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Colorado Squash Training
Camps 2011
LJ Anjema and Sebastiaan
Weenink get 'Active at Altitude'
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About the Camp:
 Now
in its fifth year of running the Colorado Squash Training
camp is the brainchild of Damon Leedale-Brown.
Damon is currently based in the US close to Philadelphia and
alongside running high performance training camps he is the
Director of Squash at William Penn Charter School in
Philadelphia, serves as the Director of Sports Science &
Conditioning for the US National Squash Teams, and is
the promotions manager for Prince Squash USA.
The vision for the training camps is to take a small group
of aspiring junior players and provide them with the unique
opportunity to train for 9-10 days both on and off-court
alongside two World Class Professional players, surrounded
by the beauty of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
 Over
the past four years James Willstrop and Vanessa Atkinson
have trained with us in Colorado and enjoyed every minute of
their time out here.
This summer for our first session Dutch players Laurens
Jan Anjema (LJ) and Sebastiaan Weenink have
joined a group of 8 junior boys, and our second session will
include 7 junior girls alongside Women’s Pro players
Kristen Lange (USA) and Milou Van Der Heijden
(Holland).
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James & Vanessa in Colorado
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Active at Altitude
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Day 1 – Travel day
The first group of junior boys players arrived safely at
Denver International Airport on the Monday morning.
All went fairly smoothly aside from one of our players
flying with Frontier from Chicago who unfortunately went to
Chicago O’Hare airport only to find that Frontier fly from
Midway!
Fortunately he was able to rebook on a later flight and
after a longer than anticipated travel day joined up with
our group later in the day.
From Denver we took a short ride to Boulder in our 15 seater
van to pick up LJ and Sebastiaan who had spent the weekend
in Boulder having arrived in Colorado the previous Friday.
I had arranged for LJ and Sebastiaan to stay with a local
squash and outdoor enthusiast John Fasullo, and over
the course of the weekend John had them on the go with
non-stop action including trail running, tennis, paddle
tennis, baseball, basketball, three-hour mountain bike
rides, ice baths in the local creek, and a little bit of
squash!
From Boulder we drove up into the Rocky Mountains to our ski
lodge style base Active at Altitude (www.activeataltitude.com)
– a beautiful mountain house based at just over 8000 feet
and surrounded by the mountains.
Coming from sea level to this altitude is definitely a major
adjustment and shock to the body!
We talked to the players about the challenges of staying and
training at altitude and what actions they could take to
reduce the risk of experiencing any major problems related
to acute mountain sickness.
Terry Chiplin who is the owner of Active at Altitude
and has lived here for over five years feels strongly that
the two most important factors in coping with the initial
days at altitude are arriving well rested and not fatigued
or overtrained, and then paying very close attention to
maintaining hydration which is not always easy at this
altitude because of how dry the climate is.
Once everyone was settled at the lodge we then took a quick
drive down into Estes Park which is the gateway town
into the Rocky Mountain National Park. We parked at Lake
Estes which regularly has amazing reflections of the
mountain ranges surrounding it.
After an introduction to the training camp we got into our
first training session which included 20 minutes of active
stretching and dynamic mobility exercises, followed by a
very steady 30 minute run around Lake Estes, and then
a 15 minute warm down.
I think the sensation of exercising at this altitude came as
a bit of a shock to most of the players, but overall was a
well needed session to help our bodies recover from the day
of travel and begin to adapt to living and training at this
altitude.
Dinner back at the lodge and then some well needed sleep
ahead of our first full days training tomorrow ...
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Day Two:
Runnin' up that
hill mountain
With the benefit of a good night’s sleep behind us we were
up just before 8 a.m. for a healthy breakfast to help
prepare us for our first full day of training.
From our base at just over 8000 feet we then headed down the
valley to the outskirts of Boulder, and a more modest but
still challenging altitude of 6000 feet for our first trail
run of the camp.
Our location for the first trail run was the ‘Anne U.
White Trail’ named after Anne Underwood White who was a
local open space advocate and writer. Anne and Gilbert White
donated 20 acres to establish the trail, and is one of the
few canyons near Boulder which has not yet had a road driven
through it. The trail is considered one of the classic trail
runs in Colorado’s front range.
After fairly intensive set of mobility drills and dynamic
warm up exercises we made a start to the run. The run was a
3.4 mile out and back with an elevation gain on the way out
of just over 400 feet (or a average five degree angle of
climb). The run was along a fairly groomed trail aside from
a few rocky sections and a number of crossings (approx 22!)
of the Four Mile Canyon Creek which the trail followed up
the valley.
