Summer Training Camp with Andrea Fuentes

Over the summer four of our Rockets Squad travelled to Mallorca to attend the SYNKRO LOVERS Artistic Swimming Training Camp hosted by synchro royality Andrea Fuentes. What a fabulous opportunity!

No doubt a gruelling week of tricky hybrids, challenging lifts and spins spins spins in the sunny outdoor pool, we asked them to keep a diary so we could all get a little part of the action! Here is said diary.

Miranda, Lilia, Andrea, Bianca & Leyna

Written by Lilia Camilleri (Rockets Team Member)

Day 1

After we woke up we went to breakfast and then we traveled to the pool. We started off with some stretching and soon after it was followed by some team building exercises in which we learned each others names and got to know people from several countries all across the world. Then we went in the pool and did some lengths of exercises which were basically mini hybrids and that was followed by looking at different levels of barracudas and adding spins and legs. Andrea fuentes was telling us how many points each type was worth (the most was 2 points). After that we had a small break before starting to learn about the difficulty charts regarding twirls and spins including unbalanced spins. Then we had lunch which was a 4 hour rest before our next session. In the next session we practiced our artistic impression. The coaches would give us an emotion or an animal and we would have to act like it for half a length including legs and arms. Later we practiced lifts and they put us in groups and we did a balance lift and gave us some great tips. we even managed to do it with the flyer holding their leg up while spinning 90 degrees. After our afternoon session ended, we went to the hotel to get ready for dinner. After dinner they took us out to eat some delicious ice-cream. After the ice-cream we went home and then went to bed.

Day 2

After having some breakfast and travelling to the pool, we did our land training. Half of the time we did gymnastics, for example, handstands and cartwheels. It was really enjoyable! In the other half we did stretching, core and also a bit of back flexibility at the end. After that we went into the pool to start our warm up. Then, we did half lengths (25m) of core and underwater and then soon after we looked at the difficulty chart for rotations which was really interesting. We did unbalanced spins, twists, single leg spins and even attempted 10 unbalanced spins in a row! Afterwards, we walked back for lunch and had our 4 hour rest again. After lunch we went back to the pool and we put some team elements together to make a hybrid. We ended the session with lifts and this time we did a few balance lifts. We also included elements of flexibility within them and then finally we ended the session with duet lifts. We did split lifts and boosts with our partners and then we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. After dinner we explored the market and then went to bed.

Day 3

In the morning we had breakfast and then we went to a different place for gym and land training. For land training this day we did some stretching, followed by handstands and press hand stands. Then we ended the session with a game. We were split into 2 teams and we each had a platform which we had to jump off one by one. We needed to stick the landing and if you didn’t stick the landing then you wouldn’t get a point. Overall, our team won! After gym we walked to the pool. For our morning session we did lengths for warm up and then we went to the side and stretched our splits. After that we got floats to put on our chest and we did vertical positions while spinning. It was quite difficult to keep balance! After that we looked at the difficulty chart for flexibility. So it was all about knights, back flexibility and splits. After we finished we went back for our break, which was a bit longer today. After lunch, we had our rest and then we walked to the pool. The first thing we did was go through some technical team elements and created a hybrid. After that, we also made some very cool arms to match the song we were using for the show. Then we did some balance lifts again and ended with acrobatic lifts. We practiced the bucket lift and our group got really high. Our flyer did a backflip and with the height she got she could have done a double backflip! Today, the coaches had decided to let us finish early because we were all really tired from the lifts. We went back to the hotel, had dinner and went to bed.

Day 4

After breakfast, we walked to the pool/gym. For gym, today, we did strength and conditioning. We did some running games at the beginning and the end. After that we got in the pool and we practiced hybrids, arms and lifts for the talent show and we tried to finish the routine which we didn’t quite manage to do but caught up on friday (day 5). Afterwards, we went to lunch and had our rest. After the rest, we went to the beach for the rest of the afternoon and had been given free time to swim and we took some pictures. After the beach we went back to the hotel. The monitors organised for a man to come in and he gave us a nutrition talk to listen what foods we shouldn’t be eating pre and post swim. This was very useful and quite informative. After this, we had dinner and went to bed to wake up for the next day.

Day 5

Firstly, we had breakfast and then made our way to training to start with gym. Today for gym, we did salsa dancing and then we got into the pool. When we got in the pool, we started with a warm up to get our bodies active. After this, we spent the whole morning session to start putting the routine together. It was not perfect just yet but we had pieced it all together. We mostly focused on the arms and presentation and spent time adding new arms. We then walked back to the hotel for lunch and rest. In the afternoon session, we had to work on making it perfect. We started working mostly on the hybrid so that we made it perfect, neat and synchronised. After that, we worked on our three lifts including a balance lift, a basket lift and a stack flip lift. After we worked on everything separately we started joining it all together until we did the whole thing with music. We ended with our first ever whole swim through. We then went back to the hotel and had a Q&A session with Andrea Fuentes. She told us advice about pain in muscles and cramps and how to help it. We also asked how she felt in the olympics and if it was worse that she wasn’t actually performing and only being represented as a coach. She replied saying that she thought it was interesting being in a different perspective and being the one cheering instead of hearing the cheering from underwater! It was very interesting and she gave a very good insight. After the Q&A we went to sleep ready to wake up for the last day.

Day 6

After breakfast we went to the gym. In the gym, half of the time we worked on our artistic impression. The coaches would tell us to massage our faces to warm them up. Then they turned on some music and wanted us to dance and feel the music. In the second half, we did gymnastics including handstands, press hand stands and finished with back walkovers. Then we walked to the pool. Firstly, we got to pick any figure we wanted to work on and improve and Andrea would film us and give us her feedback. We then spent some time taking the feedback and practicing. Then, we did some solo elements to taps and then we went to lunch. After lunch and rest, we went back to the pool. Then, we went through our routine part by part with the youth group and also made the deck work, which was so good! Finally, we went through the routine 5 times, the whole way through, with music. After this it was time for the show. While the parents started filling in we did a walkthrough and a team cheer. We then went to perform the show, which went smoothly and was so fun! After that they awarded everyone with certificates and a picture with Andrea, Viktor and all the other amazing coaches that helped us. Shortly after we went back to the hotel to perform our talent show, that our monitors organised for us which our parents came to watch. Then we had dinner and we went to bed after an extremely tiring day.

Overall, this camp has been a great experience for us. We made new friends from around the world, learned from the best, and improved our skills. Can’t wait to go again next year!