We’re involved in 7 camps in 7 weeks this winter! The program has been planned by Head Coach Luca Bormolini. Here’s what Assistant Coach Emil Bormetti, who hails from Livigno, Italy, says about our 3rd camp, the Future Stars Camp, where over 20 athletes participated, along with our fantastic assistant coaches Martina, Lynn-Maree, Mark, Ryan and Kim, plus our parent helpers and other helpers, including Abbie, Elaine, Li, John, Gen, Phil, Michael, Zeke, Steven and Neil.
“The Future stars camp started on the 9th and went until the 16th July.
Once all the kids were in Currawong, and we’d had dinner we did the presentation of the staff, explained some rules and displayed the program for the day after! After the meeting Martina and Emil did a game with the children to get to know each other.
The first day of the camp was on Monday!
The guys woke up at 7 am and went for a run at 7:15, before breakfast at 7:30. We met at the range at 8:50 and begin training at 9 am. We split the groups, with half skiing with Martina, and the others shooting with Emil. They then swapped groups and continued till 12. At 12:30 we met back at Currawong for lunch, and we did this every weekday.
In the afternoon at 14:30 we went to ski and play some games at Wire Plain for one and a half hours, after that we came back and we did some stretching and dryfiring. We had dinner together at 18:30, and after that there was the meeting at 19:45! At every meeting, we displayed the program for the next day, and spoke about what had happened during the day.
After the meeting there was always an activity, and the activity for Monday was a movie, shown on the projector. After we finished the movie we went to sleep content and tired.
After lunch at 14:30 we went to ski at Wire Plain and we did an excursion at Christmas Hills, after that we went to Currawong and at 16:30 we made the Tiriamisù all together. After we finished in the kitchen we did some stretching and at 18:30 we had dinner. At 19:45 we did the meeting and after that at 20:00 we went to hiking into the forest and we played a game called “ Candle snatch”. After the game when we came back from the forest, we had the tiramisù and then later we went to sleep.
Day 3: Wednesday 12-6-17
After lunch we went to ski at 14:30 and we did some classic skiing, so that the guys could practice another technique. Finished with the ski we came back to the lodge and we played “Pass the parcel”, were everyone had to do some challenges. After the game we had dinner, meeting and at 20:00 we did the Italian lesson with the kids.
After that we went to sleep.
Day 4: Thursday 13-6-17
Like every day, after lunch we had some activities, on Thursday afternoon at 15:00 a person from ASADA came to Currawong to explain to the kids what the antidoping control is. It was really interesting for the guys and also for the coaches and the parents. After that lesson we went in the kitchen and we made the gnocchi with the italian music that made the atmosphere really Italian. After we finished cooking everything we had dinner, then the meeting and at 20:00 the karaoke.
After lunch we went to ski at 15:00 for 1h and for the first half an hour we did skiing with some technique and the other half an hour we played a game called “Scarecrow tiggy”.
After the ski we came back to the lodge and we did a waxing lesson with Luca. After the lesson we dived the kids into two groups. The first group went with Emil to wax the skis and the other group was with Martina to do some stretching. After we finished waxing the skis and stretching they swap the group and the group that was doing stretching went to wax the skis and the other went to do stretching. At 18:30 there was the dinner and the meeting at 19:45, were Luca explained everything about the race on Saturday. After the meeting the guys finished to scrape the skis and after that they went to sleep.
Day 6: Saturday 15-6-17
On Saturday morning there was the race for everybody! The contest was a relay, composed by 5/6 people were they had to shoot prone and standing, and tag the next team mate once they had shot twice, and once everyone else had gone, they had to do another time twice, meaning a total of four shoots each.
After the race we had lunch at 12:30 and after that at 15:00 we went running and we did strength exercises until 16:30. At 17:00 there was the race ceremony with the last meeting, were Luca explained the contest for the race on Sunday and we gave everybody a certificate for the Camp. At 18:30 we had dinner and after that some people waxed their skis, other people were singing and/or dryfiring.
Day 7: Sunday 16-7-17
On Sunday morning the weather conditions were really good, and we did the last race. It was another relay but with a different kind of contest. The team was composed of 2 people were they had to shoot 8 times each. One shoot and after they would tag the next team mate and continue until both of them had shot 8 times. the second person then did the finishing loop to complete the race. After the race there was the ceremony and we took a picture all together, and after that we went to Currawong and we had the last lunch together.
After this camp, I am very encouraged by what I’ve seen. I learned a lot, like that nothing is impossible with enough hands and enthusiasm!
I hope that the guys enjoyed this camp and that Australian Biathlon has camps like this in the future.”
Emil