It was already a pretty warm day down in Boulder, and the
extensive shade along the trail provided us with some
welcome protection from the heat of the sun. Terry the owner
of Active at Altitude - and also an avid and very capable
trail runner- joined us for the run and stayed at the back
of the group to ensure that no one was experiencing any
major difficulties on the way up.
I started at the front with LJ and Sebastiaan and very
quickly realized that having already had the benefit of 3
full days to acclimate to the altitude they were raring to
go! I let them push on ahead as they seemed keen to work
hard and tracked back to make sure the boys were doing okay
(TJ, Tyler, Carson, Bruce, Thomas, Sean, Foster and Alex).
Overall they all coped well on the first trail run and
worked pretty hard. LJ and Sebastiaan were flying along and
managed to track back up the trail almost halfway to meet
the back of the group before heading back in.
First session done and then into Boulder to lunch before
heading to the Flatiron Athletic Club – the base for
all our squash and indoor training based work during the
camp. Outside Magazine named the club as ‘The Premier
Workout Facility in the World’s Fittest City’, and it is
truly a great all round facility with squash courts, tennis
courts, state of the art gym, indoor and outdoor pool,
indoor track, full size gymnasium and basketball court etc…
Our afternoon court session started with a 20 minute
movement based warm up before heading straight into the
first of our conditioning circuits based around functional
strength exercises and movement skill development. 30
minutes later and everyone was feeling pretty well worked –
a short break and then into some hitting work.
Prior to the session we had already discussed with the
players our expectations of their work ethic during the camp
with the main points being: 1. Aim to achieve high quality
or purposeful practice in every single training session (on
or off court), 2.
To constantly challenge your levels and boundaries across
all aspects of your development as a player – physical,
mental, tactical and technical. With some of this hopefully
taken on board and also with the added motivation of getting
on court and hitting balls with LJ and Sebastiaan, the boys
got stuck into a series of 2 and 3 players drills initially
based around drop / drive variations, before moving onto
straight length control and consistency, and progressions
with short options from the back and mid-court.
After a good hour of work it was time to wrap up the first
full day of training by taking full advantage of the clubs
facilities – hot tub and outdoor pool – before heading back
up to Estes Park for a well earned dinner.
Some nervous anticipation about the climbing trip planned
for 8am the next morning, and early bed for most after an
excellent day of training.
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Day 3: Climbing ...
Our climbing guide for the morning Eli Helmuth from
Climbing Life Guides arrived promptly at our mountain
lodge just before 8am fully armed with waivers so we could
all sign our life’s away before trying to scale some
vertical rock faces! With waivers complete we then followed
Eli and his wife Joanne (who would also be helping us that
morning) to an area just outside of Estes Park called
Prospect Mountain which would be our location for the
climbing session.
After an interesting section of off-road driving in our Ford
Passenger Van (which it handled surprisingly well!) we
arrived at the parking area below the rock faces we would be
climbing on and got kitted out with helmets, climbing shoes
and harnesses. A relatively short but steep section of
uphill trail brought us to our base for the morning with
beautiful views of Lakes Estes in the valley below us and
the surrounding mountain peaks.
Eli took us through all of the important safety aspects of
climbing and then without any hesitation proceeded to scale
the cliffs carrying 3 ropes which he then attached to
different anchor points in the rock about 70 feet above us.
 Once
safely down Eli then got our first 3 climbers set up and
ready to go with myself, Joanne and one of our boys Bruce
(who had previous climbing experience) acting as the
belayers – basically they were placing all their trust in
our skills to keep them from taking any major falls in the
worst case scenario.
Very quickly we had what seemed a steady stream of climbers
going up and down the 3 ropes in place along the cliff.
Overall most of the boys had a real good go at the climbing
with some definitely a little more comfortable than others
regards the sensation of height.
As to be expected LJ and Sebastiaan got stuck in big time
and seemed to really enjoy the experience of climbing
outside for the first time. As both found climbing is a
great overall workout physically and mentally, and I would
probably say that LJ invested slightly more nervous energy
than Sebastiaan (which might be clear from the photos!).
 Eli
relocated the ropes halfway through the morning on to more
difficult sections of the rocks around us, and by the time
we were getting closer to midday the more capable climbers
in the group had probably been up and down around 7-8 times.
Bruce was definitely the climber of the group and showed how
useful his flexibility could be by getting his body into
some amazing positions on the rock face while seemingly
remaining very calm and relaxed! As is common at this time
of year in Colorado we had blue sky and sunshine all
morning, and everyone seemed happy with what they had
achieved personally in the climbing session.
