One thing to understand about this particular camp is that it is introducing a new curriculum with very little ice time. Kori has developed her own approach to developing serious skaters - it's not Learn to Skate. She mentioned that she has over 130 skills in the curriculum and that the Free Skating track is intended to have skaters master "7 before 7," meaning seven jumps before the skaters turn 7 years old. The population is being expanded to include adult skaters in their "in between" track, which doesn't have the "7 before 7" approach. FYI: this is not uncommon among elite coaches - most of them do advocate mastering all singles and some (if not all) doubles before skaters reach puberty and everything goes haywire due to body changes. That's a radical undertaking to have every coach in a rink use the same techniques. It's very rare because coaches typically have different backgrounds and education so most would be unwilling to change what's worked for them for years. In this case, the Sharp4Sports program is being built from the ground up, so they can recruit coaches who agree to conform. I really think a consistent technique is important to skaters in the developmental levels, so I "get it."
I found value in some of the techniques because they're different from how I learned jumps and spins. Learning new techniques and ideas is never a bad thing. I wish I had gotten to work with two of the coaches - I didn't read the schedule properly. I assumed Peter Sasmore and Paula Trujillo would work with each of the groups, but that wasn't the case. The schedule listed sessions but not coaches, so next time I will ask in advance who is teaching what session and plan a little better. My mistake completely, not the camp's.
Some techniques worked well for me, like the "elbow arrow" on jumps and the cross-jumps at the wall; some didn't work for me, like doing a RFO3 with an under hold to set up a spin windup. I found that created a weak entry edge (for me) and complicated what isn't a particularly difficult element in the first place. I can't think of a single skating student who would benefit from learning a spin entry that way. I liked the stroking and edge class, but for the Group 1 skaters (singles/working on Axel) we needed a better agenda. Once he started focusing on Moves patterns, the class was great; it was the cold start with bracket-bracket on one foot that frustrated a lot of skaters.
The on-ice sessions were too crowded, especially for spins. Everyone tried to spread out, but there just wasn't enough room to really work on spins or jumps. There were six to eight CW skaters in the group, which I thought was great! It would have been nice for them to have a space set aside so that skaters weren't heading straight towards each other. Getting 60 people off the ice at the end through a single doorway what like getting on a NYC subway at rush hour. I took my guards on the ice with me and walked around from the hockey boxes to alleviate the "Congestion at Dekalb." (Family phrase for any crowd movement.)
The biggest flaw in the schedule that I noticed was a severe lack of warmups. When our club schedules a clinic, we always make sure there's an off-ice warmup followed by an on-ice warmup so that everyone is ready. Each of the off-ice groups starts with a warmup and, if it's at the end of the day, a cool down/stretching. With four groups, this gets tricky. Since "all levels were welcome," proper warmups/cool downs should have been incorporated throughout the lower-group schedule. Case in point: on Sunday, they had Group 1 scheduled to do Cardio before stretching, while Group 2 had the reverse. I went up and down the stairs a few times to get my heartrate up, then did Group 2's schedule: I felt that I needed to stretch first on that day.
The off-ice Agility class launched with a TWO MINUTE SQUAT HOLD. Not "let's do some jogging, basic squats, some stretching." I can do squat holds now, thanks to the fitness workouts I've been doing for the last few weeks, however, I have never done a squat hold for 2 minutes. I managed it, but my knees locked around the 1:25 mark and then I couldn't stand back up, so down I went. Thankfully, no real damage other than a sore foot. What followed was lots of ladder drills, which is a major portion of any Agility class, but trying to do it without a warmup after sitting for 2 hours wasn't the best plan, in my opinion. The drills were increasing complex, step-wise, and I didn't really see the point of them/that many. It was a good cardio workout and my new $70 sports bras got quite the workout.
The Agility class was followed by a stretching / gymnastics class. He was very interesting: he told his life story while we did various stretches - it was a good distraction from the length of the stretch holds. I liked that part of his session and I actually managed to do some partial-split stretches for the first time in many years. When he switched to doing handstands and cartwheels, everyone with joint concerns stepped out of the room until it was over. You have to know your limits and, after embarrassing myself by falling out of the squat hold, I wasn't interested in twisting a wrist.
They had a great off-ice jumps class and a Hip-Hop choreography class that I really sucked at, but enjoyed very much!
I agree with Arwen about the talk sessions; I didn't need the touchy-feely emotional/motivational sessions. However, there were a lot of skaters there who stated that they have confidence, focus and performance issues, so perhaps they needed those sessions. I would have liked another alternative than to sit in an uncomfortable chair for several hours listening.
I'm not a vegetarian, nor do I avoid dairy, so I thought the food was fine. I've been watching my diet, but not eliminating anything, just portion control and upping the veggies. I had salad (with cheese) and a turkey/cheese sandwich on whole wheat roll on Friday. The spicy chicken on Saturday was delicious - not overcooked or dry, and it was seasoned perfectly. (Sometimes, all you taste is the spices. This was tender and tasty!) I had some with lettuce and tomatoes (as a DIY salad) rather than flour tortillas, mainly because I didn't want to make a mess of my clothes trying to eat a soft taco. The Sunday pizza didn't strike me as particularly healthy, but it was a half-day and my club does the same thing on the final half-day of our camps. However, I agree with Arwen that the menu struck me as geared more towards youth skaters than health-conscious adults and it wasn't very accommodating for those with dietary concerns. We were told to bring our own snacks and there were apples and water available, but I agree about bananas being a good option that should be available, especially for adults. Bananas are magic and help with headaches, muscle aches, sugar problems, etc., etc.
Just as an FYI from many years of organizing buffets: when you have to feed a lot of people quickly, put the table in the middle of a space and have them use both sides. Have two salad stations with greens and separate fixings on both sides so two people can fix a salad at the same time. If you don't have the space, then make two identical buffets so there are two lines or put the salad at a separate table and always keep the "fixings" separate for those who don't eat this or that. Nuts, cheese and croutons belong at the very end with separate utensils.
Nashville is a great city - my concierge-husband and I had dinner Friday night at Mangia Nashville. On Friday and Saturday nights, they offer a reservation-only, fixed-price ($50~ plus drinks) menu. 10 courses of delicious italian food with music and dancing. I was really tired after the camp, but I danced anyway. We sat at a table for 10 and chatted with the other couples at our table - lots of interesting conversation! We had a fantastic time and will definitely go back next time we're in the area. During the week, they have a regular menu and other entertainment. Nice place.
I was just at the camp to have some fun, learn new stuff and do something for my skating. This camp hit all three of those goals, so I'm happy.
Topic: 2019 Nashville Adult Camp (SHARP 4 Sports) - Antioch, TN - 8/9-11/2019 (Read 9207 times)