogers also joined the coaching team for Thursday and Friday so that there would be the opportunity for some squirt boat coaching, too.

All six coaches are phenomenal freestyle kayakers and paddlers in multiple other disciplines within paddlesports. They have all competed internationally in freestyle kayaking, and many have medalled in these events, too. They are heavily motivated by their love of the sport and by wanting to share that love with others.

This year, they were also joined by four assistant coaches – Pete, Neil, Andy and John. The assistant coaches were on the water all week, helping the children with their kayaking, but they also had a great learning opportunity by being able to shadow such incredible coaches. When I asked Pete how his day had been early in the week, he was so incredibly positive. In his eyes, observing and learning from such talented coaches was priceless. He was thrilled with how much he had learned about coaching freestyle kayaking and how to break down key tricks for others. Pete’s positivity and enthusiasm were infectious, and it was a great asset to have him and the other assistant coaches helping out for the week.

Camp staff
Whilst the camp’s focus is on the water activities, the week would be such a success with the incredible camp team who kept everyone fed and looked after for the week! Em, Baz and Bella Walker came back for a second year to feed the masses. Em’s determination to make sure that everyone is fed nutritious, healthy, filling and home-cooked food all week was incredibly helpful. Bethan, Lou, Nicki, Sam, Jenny, and Dani joined her this year.

The whole team worked tirelessly throughout the week to ensure that the paddlers were fed breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks, and dinner every day. Not a single person went hungry this week, and that was all thanks to their incredible efforts – thanks, everyone!

Pastoral staff
Finally, Tanya and I worked as pastoral staff this week. Tanya was the key organiser and ultimately the lady in charge! Having that key person you know you can go to with any problems that arise over the week is always reassuring.

I looked after the children (and coaches when needed) during the day. I did the registers, walked the children over to the course, supervised any children having a break off the water, sorted out any medical or pastoral needs whilst we were there and was generally someone to go to if you needed something. Luckily, I also had plenty of time when I wasn’t needed, and hence, I was able to get plenty of photos of everyone!

Sunday – arrival at camp
Following a couple of days of hard work by the volunteers getting the camp ready, the children arrived on the Sunday afternoon. Boats were unloaded, gear was double-checked, and tents were assigned. The camp was set up so that there was a ‘dining marquee’ in the kitchen area, and everyone could eat. There was a marquee for drying out gear and a marquee for keeping things dry. There were then seven tents for the children to sleep in, and Bella gave them fun freestyle nicknames, such as the ‘loop’ tent or the ‘cartwheel’ tent. Big thank you to River Legacy and Frome Canoe Club for loaning so much of the camping equipment for the week!

Once everyone was settled in, the camp volunteers kindly prepared an evening meal and a briefing for the week. There were a few familiar faces at the camp this year who had also attended last year, but most of the paddlers were new, so this probably felt like quite a big experience! I am sure there was a mixture of excitement and nervousness for the week ahead as introductions were made and everyone started getting to know one another.

I also had a box to hand out from Pyranha Kayaks, which had kindly gifted a sponge to each paddler attending the camp! I encouraged the paddlers to name their sponges, which led to some fantastically imaginative names being added in Sharpie to the sponges. It was great to see them being used this week to remove water from boats. So thank you, Pyranha!

Day one: Monday
Camp wake-up is 07:00. I am sure that for teenagers a couple of weeks into their school summer holidays, this wasn’t a shock to the system at all! Coach Tamsyn kindly offered a morning yoga session, which was followed by a delicious and nutritious breakfast.

Paddlers were told to ensure they were geared up and ready to go to the course by 09:00. Each paddler had been assigned a ‘home group’ for the week, with whom they needed to check in at the start and end of each session. This was to ensure regular check-ins throughout the day for each paddler. After checking in with their home group leader, we walked over to the course!

My role for the week was pastoral, centring around being the available welfare support person during activity time. Part of that was making sure no paddlers got lost on the walk from the campsite to the whitewater course. During this walk, there was a short road crossing, at which I became the designated lollipop lady, stopping cars for the flow of geared-up children. We must have been quite a sight – 35 children fully geared up and sporting their bright white academy bibs!

We arrived at the course in time to help unload the van of boats and had time for a course walk before the session started. As many paddlers had never attended HPP before, it was good for them to see what all the fuss was about! Afterwards, the paddlers split into groups with their designated coaches and started warm-ups. Soon, the sessions were in full swing, and the course was full of teenagers in playboats!

