STACK UK Boot Camp

On the weekend of 13-14 November '99 STACK UK held a boot camp or training weekend for aspiring teams. 22 "victims" signed up for the course which took place on beach at Weston super Mare.

Seven "coaches" made themselves available. They were all from UK National Champion teams past and present; Jeanette and Mark Lummus (Sky Dance), Carl Robertshaw and Jeremy Boyce (Airkraft), Kathy Jarvis and Geoff Strangeway (Punchline) and your correspondent Mark Bretherton (Crosslines).

Friday Evening - Preparing for Saturday

Everyone met at the Great Western Hotel on Friday evening. Six teams were formed, some had flown together and some had not met before, some declared themselves to be novices others confessed to having some experience. What everyone brought was loads of enthusiasm, and some.

The two rules of the weekend were explained the first, safety, was official and the second, have fun, was mandatory. By the end of the evening every one was "sticking" compulsory figures. When it got to midnight we had to physically prize the sticks out of the teams' hands and suggest they adjourn to the bar or get some sleep. They were going to get an early wake up call and next morning they could start turning the virtual flying into the real thing.

Saturday

Saturday morning greeted us with sunshine and a gentle breeze. The breeze built into a very nice clean wind straight down the beach. Who would have thought that Western could be so kind in November! Every one got down to the beach with some apprehension. Kites and lines were distributed and the teams went out each with a coach to warm up, get in sink with new kites and start to think about a few compulsory figures. By the end of the day every one had reached a standard where they could fly three figures and put a simple freestyle routine together.

Saturday evening back in the hotel and there was still more work to be done. Carl Robertshaw gave a talk on routine writing and Jeanette Lummus introduced a ballet for everyone to practice on Sunday. Again stick practice went on into the night and there was even reports of the music being heard coming from various rooms before breakfast the next morning.

Sunday Ballet on the beach

Everyone gathered on the beach after breakfast and they soon dispersed for the day to see how much of the ballet they could learn. The standard that everyone reached in such a short period of time was simply amazing. All the teams performed their routines in front of some "judges" and there follow boot campers. That takes enormous guts, determination and enthusiasm.

…And Mega-Teams

Following the demonstrations there was enough time before it got dark to organise and fly some mega-teams. The sight of three six to ten person teams flying on one beach at the same time must be something of a record. Back at the hotel there was a short get together to announce the scores. And for everyone to say their farewells before some long journeys home.

Every one goes home with a smile on their face

As a coach I had a fabulous weekend. The enthusiasm and teamwork shown by the boot campers was rewarded by fantastic returns in improved confidence and ability. If at least few of the teams and some individuals or pairs are not competing in the Nationals next year I will be very surprised.

Congratulations also have to go to Kathy Jarvis her hard work and preparation enabled weekend to run smoothly and without that we could not have achieved so much in such a short period of time.

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To find out more about STACK UK have a look at its web site.