Spain 2010 Trip Report
On the 13 February, 17 children and 6 adults all from A Squad travelled to Torremelinos in Spain for their annual training camp.
Compared to last year this trip was more like an episode from Holidays from Hell.
The Minibus turned up with not enough room for the baggage but chief baggage handler John Waterhouse soon rectified things and we were on our way to the airport.
Everyone apart from Simon Worne had ensured that their baggage was under the customary allowance but, Simon thought he would take the heaviest bag he could find (this weighed 5kg on its own). Luckily Tom saved him having to pay a £35.00 charge by taking some of his clothes. The flight was fine and we arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule at Malaga airport.
Unfortunately it was raining when we arrived and this seemed to set the weather for the week.
The training this year was at a more respectable time of 8am to 10 am and 3pm till 5pm but, the kids had to battle through rain, also thunder and lightning on some days. Fortunately they found some of the storms entertaining. When the sun did decide to shine it was very warm but this was few and far between, unlike last year when it was fine every day.
There were plenty of challenges for Sally this year as many of the children succumbed to a sickness and diarrhoea bug. We thought at first that it could have been something eaten in the restaurant but it couldn’t be related to just one thing. I raised my concern with Sports Abroad and they have since confirmed that it was a bug circulating in Spain. Luckily John Waterhouse was on constant hand to perform the unpleasant task of cleaning the vomit up (you’ve missed your vocation John) and Yvonne was at hand with plenty of care and sympathy.
Special mention goes to Tom Gibbons who really suffered but, still was insistent in trying to join in with all the activities. I think he was worried that we might ask his mom to come over and he didn’t want any fussing (sorry Louise). We did manage to get to the beach for a game of Rounder’s. The bat was fashioned out of a piece of driftwood which meant it was a bit hard to grasp. This resulted in it sometimes being let go off and hitting someone. First Simon was hit on the arm whilst Tom N was batting and then Aaron hit Tom N on the leg whilst he was batting. Aaron did however score some excellent runs when he let the bat go. Fortunately there were no serious mishaps and everyone enjoyed themselves, we even had an audience from the passing tourists.
We also had some retail therapy, well you can’t not shop when there are so many bargains. Sally regrettably paid a high price for her purchases as she had her purse stolen, luckily the monies she was saving on behalf of the kids was in the hotel safe.
We also had a visit to the Ice cream parlour, fortunately visitors from last year had remembered how large the portions were and were more sensible when ordering.
Everyone also had a chance to try their Spanish when we went to play Ten pin bowling. We had to catch the train so I encouraged everyone to ask for their ticket in Spanish. The ticket person was very impressed, that they had bothered with the local language.
The total metres swam by the kids was 66,550, plus they had 4 journeys each day walking up and down to the pool. So there is no wonder they were tired on their return home.
On the Friday Alan gave out 3 awards, none of the older swimmers were eligible for an award but the lucky recipients were Aaron, Kelsey and Shannon.
Our final day was glorious sunshine so everyone enjoyed the final day by the pool.
Our final obstacle of the trip was when we booked in at the airport, the Spanish version of Jet2 (company name Clever) operators requested copies of parental consents forms for every person under 16. Fortunately I had these close at hand but they then took them away to photocopy and it took them over an hour to return these to me. I have now sent a letter of complaint and I am awaiting their reply. Just wish I’d known how to swear in Spanish, then again it’s a good job I didn’t as I might not have got back at all.
Summary
Even though the weather was not as good as last year, I think everyone enjoyed the trip (apart from the illnesses). The main highlight was when they were filmed at the sports centre by the local Torremelinos TV channel. Alan appeared on the local TV station and in his words “I looked quite good”, his comments were translated into Spanish but how you translate a Barnsley accent is beyond me. Eeh up! I am trying to get the DVD so copies can be taken.
Trips like these take a lot of planning and help from willing volunteers. It’s not just about making sure that bookings have been made and swimming bags packed. There are numerous other things, towels put to dry, eating correctly, safety, everyone getting along with each other, provisions purchased, sun factor on, planning outings, etc. It is however a great opportunity to get to know the personalities of the swimmers out of their normal environment.
From the feedback received from the swimmers 75% of them enjoyed the training and the hotel. The main drawback was “not enough variety of food in the hotel”. However I think the adults would disagree with this.
So Kids if you would like to tell me what other food you would have liked, I will feed it (get it, sorry) this back to Sports Abroad.
May I also take this opportunity to thank Liz Shiel for booking the flights and printing all relevant documents off for me. Also to everyone else on the trip who helped make mine and Andrew’s trip more enjoyable.
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