Opportunities to rest
A few hours later, it was time for lunch. We walked back to camp, and the children got changed, washed their hands thoroughly, and sat down to eat. Lunch breaks on a camp like this are as much about the break as they are about getting something to eat. It’s a long and very active week, so it’s essential to ensure there are opportunities to rest, too. We walked back over for the afternoon session, and as we did so, the sun came out!

Everyone started with a group swim down through Inlet, which was very much enjoyed, given how warm it was now! HPP is really quite deep compared to most whitewater courses, and given how sunny it has been in the last few weeks, the water is quite warm! Groups then split up along the course, and each started working on specific whitewater skills.

With a range of experiences, each paddler had different wants and goals for the week, which the coaches did an excellent job accommodating. Some of the more experienced groups went straight to working on more complicated, specific freestyle moves. Some groups were working on surfing and controlling their boat on a wave. Some groups were also working on building up their whitewater skills. As I walked down the course with my camera, each group looked really quite happy!

We finished the afternoon session, popped boats into the HPP compound, and returned to the camp. A big thank you to HPP canoe club who let us store boats with them this week! Mouth-watering snacks awaited the paddlers, as did hot showers! It made me laugh how much quicker they walked back to the camp than to the course! Once everyone was watered, showered and had lots of water, a yummy lasagne dinner followed. Some of the children had found our camp rule of ‘9.30’ bedtime amusing on Sunday, but after a whole day out on the water, many were in bed before that time today!

Day 2: Tuesday
Tuesday started again with a filling breakfast before heading over to the course. Everyone was a little more settled than on Monday – the first day. Nerves were out of the way, and paddlers were ready to start again! The groups split off, and warm-ups began before everyone started off at a different section of the course. I wandered along the course to check in with each group and saw so many wonderful different sessions going on.

There was a focus on Loops and McNasties in Inlet, joy surfing on Jaws, learning to spin on Fairy Wave, a rolling clinic on the flat and some ‘fun’ style moves on the bottom wave. Every group was focused and determined, but there were also so many smiles – it was great!

Everyone stopped for a lunch break before getting back on for the afternoon sessions. After duct-taping one unfortunate child’s split wrist seal, we were ready for the water again! For the second day running, the sun came out over lunchtime and the afternoon session was in beautiful sunshine! Lots of happy children and coaches! It got to 16:30, which was our time to leave, and we had to drag the children (and coaches) off the water as everyone was having so much fun in the sun.

After I’d walked everyone back over to camp, I went back up to the course for a quick lap down myself to cool off! It was very refreshing! When I returned to the camp, most of the children had showered and fully engaged in the circus activities that trainee coach Pete had kindly set up. Henry proudly showed me his juggling skills, and Pete was kind enough to try and teach me how to juggle as well. It was good fun and nicely filled the time before the delicious curry the cooking team had prepared. Coaching debriefs followed, and some chilled activities were done before bedtime.

Day 3: Wednesday
As Wednesday was the week’s midpoint, we had chosen this day to be gentler to give everyone a chance to rest. It had been planned to be only a half-day of paddling with some off-the-water activities in the morning. The children were thrilled to have the opportunity to lie in and snooze in their tents for a little longer.

Coach Tamsyn led activities focused on movement. Little games were encouraged to get everyone moving their bodies in different ways that they might not be used to. Freestyle kayaking requires you to move your body into all sorts of weird and wonderful positions, so practising these off the water and on the water is good!

After a yummy brunch, we headed to the course, where coach Matt led everyone in some Balsam bashing! He explained to the group what Himalayan Balsam was and why it was a problem. It is an invasive weed commonly found along banks of canals and rivers. It is so good at seed dispersal that it is rapidly outcompeting many of our native plants. This is a problem as it leads to lower biodiversity, making ecosystems less stable.

Matt showed everyone how to pick out a Balsam plant and destroy it. As there was so much Balsam around the top of the whitewater course, the children got a good chance to do some Balsam bashing themselves! Although it did make me laugh, the mini Balsam wars of hitting each other over the head with a Balsam plant seemed to be happening. I was there with my camera and particularly enjoyed it when one little group noticed me taking photos and quickly dropped their Balsam plants mid-fight.

