The coaches who attended were:
2) Mateusz Korzec
1) Enough time to plan and prepare
We focused on throwing / cutting as individual skills and playing against zone defense and defending with a zone, as this is a team skill, that requires a number of players you might not always have at your teams‘ training.
The kids were aged 13-19 and they were tireless. There was a session that was very intense and I was sure that during their lunch break after they eat they will only rest, but they were ready to throw instantly afterwards. We had 1 day with a bit of rain but this didn’t stop anyone – mazing view to see these Kids in the rain!.
It was a good lessons for the coaches and the kids to experience a different type of coaching other than their usual team’s captain. It also showed me that not enough initiatives are targeted at youth – normally they train with their older teammates, often more advanced and experienced, and it’s impossible for their coaches to focus as much on the basics as they should – so the youngsters developed their „basic“ skills like throwing / catching / cutting as they follow an advanced program – I had the impression that they are not receiving as much focus as they would normally require under normal circumstances.
I also believe the core reason for having a minimal interest in the camp for a very long period was the lack of cooperation from the coaches of their teams and the inability for the kids to decide for themselves. If it wasn’t for the surge of the kids from Szczecin’s Ultimate Youth Academy one week before the camp it would have been cancelled. The federation sent out the emails to every team in Poland and they posted invitations to kids on Facebook, but what actually worked was direct access to the kids. Zbigniew is the coach of a fresh junior team from Szczecin and he just said to the kids „We’re going to the camp in Poznan“ and they came. My personal opinion is that coaches of the teams that consist of 1-2 juniors in their squad did not recognize the potential that such camps provide (as it is so much work from them to concentrate on the basics). Hopefully, the successful 2018 Camp will encourage coaches to support the camps more actively in the future to their own benefit and to the benefit to Ultimate in Central Europe.
We also had a 1 day of social activities which we utilised by also attending a line tree park, a „makerspace“ fab lab, playing beach volleyball and having a bonfire at night. All in all kids loved it!
All pictures are here: https://www.facebook.