Drive down to Boulder for lunch and then onto the
Flatirons Athletic Club for our afternoon session on
court. A good 20 minute warm up to get everyone moving well,
and finishing with 8 sets of movement training working one
quarter of the court at a time and completing 2 full
rotations of the court.
Then we moved into some pairs work with the ball to help
develop mental focus and technical consistency through a
series of different target hitting sequences. To bring an
element of competition into the drill all pairs started the
target hitting sequence at the same time with the goal of
being the first pair to compete the 100 required targets.
LJ and Thomas came out on top with a time of just over 13
minutes while working down the right wall, and after a short
break everyone moved sides and this time TJ and ….. rattled
through their targets in under 13 minutes also while working
down the right wall.
We then continued into a series of tactical drills and
conditioned games for a good 45-50 minutes or so, and
finished the session with some short games using both sides
of the court requiring quick movement and fast hands.
Again good use of the pool and hot tub was made my many of
the tired bodies at the end of the training day before
heading back up to our lodge for dinner.
Terry and Deborah (my wife) had been busy that afternoon
picking up the mountain bikes we would be using for our
first ride the following morning. We had some time to check
everyone out on the bikes and make sure that we had the
right sizes for every player, and at least in principle that
they actually all knew how to ride a bike!
Another great day of training in the Colorado Rockies, and
getting excited about our mountain bike ride in the morning.
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Day 4: On yer Bikes ...
After a good breakfast everyone got kitted out in their
cycling gear.
Padded Lycra shorts were the order of the day along with
Camelbak Hydration systems filled up with a sports
electrolyte drink to help sustain them during the mornings
mountain bike ride, and a few gels and energy bars thrown in
for good measure.
We headed down the valley to the small town of Lyons and the
starting point for our first mountain bike ride at Hall
Ranch – Terry followed us down driving his van with a
trailer attached transporting all our bikes.
My wife Deborah is an experienced XC mountain bike rider
having raced at Elite level throughout the Mid-Atlantic
area. She spent some time giving the players valuable tips
on riding technique and gear selection, checked that
everyone was set up properly on their bikes, and then we
pushed off for the start of the ride.
The initial section came as quite a shock to most of the
players –steep rocky terrain leading into a series of
switchback turns as we quickly gained height up the
mountain. The starting elevation for our ride was just under
5600 feet and we would be eventually topping out at around
6800 feet.
Everyone quickly realized they were in for a tough morning
of work!
Having got through the switchback section with no major
disasters we pushed up a final section of rocky terrain to
get to our first major checkpoint which gave us beautiful
views around the valley in all directions. Just enough time
to get our breath back and then we continued to climb at a
slightly easier incline along a section of flowing
single-track running up the north edge of the alpine meadow.
 Not
surprisingly LJ was pushing ahead like a machine – his
summers of riding up mountains in Switzerland were fairly
evident. Sebastiaan was tracking LJ as best he good – his
first time on this sort of terrain on a bike, and a little
different to riding round the streets of Amsterdam!
Sometime later and we had got everyone up to the second
major checkpoint at a trailhead which was the start of an
upper loop. This would take us on my favorite section of the
ride – around the old Nelson Homestead, and up to our
highest point with amazing views of the snowcapped ‘Longs
Peak’ in the Rocky Mountain National Park at 14,259 feet.
Having made good time on our ride so far we managed to get
most of the group around the upper loop twice. LJ and
Sebastiaan pushed on at their own pace and completed the
loop 3 times – LJ averaging around 14 minutes to get round
the loop.
With tired legs all round we then began our descent back
down the mountain and around 30 minutes later had everyone
safely back in the parking area at the start of the trail –
approximately 2¼ hours after our departure. A fantastic
effort from the entire group who seemed to enjoy their first
experience on a mountain bike in the Rocky Mountains.
A short drive down to Boulder for lunch and then onto the
club for a well needed rest before the start of our
afternoon session on court. Following a good warm up we
started the afternoon session with another tough strength
and movement skills circuit which included Pull-Ups, Jumps,
Lateral Cone Shuffles, Lunges, Jump Rope and Single Leg
Squats.
Then moved into some channel games working on 5 minute
rotations for around 7-8 sets. A great game for the players
to work on straight ball control, variation of pace and
height from the back of the court, volleying and controlling
the mid-court position, and movement in and out of the front
corners.