After this, everyone got on the water and had another enjoyable afternoon of paddling. Post-paddle, Matt led another fun evening activity at the camp of off-the-water freestyle competition’. The children split into groups and had to design a synchronised 15-second freestyle ride, which they then performed for the group. The rest of the group had to identify what moves they had performed and rate their level of synchronisation. It was a lot of fun to watch!

Day 4: Thursday
Thursday started in beautiful sunshine! We had a big group photo before heading up to the course. Today was the last full day, and although everyone was really quite tired at this point, there was still lots of excitement for another day on the water. Lovely paddler Ottilie was feeling a little under the weather but was determined to get on because ‘kayaking is just so amazing – I don’t want to miss out!’ What a trooper, Ottilie!

Everyone split into groups and got on the water. We gained coach David for the day, who took over one of the freestyle groups. This allowed coach Tamsyn to be free to run the squirt boating session. A few of the paddlers had opted to squirt boat all morning, and then every group was given a time slot for the coach to bring them over to Tamsyn and allow each paddler to try out squirt boating. Watching the more experienced paddlers and complete novices try this discipline out was excellent fun.

I spent the rest of the morning following Mike’s group down the course and had so much fun in doing so. It was shocking how much progress some of the paddlers had made already this week. Shout out to Brendan, who had never been on white water this week but had an incredible roll and lots of determination. Watching him get stuck in troll hole (stickiest feature on the course currently), hold a side surf and follow my demo from the side of how to get himself out the hole was incredible. Three days of white water paddling, he is already side surfing and managing to paddle out of holes! We nicknamed him after – Brendan: King of Troll Hole!

As the morning session went on, the weather took a turn for the worse. In the wind and rain, some of the paddlers were getting quite cold, so a group went back to camp a little earlier with camp staff member Sam. The rest held on, however, and we ended the session with many paddlers looping the Inlet gate and having the best time! A warm lunch was well received today.

The rain didn’t let up in the afternoon, but that didn’t stop the keen beans on the camp from being determined to get the most out of their afternoon session. We started with a mass group big ball race which is always good fun to watch. My favourite moment was when Patrick led the race quite a long way until he went through Troll Hole, but his ball remained in it! However, Patrick’s group wasn’t the only one to get wiped out by Troll Hole, and the level of boat/ball carnage in the eddies below was something to behold! Ultimately, it was Jack, Lewis, Zach, Owen and Toryn who won the race!

Paddlers were then given the opportunity for a ‘play’ session. They had free reign of the course to choose from, with the coaches spread out over each feature, ready to give out top tips where requested. Inlet and Fairy Wave were the most popular features, but paddlers were at every spot! So many smiles! There was a beautiful moment when Jamie got his first-ever loop and was so loudly proud of his achievement that half the course heard him celebrate! Well done, Jamie, on smashing your first loop!

In the evening, ICF coach and freestyle athlete Charlie Brackpool gave an interactive talk to the camp on how ICF judging works. It was informative and fun to get everyone guessing how the system worked. Thanks, Charlie!

Day 5: Friday
The week seemed to have flown by, and suddenly, we were on Friday, and it was the final day of the camp! It was also one of the paddler’s birthdays, so Nati had many happy birthday wishes over the day! What a way to celebrate your 16th birthday! We returned to the course and got on for the week’s final session. It was a beautiful, warm summer’s day and a big change from the rain and wind we had on Thursday.

The stoke was high, and the smiles were huge. I think one of the loveliest moments of the whole week was Brendan (King of Troll Hole) getting a loop in Inlet gate. His first experience of white water kayaking was on Monday, and he was looping his kayak by the Friday – what a legend! Not a single person who saw that wasn’t cheering him on with 100% genuine excitement!

Before we knew it, the session was over, and we had to drag both the children and coaches off the water as everyone was having such a good time! We headed back to camp for showers, lunch, and a huge team effort in packing down the camp. Finally, we had a whole group debrief to say goodbye before letting me go off with their parents. Many tired but happy teenagers!

Feeling inspired?
If you are reading this and feeling inspired to try freestyle kayaking, consider signing up for some of the freestyle events that happen all over the UK, with the next one being the Euro Open https://gopaddling.info/Events/dewerstone-european-open-2022-03-09-2022

I would also suggest checking out the GB Freestyle Instagram page www.instagram.com/gbfreestyle/ and getting in contact if you need some advice about how to get more involved in freestyle kayaking.