The GB Freestyle Academy Camp – 2024!

Another Summer, another wonderful week here in Nottingham with the GB freestyle academy camp! 35 young paddlers aged 12-17 travelled from all over 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 really 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 is set up to develop and inspire young paddlers in freestyle kayaking. The aims of the camp were to ensure that the paddlers had a really great week developing both their freestyle kayaking and their confidence on the water, learn about what being a freestyle athlete entails, make friends and grow themselves both as a paddler and person.

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 themselves are then in a position to encourage and inspire others that they know (parents, clubs, school friends etc) to get involved and give it a go!

To get a place on the camp, paddlers had to be nominated by their club. 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 then 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 on the camp, it was a tough choice to make. A huge well done to the 35 young paddlers who were invited to this years 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 6 coaches we had on camp this year are all world class freestyle kayaking coaches and we were very lucky to have them be part of the camp! Dennis Newton, Mike Shaw, Matt Stephenson, Tamsyn McConchie and Lowri Davies were the coaches running the freestyle sessions this year. David Rogers also joined the coaching team for the Thursday and Friday so that there would be the opportunity for some squirt boat coaching too.

All 6 coaches are phenomenal paddlers both in freestyle kayaking and 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 4 assistant coaches – Pete, Neil, Andy and John. The assistant coaches were on the water all week, helping the children with their kayaking but also having a great learning opportunity themselves 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, the opportunity to observe and learn 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 was incredibly infectious and it was a great asset to have him and the other assistant coaches helping out for the week.

Camp staff

Whilst the focus of the camp is about the on water activities, there is no way that the week would be such a success without 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 about making sure that everyone is fed nutritious, healthy, filling and home cooked food all week was so incredibly helpful. This year she was joined by Bethan, Lou, Nicki, Sam, Jenny and Dani.

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

Pastoral staff

Finally there was myself and Tanya working as the pastoral staff this week. Tanya was the key organiser of this week and ultimately the lady in charge! It is always reassuring when you have you have that key person who know you can go to with any problems that arise over the week.

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

The week of the camp

Sunday – Arrival to 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 double checked and tents assigned. The camp was set up so that there was a ‘dining marquee’ where the kitchen area was and everyone could eat. There was a marquee for drying out gear and a marquee for keeping dry things. There were then 7 tents for the children to sleep which Bella had given fun freestyle nicknames to, 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, there was an evening meal, kindly prepared by the camp volunteers and there was a briefing for the week. There were a few familiar faces at the camp this year who had also attended last year but the majority of the paddlers were new and so this probably felt like quite a big experience! I am sure that there was a mixture of excitement and nervousness for the week ahead as introductions were made and everyone started the process of getting to know one another.

I also had a box to hand out from Pyranha Kayaks who 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 in removing water from boats. So thank you Pyranha!

Day 1: Monday

Camp wake up is 7am. 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 make sure they were geared up and ready to go over to the course by 9am. Each paddler had been assigned a ‘home group’ for the week, who they needed to check in with at the start and end of each session. This was to ensure that there were regular check ins throughout the day on each paddler. After checking in with their home group leader, we walked over to the course!

My role for the week was a pastoral one which was centred 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 white water course. During this walk there is a short road crossing in which I became 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! After this, the paddlers split into groups with their designated coaches and started their warm ups. Soon the sessions were in full swing and the course was full of teenagers in playboats! This first session was an opportunity for everyone to get to know each other and warm up their paddling skills as it were.

A few hours later and it was time for lunch. We walked back over to camp and the children got changed, washed their hands thoroughly and sat down to eat. Lunch breaks on a camp like this is as much about the break as it is about getting something to eat. It’s a long and very active week so important to make sure there is 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 now was! HPP is really quite deep compared to most white water courses and given how sunny it has been the last few weeks, the water is quite warm! Groups then split up along the course and each started working on specific white water skills. With some a range of experiences, each paddler had different wants and goals for the week which the coaches were doing an excellent job of 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 your boat on a wave. And some groups were working on building up their white water 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 headed back 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 did make me laugh how much quicker they were at walking back to the camp as there were at walking to the course! Once everyone was watered, showered and had lots of water, a yummy dinner of lasagne followed. Some of the children had found our camp rule of ‘9.30’ bedtime amusing on the Sunday but after a whole day out on the water, many were in bed before that time today!

Monday photos can be found here.

Day 2: Tuesday

Tuesday started again with a filling breakfast before heading over to the course. Everyone was a little more settled compared to the Monday – the first day nerves were out the way and paddlers were ready to get started 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.

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 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 4.30 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 got back to the camp, most of the children had showered and were 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 filled the time nicely before the delicious curry that the cooking team had prepared. Coaching debriefs followed and some chilled activities before bedtime.

Tuesday photos can be found here.

Day 3: Wednesday

As Wednesday was the mid point of the week, we had chosen this day to be a more gentle day in order 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 extremely happy to have the opportunity for a lie in and snooze in their tents for a little longer. Coach Tamsyn led an activities focused on movement, little games 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 it is good to practise these off the water as well as on the water!

After a yummy brunch, we headed over to the course and coach Matt led everyone is 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 and is good at seed dispersal that it is rapidly outcompeting many of our native plants. This is a problem as it leaders to a 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 white water 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 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 really fun afternoon of paddling. Post paddle, Matt then led another fun evening activity back at the camp of off the water ‘freestyle competition’. The children split up into groups and had to design a synchronised 15 second freestyle ride which they then performed to 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!

Wednesday photos can be found here.

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 everyone group was given a time slot for the coach to bring them over to Tamsyn and allow each paddler to try out squirt boating. It was excellent fun to watch both the more experienced paddlers and the complete novices try this discipline out.

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. 3 days of white water paddling and 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 and 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 a huge number of paddlers looping 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 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 Patrick leading the race by quite a long way until…… he went through Troll hole but his ball remained in it! Patrick’s group wasn’t the only one to get wiped out by Troll hole however and the level of boat/ball carnage going on in the eddies below was something to behold!

Ultimately though 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 there paddlers at every spot! So many smiles! There was a beautiful moment when Jamie got his first ever loop and so loudly proud of his achievement, 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 good fun to get everyone guessing how the system actually worked. Thanks Charlie!

Thursday photos can be found here.

Day 5: Friday

The week seemed to have flown by and suddenly we were at Friday and it was the final day of the camp! It was also one of the paddlers birthdays and so Nati had many happy birthday wishes over the course of the day! What a way to celebrate your 16th birthday! We headed over to the course and got on for the final session of the week. 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 nicest 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, it was the end of the session 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!

Friday photos can be found here.

Feeling inspired?

If you are reading this and feeling inspired for some freestyle kayaking, do consider signing up to some of the freestyle events that happen all over the UK with the next one being Euro Open! Euro Open is one of my favourite events and you can read about last year’s event here.

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

Happy freestyle paddling everyone!