We then paired our junior players up and put them on court
against LJ and Sebastiaan in some 2 v 1 games, while the
other 4 played some doubles waiting patiently for their
chance to have a crack against the Pros.
Out for dinner in Boulder before heading back up to Estes
Park. The boys happy about a later start for the following
morning and looking forward to their first trip into the
Rocky Mountain National Park for a trail run around midday.
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Day Five: Trekkin' to the Ice ...
After a good sleep most of us woke up to the smell of bacon
with Terry hard at work in the kitchen preparing a hearty
breakfast. We enjoyed a relaxing morning at the lodge before
heading out just before midday to the Rocky Mountain
National Park (RMNP).
Our starting location for the run was called ‘Fern Lake
Trailhead’ – a popular area in the park for hikers. With
limited parking spots the closest we could get was half a
mile from the trailhead, but we took this as an opportunity
for a steady jog as part of the warm up for our run.
The first section of our run was a 1.7 mile trail alongside
the fast flowing Big Thompson River, through pine forest and
alongside some amazing stone formations called the ‘Arch
Rocks’. There was a very gradual incline on the way up –
however the higher elevation of over 8000 feet definitely
made this feel a little more challenging than our first
trail run down in Boulder.
Myself, LJ and Sebastiaan let the junior players start ahead
of us with Terry and gave them around a 3 minute lead before
we got moving. I pushed on at a pretty good tempo with LJ
right on my heels, and we managed to pass all of the juniors
just before arriving at ‘The Pool’ at the 1.7 mile
mark. The ‘Pool’ is fairly impressive section of the river
cascading down under a wooden bridge, and probably at its
most spectacular due to the snowmelt run off from the
mountain peaks.
Once we had regrouped we then started of on the most
difficult section of the run which came in the form of a
sustained and at times very steep one mile technical climb
with plenty of rocks and roots to deal with. With LJ and
Sebastiaan leading at the front of the group, our junior
players were making steady progress behind. LJ and
Sebastiaan were first to reach the top of the climb and were
rewarded by wonderful views of Cub Lake at an
elevation of 8650 feet.
By this stage they had opened up a reasonable gap on our
younger players, and as it was quite cold waiting around at
this elevation I encouraged them to start their descent down
the mountain. I waited for all of our junior players to
arrive and then we set of from Cub Lake a few minutes behind
the Dutch Boys. The descent took us down some pretty
technical sections of trail for around 2 miles before
gradually leveling out for the last half mile as we reached
the valley below, about 70 minutes and 5.2 miles after out
start.
We reached the end of the trail to find that LJ and
Sebastiaan had already got started with our tried and tested
recovery technique at the end of this run -basically walk
into the ice cold river and take advantage of an on-site
ice bath!
The first time you get in it takes your breath away, and
with it being so cold the maximum time we stayed in the
water was for 60 seconds. Not quite sure what possessed one
of our players Carson but he proceeded to strip down to his
shorts and then fully lie down in the river – almost
completely immersed!
 Did
not last for long but was pretty impressive while it did!
Once the feeling had returned to our legs we got dried of
and then jumped in the van for a short journey out of the
RMNP and into Estes Park for lunch. I was slightly concerned
that LJ’s lips seemed blue while we were having lunch but he
reassured us that this was typically the way his body
responded to extreme cold as he sat there shivering
uncontrollably! We were all relieved to see the color return
to LJ’s lips after his second Café Latte!
Back to our lodge for a well earned shower and some time to
rest before we went through a session with all the players
on stretching, release and mobility techniques. We set up 11
stations and introduced players to some soft tissue release
& recovery techniques using foam rollers, massage sticks and
yoga straps alongside some more traditional hip and lower
back stretches and mobility exercises.
We also spent some time discussing the use of different
sports nutrition products including electrolyte drinks,
recovery drinks, energy gels and bars – looking at why and
when to use in context with training and competition.
Before we knew it the day had flown by and it was time for
dinner at the lodge, and some jamming on the guitar before
heading to bed. A full day of squash planned at the club in
Boulder tomorrow, including a small clinic and exhibition
with their hardcore group of squash members.
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Day 7:
There's a hill - you know what to do ...
On the drive down to Boulder the anticipation was building
ahead of our hill sprints / jog / walk or get up the hill
anyway you can session!
We managed to find parking in the very popular Chautauqua
Park at the foothills of the Flatirons. The
Flatirons are a series of huge rock slabs which form an
impressive back drop to the town of Boulder. We took plenty
of time to get the bodies warmed up ahead of our hill
session and then split our players into two teams of 5.
