Ahead of this year’s National County Team Championships, county coach David Vine and team manager Julie Burvill report on a squad team-building session at Wild Wood Adventure in Guildford.
This was the first time we have undertaken an outdoor team-building event and fun was had by all. The ‘Wild Trials’ session was designed for the swimmers to get to know one another and build confidence in being together before the major national event.
Having woken to heavy rain in the morning, it looked as though the weather might dampen spirits somewhat. But a little rain wasn’t going to put the Surrey team off. Indeed, not only did they bring the sun out but they also brought nerves of steel with them for the trials.
It was an awesome experience and the right thing to do. The swimmers loved it and got to know one another so much better
Over the course of two hours the swimmers put themselves through a series of challenges, including getting four harnessed members of your team over high-rise crate stacking.
Alex Armstrong, Ben Rowett, Charlie Trotman and Matthew Ferguson won the challenge, going 10 crates high, with all four managing to stand on top before it all came crashing down.
The Gladiator Challenge saw all the swimmers scale a piece of high-rise apparatus under timed conditions. Their competitive nature came to the surface and from the first team, Kiera Heney and Alex Armstrong were fastest to the top.
In the second team, not to be outdone, were Kirstie Flynn and Paige Coombs. Their forfeit for being fastest was that they had to scale it again – only this time blindfolded.
The zip-line proved popular as the teams took it in turns to race down in pairs. This was followed by putting all your trust and judgement into a ‘leap of faith’ – stepping off a 15m platform.
Alicia Peinado, one of the youngest members, volunteered to go first. No pressure, team, as everyone else had to follow. The bravest award went to Lucy Moores, who put her fears aside as she stepped off the platform.
The aim of this was to bring the team closer together than we have in previous years – and I really feel this was achieved
At the end of the trials, David gathered the team and announced the captains for Sheffield in two weeks’ time: Tilly Hansen-Hamilton (Guildford City SC) and Matthew Ferguson (Woking SC).
Well done to everyone for your amazing participation and we look forward to seeing you in a fortnight.
Julie Burvill & David Vine