Milnerton Nippers

What is about Saturdays that bring either the wind or freezing cold water?!? im starting to think that maybe next season we should move training to a different day to see what happens!! ;-)
The wind wasnt too bad, but the water was ice-cold! wow!! i was glad that it wasnt me in there doing the swimming!!

We decided that we would run in a different for direction for a change... the "house" run scenery was getting a bot boring so B took the nippers off to the wreck.
A few of the nippers knew how far away the wreck was, and we told them where they were running too, their eyes nearly popped out of their heads!
The wreck isnt too far, 800m one way.... which is just a little bit longer than their normal run to the house... ;-)
Our new nipper, Dylan showed the rest of the nippers how the run was done and blew them all away...i think B was quite suprized at the pace that Dylan set!!

The waves were quite big and the current was quite strong. we wanted to get them into the water for some in-and-outs but were aware that not all the nippers would feel comfortable going into the water. so we asked those who didnt feel to comfortable to sit-out. Joe took those who opted to stay out for flags, while B and I took the rest for some swims.
Simon, Karl and Kyle were on hand for the swims and were a great help! K and K acted as buoys and Simon was the swimmer.

We first sent the nippers out as a group for the swim... very few actually made the swim due to the temperature of the water and the strong current. Those who made it, came in very chuffed with themselves!! :-D
We did the group swim two more times, with more and more nippers completing the swims as they got used to the temperature.
we then split them into 3 teams for relays. they had to go out and swim around the lifeguards and then tag their next team member. For some, K and K came in closer as the current was unpredictable and messy. it was still tough going though and by the end it, they were quite tired!

We sent the 3 nippers to go and fetch boards and we did board relays. Carla and Mikayla both got properly washing machined as the wave grew behind them and the ground got sucked from beneath them... both came up disorientated but fine.... once again, very funny if youre me and on the beach watching their faces as they come up!!

we rejoined all together and had the nippers all doing some sprints. we split them into their age groups and took the top 2 from each group to a final... Dyan at 9.5 years old, cleaned up every time, beating the older boys and girls by a very definite margin! all we can say is that Dylan is very quick!
then we did some flags, with Dylan also taking the top honour! i think quite a few of the older nippers were very surprized at Dylan's speed!
Was also great to see Diane back to normal and all healed! she was sprinting like a champ!!

it came time for some nippers to go home and for the rest to stay.
B took them for some more swims and in-and-outs. After 2 or 3 in-and-outs, some nippers started to get exceptionally cold and so slowly our numbers dwindled to 4 as we sent nippers off the beach to shower.
(They are far braver than I!! i dont think that most of us wouldve lasted as long as they did in that icey water!!)

Donovan, Diane, Aaron and Lucci were left. they wanted to bodyboard, but seeing as the conditions were so bad, we were reluctant to send them out...
B gave them a challenge. If they could swim out and around him, then they would be allowed to bodyboard.
they battled and fought against the water and the rip! At times they were 10 metres away from B and pushing into a rip! but 2 of them made it! Diane and Donovan after about 10 minutes of struggling got around B! they were both very pleased with themselves! aaron and lucci couldnt quite there.
D and D decided that they didnt want to bodyboard. (i think they were both quite tired) so we ended nippers there.

Donovan must get special mention as he was an absolute star! he was great! keep it up Donny!!
On Sunday, Christopher, Shaun and Carla all passed their exams!! well done guys!!

just as a reminder nipper training times have changed!
Non-Competing nippers: 2-3:30
Competing nippers: 2-5

Posted by laurenallott at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After a week's break due to the Senior competition hosted by Milnerton, nippers resumed.
Friday was cold and rainy. (the milnerton primary gala was cancelled due to this)
Satrurday was cold, windy and chilly. Luckily there was no rain so we could still train for a bit. However, due to the freezing cold wind, we decided that we would only train until 4pm as we didnt want the kids in the cold wind for too long.

We started them off with a leapfrog run. we allocated each of them a number, and then set off on a run. When i blew the whistle, the nipper whose number it was (1-12) had to stop. So 1 would stop on the first whistle, 2 on the second and so on. This was done until all the nippers had stopped in a long straight line. The nippers (1) who stopped first had to then go and jump over nippers 2-12. This would continue until all the nippers had jumped over each other. The nippers seemed to enjoy it, until we made them go through each other's legs. For some of the taller nippers, its quite hard to crawl through the smaller nippers legs.
Some decided to try and "Superman" dive through each other's legs which was quite amusing.

B took the nippers on a run and Mikayla got stung by a blue bottle. This is a new record as it was within her first 40 minutes as a nipper! She handled it very well though and didnt cry or complain. Joe took her off to get some Sting-go's then she was back, right as rain to continue with training!

we split the nippers into 2 groups and ran some relays. we kept then running for a bit until they were tired and hot! (strange considering the weather! just goes to show how much we make them run)
We kept them in their relay teams for some ins-and-outs relays. They really enjoyed being in the water as it was very warm, and were all soon begging to swim.

