First International Training Camp for DSS-GB squad Saturday 24th May to Saturday 31st May 2025 Crol Centre, Calella, Spain
Bringing the whole DSS-GB squad together for an extended period of training has been a long-held strategic ambition of the DSS-GB Trustees and Committee. With the generous support of our training camp sponsors One Savings Bank, together with the huge sum raised at the Manchester Marathon by some of our swimmers, parents and These Girls Can Run (Great Park, Newcastle) we were able to realise the dream of taking 36 swimmers away for a whole week together.
The travel specialists Sports Abroad have selected some of the best sports-focused facilities across Europe and were able to recommend a top quality location and hotel for us and coordinate our travels to the glorious 50m 10 lane outdoor pool at the Crol Centre, Calella, Spain. Calella is a seaside resort town close to Barcelona with a super beach for us to enjoy in any down time. Even though you have just trained for 4 hours in a pool, swimming in the sea is still an attractive proposition!
Our hotel, Bernat II was located only a 5 minute walk from the pool, so every day was a very easy commute. A typical day would start with breakfast at 7.30am (the staff at Hotel Bernat II were incredibly attentive and greeted us every day with enthusiasm), a 2 hour hard swim in the morning followed by a 1-to-1 coach/swimmer feedback session. After lunch (a huge choice of freshly prepared food at every meal), the swimmers had down time and rest before a 2 hour afternoon swim focusing more on technique. Each swimmer had a diary to complete with their goals and coach feedback – an invaluable resource to take home to remind the swimmers and embed learning. With dinner at 7.30pm, the swimmers were able to enjoy social time in the evenings playing cards, table football, pool or just “chillin”.
Over 6 days, the swimmers never faltered in their positive approach and appetite for more. Sports Abroad on a site visit praised the squad: “we’ve never met a more enthusiastic team – absolutely brilliant” – a huge tribute indeed from a company that has been organising swimming camps for 20 years!
Lead Coach Neil Lacey was full of praise for the performance of the whole team: “The camp was a fantastic experience for all the swimmers, coaches and support. The week provided ten sessions of swimming with harder sessions in the morning followed by technical sessions later in the day. The swimmers adapted very well to the set programme and got stronger as the week moved on – it was fantastic to see their appetite to learn and progress. The daily review sessions with the coaches have given all the swimmers plenty to work on as they go back to their clubs and start their final preparations as we build towards the DSISO European Championships in Portugal. DSS-GB have provided an opportunity for our swimmers at a first class training facility in a warm climate and they have all risen to the challenge with enthusiasm, hard work and a smile on their faces. We are all so excited for the Euros in October.”
Team Manager Julie Evens said “The benefit of spending a whole week together cannot be underestimated. For the swimmers, the chance to spend time with their peers, both in and out of the pool, provided a great team-building opportunity. For the coaches and poolside support team, it really allowed us to get to know the swimmers as individuals whilst sharing training ideas and learning from one another. All of these things mean that DSS-GB will head off to the European Championships as a much stronger team.”
The swimming week culminated with a hotly contested relay with the Norwegian squad members of Barumsvommerne (“Norway’s best swimming club”. The Viking Sharks team came away with the victory, although everyone involved were winners. The camaraderie created within swimming is hard to beat. Thank you to the Norwegian national coaches and the BSV swimmers for being such good sports.
Finally, the social highlight of the week was not in fact Tuesday night’s Boogie Bingo organised by Karen, Karen and Sandra (thank you ladies), but the highly anticipated DISCO on Friday night. A lot of exhausted swimmers still managed to pull out all the stops, dancing the night away until the plug was pulled on the music at the hotel curfew time. With early starts the next morning to head back to Barcelona airport, this was probably a good thing.
We would like to give enormous thanks to the 36 swimmers for their total focus and commitment, Julie Evens as team manager for the entire adventure including arranging the Swim England international permits, TM Kathryn Stephenson for travel/camp arrangements (including a site visit last year) and coordinating the Manchester Marathon fundraising, and to Neil Lacey as lead coach with his team of “poolsiders” – coaches Alex Freeland, Betty Logan, Helen McDonnell, Sandra Proudfoot and Terry Raddings, supported by TMs Julie Evens, Ian Logan, Beatrice Rouyer-Brown, Kathryn Stephenson, Joh Sydenham, Tracey Turner, and Welfare Officer John Conway. The most innovative team, constantly learning and evolving to meet the changing learning needs of such an ambitious squad, walking miles up and down the pool in full sun and heat, and making themselves available for the invaluable 1 to 1 feedback sessions. All in all DSS-GB is a phenomenal machine – great job EVERYONE.
We would like to thank One Savings Bank for their continued support of DSS-GB training camps. We would also like to thank These Girls Can Run for running in the Manchester Marathon to raise funds for this training week and by so doing raise awareness of the incredible swimmers of Down Syndrome Swimming Great Britain.
