Full Moon Crazy
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!!
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!!
Post a Comment