We had Sarah and Shaun in the water as safety officers, so we decided to let them swim. At first we had them all link arms and go out together, then when i blew the whistle they had to turn and sprint for shore. They begged to be allowed to swim further out, which we did.

This had to be dome in groups of 4 or 5 as the conditions were very rough and the rip was very strong. They had to swim out, and then back in....
Some of them landed up in big trouble with us as they decided to stay in the water as opposed to comming in. (ot a smart choice given the horrid conditions!)

Towards the end of the session we had them do 3 run swim runs. Some of them were very tired and cold after this. The non-competing nippers got to go and shower, while the competing nippers had to go off on a long run with B.
The nippers were given timed showers to make sure that there was hot water left for the others

We have put a new reward system into place. If a nipper misbehaves, or complains we are going to reward them with some manual labour. this reward will allow them to contribute to the beautification of the clubhouse, by sweeping, scrubbing and general cleaning to make our clubhouse sparkle.

Posted by laurenallott at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nippers started early for Aaron and Lucci as they had to do their exam swim at Blouberg. The conditions were perfect! The sea was flat, there was no wind and the sun was shining! The swim went great! they had 10 minutes to complete their run-swim-runs and they both did it in under 6 minutes!!
CONGRATS guys!! we are all very proud of you!!

The wind didnt come up at all and so the beach was awesome!! It was so strange having no wind AND having nippers on the same day! B and i have become quite accustomed to shouting over the wind, so we had to remember to keep our voices down! ;-)

Every few weeks the moon seems to have a strange effect on the kids. it makes them go a little crazier than normal and makes them forget their ears. This was 1 such session...

B took the nippers on an extra long run to the lagoon mouth and back. Nathatn hurt his leg and Donovan piggy-backed him all the way from the house back to the club! Thats quite something, considering that Nathan weighs almost as much as Donovan!!!! Great work Donovan!
(I think that that took quite a lot out of Donovan as he was quite tired for the rest of the session!)

we then split the nippers into their age groups and had them all running flags at the same time in 4 different lanes. It worked really well! the nippers were all competitive and had to work hard. Braden(7) and Dean(11) met in the final. we gave Braden a bit of a headstart, but he didnt need it! He beat Dean pretty convincingly and proved to the other older nippers that he is a force to be reckoned with!!

Then it was onto some relays. we shoed the nip's the correct hand over for a relay and had them practise it. then we started running. it wasnt a race as we were looking just to practise handing over within the specified area. was quite funny to see some of the faces during hand over. you could imagine that some were thinking "please dont run into me!" and others were thinking "2 hands, dont drop it, just hold tight!" they all did really well! until, they got started getting tired, then some decided to walk the relay. So we sent them off on a run.

B had dropped a buoy a little way out and we practised some in-and-outs. Its such a great help having Carmen there!! Simon also came down to help us and he took Jake(5) out to the buoy. Simon did have to carry Jake some of the way as it got too deep for him, but the main thing is that Jake got out there! Go both of you!! (was very cute to see as Simon is 6'3" and Jake was exactly half Simons size, shouldve had a camera!!)

Then all the nippers got body boards, except for Dean and Aaron who got knee boards. B moved the buoy firther out so the nip's would be able to swim/board around it. we have them strict instructions that they were to board around they buoy, then drop their boards and swim around the buoy, then run and fetch their boards and start all over.
Carmen was the middle buoy for the less confident nip's, then there was the buoy, then there was B for the confident nip's. They first board went well, the swim was average and the run pathetic. so we them run to the steps and back. we did this sequence again with better success. Dean pushed himself and did better than i have seen him do in a while!! hope that he keeps this up!!

then we called them in and had a chat on the beach and told them that we were going to redo the excercise but only with the board. now, it had been a slightly taxing session as we had many moans, groans and complaints and we had done a fair bit of extra running for this.
somehow, the nip's seemed to hear "board...blah blah blah blah..board" and they took it that once they had rounded the buoy they could stay out in the water.

Now when the sea is full of other kids, and you have 16 nippers and 3 buoys, spoting them can get difficult. our nippers stayed out and played instead of completeing the exercise! (it wasnt all of them, but it was a fair few!) i was quite a bit less than happy! so i read them the riot act and made them run to the house and back! (thinking that this would be enough for them) however, the same few who stayed out in the water didnt run the run. so we ran again! then we picked up our boards and re-did the exercise. we did it twice and then it was home time. so we bundled them off into the showers and home.

Simon and Paul were out in the water on a ski and rescue craft and this also helped us tremendously!! was great having all the extra hands!!

B and I have been wondering if the Senior's would make a complete nipper session. we dont think so! so if any of the seniors would like to take the challenge! we welcome it!!

next week is the competition (3rd Feb) at Milnerton for the Seniors. there will be no training but the nippers have all been asked to come and support our Seniors and 1 of their coaches (B) who will be competing as a master. The competition starts at 13:00 and should be done by 17:00-18:00. its great fun and will give the nippers a taste of what competitions are like.

we have 4 nippers doing their exams on Sunday (4 Feb). Shaun, Donovan, Jade and Dianne. we are all holding thumbs for you 4!!

Posted by laurenallott at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)