Stillwaters onsite training week
19th - 23rd August
The Stillwaters Team hosted their first training week event last week, with young skiers and boarders attending from various other Irish clubs throughout the country. Coach Andrew Skelton looked after the students on the water while Robin Skelton drove the boat for the week. Kiva Skelton and Jenni Skelton kindly looked after the students off the water.
When the skiing stopped the table football, tennis and badminton sets all got a work out.
Participants
Students came from Wake and Ski in Trim, Golden Falls WSC in Ballymore Eustace and from Stillwaters WSC.
Keanna McKibbin from Celbridge
Keziah McKibbin from Celbridge
Uma Prunty, also from Wake ‘n Ski
Kate Callagy from Wake n Ski in Meath
Darragh Hennessy (right) from Wake and Ski
Lauren Hennessy from Wake and Ski
Nathan Skelton from Stillwaters
Peter Skelton from Stillwaters
Hurricane Ernesto
Unfortunately the tail-end of Hurricane Ernesto was still in effect from early on in the week which made for some windy and wet periods. The kids were not phased in the slightest to their credit, and in fact this allowed the coaching team to focus on specific slalom techniques such as managing tail-winds and head-winds. There was also a strong emphasis on the correct body position which also helps in windy conditions. The trickers and wakeboarders didn’t care about the weather, with Kezzy McKibbin nailing some new tricks, including 1-ski back to back 360s and went home with her toe-180 in the bag. Darragh Hennessy got the hang of the monster wakes from the X-Star Mastercraft, booting some nice airs into the flats and dialling in slick blind 180s, and even attempted a tantrum off a roller. Nathan Skelton upped his olly game and had a blast doing doubles sets with Daragh.
The fun bits
It wasn’t all hardcore slalom training and gnarly wakeboarding though, the gang had a crack at wakesurfing (with mixed results) and finished the week with some completely relaxed tubing with completely no wipe outs at all!
A great week’s skiing and boarding
The students were brilliant all week- continuing to suit up and jump back into the lake for their sets despite spells of wind and rain that would have put most people (i.e. adults) off. Despite the weather the training went well which showed in the results at the slalom event at Stillwaters on the following Saturday, where Keanna got a PB and Nathan made his debut!
Shout outs
Credit to the Stillwaters team for arranging a great few days’ training. Thanks also to the Irish Waterski Federation and to Sport Ireland for supporting the event through the Women In Sport initiative and the Her Outdoors campaign. Credit also to the students for their enthusiasm and of course their parents who brought them to the lake every day!
#HEROutdoorsWeek
#EmbraceYourSpace
#FindYourOutdoors.
#WomenInWaterskiing
#IrWWF