Team 1 was headed up by LJ along with TJ, Tyler, Thomas and
Bruce. Team 2 headed up by Sebastiaan and included Carson,
Alex, Sean and Foster.
Our hill runs were on a trail with some steep rocky sections
which headed straight up towards the Flatirons. We had 3
different lengths of hill run – short which would take
around 20 seconds, mid which would take around 40 seconds,
and the long hill around 60 seconds or more for most of the
players.
Basically each team selected an order from 1-5, and at the
start of the first hill run both teams started their number
1 runner at the same time. When the runners got to the
finish point they put their hand up to signify the second
runner in their team to start. This continued until all 5
runners from each team had completed the hill, then a quick
turnaround to come back down for the start of the next hill.
Everyone got through the first 2 hills (short and mid)
without too many problems but then came the long hill! From
personal experience over the last 4 years I knew that this
was particularly brutal. Having gone pretty flat out from
the bottom you then come to a steep section about 50 yards
from the top where it is a huge physical and mental
challenge just to keep running, and the last 20 seconds seem
like a lifetime!
When you eventually make the top you are in significant
oxygen debt, legs awash with lactic acid, lungs about to
burst out your chest, heart about to explode but aside from
that it’s not too bad really! Not much talking going on at
the top but everyone pushed really hard and then we were on
our way back down for the start of our next short hill.
We completed 3 reps of each hill length for a total of 9
hill runs, and everyone worked well physically and showed a
lot of mental toughness during the session.
LJ was phenomenally quick going up the hills (at least
relative to the rest of us anyway!), and Sebastiaan was
doing all he could to stay in close contact. Sebastiaan
definitely has some speed, and they were neck and neck on
the short hill, but LJ would simply maintain his tempo to
pull away on the longer hills.
Recovery drinks all round, and then a short ride to the club
where most of us jumped into the pool to do some well needed
recovery work for the legs.
Our afternoon session on court had a heavy emphasis on
movement with and without the ball.
We got the music pumping on the court (LJ’s dance mix by
Bart Claessen) and worked through a pretty intensive 30
minute warm up using a series of progressive agility drills
with cones. Then into some very specific movement training
drills using patterns of movement in and out of the back and
front corners, with the back corner drills done as a pair.
Our hitting work was based around a series of 3 player
drills with the main focus on positional recovery and
purposeful movement to and from the ball. Finished with some
games and then our usual recovery work at the club.
Everyone starting to feel the last few days of training so
tomorrow we plan on a later start and then a light training
session at the club – hopefully with basketball game or two
thrown in the mix!
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Day 8: Relax ...
Breakfast at the very leisurely hour of 9:00am compared to
some of our earlier starts, and then of down to Boulder for
a very light training session at 11:30am. 15-20 minutes of
gentle mobility work and then into steady movement patterns
with the focus on the technical aspects of the movement
rather than the physical side. Finished our court session
with around 35 minutes of conditioned games and then
straight to the basketball court for our second game! After
another 30 minutes of intense play we finished our light
recovery session with in the pool.
Late lunch and downtime in Boulder which is a really cool
town to spend time relaxing in, and then back up to Estes
Park and getting ready for our second mountain bike ride in
the morning.
Day 9: Back on the Bikes ...
Back to the early breakfast time of 7:00am unfortunately,
and then the filling up of camelbaks before heading down the
valley to Lyons for our mountain bike ride at Hall Ranch.
Everyone seemingly a little more confident on the bikes
having got round safely first time on this ride, and with
double quick time we had got up the first tricky and steep
technical section of the ride. After a short break we all
pushed on hard to the start of the top loop, and we could
definitely see an improvement in the way the players were
able to cope with the altitude having had 5 extra days to
acclimatize following our first ride.
Once at the loop we could tell that LJ and Sebastiaan were
keen to get stuck in and see if they could improve their
times from the first ride. I went on ahead with LJ and
Sebastiaan while Deborah stayed with the group on their
first loop. I had to work pretty hard to stay ahead of LJ
who was definitely adapting quickly to mountain biking
putting in an impressive time of 13:29 for his first loop. I
then looped back to catch up with the group coming round
while LJ and Sebastiaan were soon into loop #2!
 Our
group of young players all got round twice, while LJ and
Sebastiaan put in a total of 4 loops – LJ’s times getting
quicker each set – 13:29 / 13:21 / 13:11 & 12:40.
Enjoyed the views on the way back down the mountain and took
a series of group photos with fantastic background scenery.
