I traveled this last weekend to Bath in the UK to attend a British Masters training camp, organized by British Masters lifter Sandra Smith-Vokroj, designed to help support the preparation for those lifters participating in the European Masters Games in Italy and the World Championship in Cyprus 2011.
The purpose of the training camp also was to promote the sport of weightlifting and the benefits to general fitness and well-being, and we had a good group of lifters and other athletes there.
First of all, a great thank you to Sandra, not only for allowing me to join them, but for all the hard work and effort she put in to making this a successful weekend for the participants. The venue was the Sports Training Village of the University of Bath. (See picture, sweatshirt was required, British summers are very much like Belgian ones, with a lack of warmth or sun.) We stayed in the dormitories, ate in the Sports Cafe on campus, and utilized the facilities of the Athletics department to train. Sports massage was also available before and after training.
We had four lifting sessions with video analysis and expert coaching. I especially enjoyed working with George Manners, who lifted in the 1964 Olympics! We started on a Friday night, two sessions on Saturday, followed by a group dinner Saturday night and a final session Sunday morning, before we all headed home. One of the best parts was the opportunity to talk to other lifters in a non-competition environment; friendly, casual and informative. And no one had to worry about making weight 🙂
This was a terrific initiative, and I hope that it is continued going forward.
