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RHUK INLINE ROLLER HOCKEY UK SUMMER CAMPS 2006 WHAT A SUMMER THAT WAS!We have just arrived back from two brilliant weeks running the UK Summer Camps at the Virtual Ice Inline Arena in Rotherham (South Yorkshire) and the Lord Roberts Centre in Bisley (Surrey). Following the success of the new Spanish Tour & Camp we feared this year's UK Camps might suffer in comparison, but we shouldn't have worried, both weeks proved to be fantastic!
We can never be 100% certain that the Summer Camps will go as well each year as they have since 1999... but now that they are over I can report that this year was just as good as previous years, if not better! I guess that explains why we have already had so many enquiries about the October Half-Term and Christmas Camps, and why we already have people booking for next Summer's Spanish Camp. We're now busy working on these and other events so please keep checking the homepage for full details and get your place booked - see you soon! Yours, Matthew, RHUK Director Scroll down to read about this year's two UK Summer Camps and to see the photo galleries... SUMMER CAMP AT VIRTUAL ICE INLINE ARENA, ROTHERHAM
From the Sunday evening Welcome meeting onwards the week seemed to rush by... with days spent on the rink, evenings spent at the cinema, bowling and enjoying the final night meal at Frankie & Benny's, nights spent enjoying the hospitality of the IBIS Rotherham (and the nearby McDonalds!) and Wednesday spent at Alton Towers... after 5 days of solid hockey and activities and excursions it seemed that in no time we were enjoying watching everyone playing hard in the Mini-Stanley Cup Tournament on Saturday 19 August!
To see the photos from the week please click on the links below:
SUMMER CAMP AT THE LORD ROBERTS CENTRE, BISLEY
Bunhill Lodge usually hosts army cadets and has a youth hostel feel, with dormitories, washrooms and a TV Lounge spread across different buildings, but we soon made it our own and felt at home in no time... (so much so that most of us couldn't stop chatting way waay waaaay into the night!).
The dormitories and campus life helped ensure everyone mixed well, with a number of new faces and alot of regulars returning from last year to renew friendships... but despite a great atmosphere amongst the 30 players aged 8 to 17 years there was still plenty of competitiveness on show at the RHUK Mini-Stanley Cup Tournament on Saturday 26 August, culminating in a great final.
To see the photos from the week please click on the links below:
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On behalf of a very tired but very happy RHUK Coaching Team (comprising Director of Coaching Jonathan Maw, Head Coach Luke Woolgar, Goalie Coach Andy Assa and Assistant Coaches Danny Robertson and Nathan Finney) I would like to thank everyone who participated - for working so hard on-rink learning new skills and techniques, and for being so much fun off-rink too.
This year's first UK Summer Camp started on Sunday 13 August with 32 players aged 10 to 17 years old being welcomed at Virtual Ice Inline Arena, Rotherham by an RHUK Coaching team fresh from achieving Gold medals in Detroit and Budapest and from running the first ever RHUK Spanish Camp & Tour.
This year's Tournament was hard fought but eventually there could be only one winner and Team Storm came out on top. "Most Valued Player" (MVP) Awards for overall performance, commitment and attitude were given to Will Morris and Richard Mabbott. "Most Improved Player" (MIP) Awards were given to Tom Ainsley, Joe Lawrence and Kyle Thorney-Potter. Well done to them and to everyone who participated and helped make the week such a big success. Many thanks particularly to Guest Coach Andy Skelding, to Steph and all the team at Virtual Ice for their help over the week and to Sarah for lending us her office and her son Nathan, both of which were much appreciated!
After being based in the industrial town of Rotherham for a week, moving to Bisley for our second Summer Camp proved a big contrast. The Bisley rink is in the Lord Roberts Centre on the BIsley National Shooting Ground near Woking, a very picturesque greenfield site with lots of unusual buildings, like old colonial clubs. We stayed in the Bunhill Lodge on the Bisley Grounds, so the rink was just a short walk away.
On arrival at the Lodge on Sunday 20 August we were made very welcome by the manager Lieut. Col (Retd) Frank Cox and his staff (Richard and Wendy). Our thanks to them for taking care of us over the week and for feeding us so well. After a cooked breakfast on Monday everyone was soon on the rink and working hard under the direction of the Jon and his Coaching team. This set the scene for the rest of the week with the coaches taking the players through all the key skill areas and then working hard on drills and game play techniques etc.
With visits to nearby Woking for bowling and the cinema, swimming at the nearby Coral Reef, a day at Thorpe Park (including a good soaking on the Tidal Wave!) and the final night meal at Frankie & Benny's in Bracknell, there was plenty to keep everyone entertained off-rink too during the week.
Congratulations to the Tornadoes for winning the Tournament, to James Hounsome, Dan Picton and Lee Adam Wincott for receiving "Most Valued Player" Awards (MVP), and to Bruno Pallu and Simon Hardisty for winning "Most Improved Player" Awards (MIP). Many thanks to everyone who attended Bisley, it was a lot of fun and very satisfying to see how hard you worked on the rink during the week... see you all again soon!