We all arrived safe and sound in the parking lot just before
midday and everyone seemed to have enjoyed the new
experience of mountain biking in the Rockies.
We had lunch on our way through Boulder and then headed onto
the Flatirons Athletic Club for our afternoon court session.
Another intensive 30 minute warm up - this time with the use
of agility ladders and the sounds of Tiësto (a Dutch DJ)
pumping out from LJ’s ipod.
Building on from yesterday we then got straight into a 70
minute intensive period of conditioned games with an
emphasis on tactical development and also the continued
theme throughout the training camp of ‘practice with a
purpose’.
Every player was asked to state one specific area of
development they would be focusing on during the conditioned
games, and at the end of the session they were asked to
evaluate the level to which they had been successful in
practicing purposefully on this theme for the duration of
the hitting session.
A very relaxing one hour period of recovery time after the
training session spent primarily out by the pool in the
sunshine, and then dinner out in Boulder before heading back
up to Estes Park.
Tomorrow will be the last full day of training for our
junior players so we plan to get started early with another
great trail run in RMNP before finishing the training camp
with a team tournament in the afternoon.
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Day 10: The final run ...
After an early breakfast we headed into the Rocky Mountain
National Park at 8:30am for our final run of the camp.
Another opportunity to experience the beautiful run starting
along the Big Thompson River and heading up to the
‘Pool’, before the tough one mile climb up to Cub Lake. I
set of ahead of the junior players with LJ and Sebastiaan,
and Terry followed with the boys.
LJ and I pushed on at a pretty high tempo to the ‘Pool’ and
after a short drink break started the climb up to Cub
Lake. At one point I think we both thought the climb was
never going to end but eventually we hit the last short
section of trail which took us to the high point of the run
with a great overlook of Cub Lake.
Time for a few pictures and a drink and then we got
ourselves prepared for the 2.5 mile decent. The descent
provides a fabulous physical and mental challenge when you
are trying to get down as quickly and smoothly as possible.
You have to be strong enough to control and adjust speed at
any point as you come into technical and steep rock
sections, and also have the agility to move quickly across
rocks and roots which often require rapid lateral changes of
direction. Mentally you have got to remain 100% focused on
the trail ahead so you can already be planning your next
sequence of steps and the best line to take through rocky
sections.
If you can get all this right (which is not easy!) then you
start to get this amazing feeling of flow and rhythm in your
movement as you cruise down the mountain. I think we both
felt that connection on the run that morning, and despite
the physical stress we put ourselves through we arrived at
the end of the trail feeling energized and alive!
Another breathtaking day in the mountains so out came the
cameras again, and shortly after Seb arrived having also
pushed himself really hard on the run. Without much more
delay we headed to our ‘drop in’ point for the Colorado ice
bath and got started with phase 1 of our recovery that
morning.
Our junior players also had an excellent run and were soon
arriving back in pairs with not much separating them. They
were quick to join us for the ice bath treatment having
realized how much it had helped with their recovery first
time round. Recovery drinks were next on hand before we
headed out of the park, picked our squash bags up at the
house and continued down to Boulder for lunch.
For our final squash session with the boys we put together a
team event - Team LJ going head to head with Team Sebastiaan.
Team LJ included Foster, Alex, Thomas and Bruce, and Team
Sebastiaan had TJ, Tyler, Sean and Carson. W
e drew up a sequence of play so that each player would
compete for one game against every player from the opposing
team – so essentially all players would end up playing 5 PAR
to 11 games. Whether they won or lost the game each point
would count towards their overall team total. After around
90 minutes all games had been completed and we started
adding up the team scores.
I knew it was going to be a tight contest and after a couple
of recounts Team Sebastiaan came out on top by only 2 points
with a score of 213 to 211!
The last chance for the boys to use the pool and then we
were driving back up the mountain for a final evening ‘cook
out’.
All the boys were flying out from Denver in the morning, but
LJ and Sebastiaan would be staying with us for another 3
days to get the most out of what had already been a fabulous
10 days of training. More trail runs, mountain bike and road
rides, squash sessions, alongside some quality relaxation
time in Boulder will definitely be part of our agenda for
the next 3 days. LJ and Sebastiaan have thoroughly enjoyed
their first experience of training in the Colorado Rockies
and are already looking ahead to returning next summer if
all goes to plan!
Should be a good 3 days of training before we then have our
next group arrive – 7 junior girls and Pro Tour players
Milou Van Der Heijden and Kristen Lange. Then we get started
all over again – not a bad way to spend the summer!
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