This one time, at skate camp...

This weekend, two friends and I headed to Sheffield for this year's NISA adult development camp. I came back three friends better off and having tried my hand at not only skating, but also at being a showgirl, a ballet dancer and so much more.

Ok, so I also had it reinforced to me that I'm (stealing a friend's term here) severely choreographically challenged (!) - but I actually didn't fare as badly as I would have suspected.

If you haven't been to a camp and are thinking about it, I would absolutely urge you to grab a couple of friends and get yourselves there. We had an absolute blast from beginning to end.

The classes
finished earlier in the evening than last year, so we still had time to get showers and change, then head for food and the pub. Last year, there was barely time to eat before just going straight to bed.

I doubt the poor pub landlady was so grateful when we decided it was a good idea to practice our new moves in there....And when a group of superheroes walked in - yes, actual superheroes -  mid-dramatic ballet routine, well that just made our night. If only we could have got pictures of Batman's face. The "ballet" will have to do:

If just taking the on ice classes into account, I didn't really feel I learned a lot this year to be brutally honest.
This was the opposite of last year. But, for me, a lot of it was a repeat as I was in the same "low" group both times so we worked on all the same things.

The coaching was great, but the way the days were organised meant we were only on the ice for half an hour at a time for most sessions, which was a bit of a faff on - boots on, boots off, boots on, boots off....

In total honesty, I'd say there were still a few issues with the camp that I'd like to see ironed out for next time.

The dancers were on the ice at the same time as the free skaters at some points, which in my opinion was nothing short of dangerous. I did put that in my feedback last year, but the same thing happened again. Just try 15 people all heading off to do Salchows just as a herd of pattern dancers are cutting through the middle of you all. Not cool. There were quite a few times when I didn't even do whichever element the coach had asked for because, with the limited time, plus the dancers, I often ended up doing a few backward crossovers, looking for a space, then just running out of time before I'd even jumped etc.

There was also an issue of having two different coaches throughout the day, but neither knowing what the other had done specifically, so I heard the same advice repeated and was given some repeated exercises to do. I appreciated the coaches asking what we would like to work on rather than just coming in with a lesson plan, but I would have liked to see more edge work or fun 'different' exercises. I can't help but feel when it's left up to skaters, all they can think to say is "salchows" or "toe loops".

All that said, the coaches WERE great, and it would be pretty tough to please all the people all the time. To some extent, I guess it's perhaps a good thing that I didn't feel I learned an awful lot - other people DID feel they learned a lot - so maybe that just tells me I already have a super-duper coach who gives me all the right advice and exercises.

The off-ice, just as last year, was fantastic. It was also different to last year, which was great. We did some stretching and flexibility, jump exercises and balance with one of the coaches, then tried out different kinds of dance with another. And despite going into the dance classes with a feeling of pure undiluted dread, I actually found I really enjoyed it and didn't even mind looking a total fool because it was so much fun anyway.