Boot Camp

I've been talking about this to James Black, what are your thoughts about?

1. Us hosting this in der warehouse.
   
2. the concept of such a thing
   
   

I like the idea ............

Hi Harvey,

I've been thinking a lot about a weekend polo boot camp and I think it's a great idea.

I'd like to propose doing one over a weekend in late April and then another in May if the demand is there. I'd like to do the first one for individuals and the next one for teams. Maximum of 12 players. Entry fee in the region of £25 per person. This includes 12 hours of coaching over the weekend (10am to 5pm, breaking for lunch), covers the cost of some refreshments, gives Cambridge some money for the court and gives me some money for my time. Compared to things like track coaching (£150 per person for a similar thing) or a new tyre, I think the cost is negligible for something that will have a hugely positive impact on your polo game.

Players (London/Cambridge/wherever they come from) could arrive Friday, play an icebreaker throwin tournament (4 teams, round robin) hang out, sleep in the warehouse if they travelled. Coaching Saturday day and then throwins from about 5pm and the same on Sunday. Hopefully this wouldn't impact on Cambridge's scene as a whole too much?

Let me know your thoughts, dates that might work etc.

Interesting. I'd probably give it a go. I'd like to think I'm fairly aware of my failings but I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff I don't know.

definitely in and a great idea of James' to get the court more use. if cambs players want to play polo they can go to barnwell or arbury for a day out on the sunday!

will the training be one on one or en-masse though? like, how are different skill levels taken into account? is the assumption that all players would be of one skill level? just interested, either way i'm going.

i'm definately up for this, sounds perfect! i've never been that great but not playing for ages has made me even worse. wanna get back into polo and a dedicated polo training camp may be exactly what i need. IN.

sounds bloody good to me .

what a load of wank

will the training be one on one or en-masse though? like, how are different skill levels taken into account? is the assumption that all players would be of one skill level?

Hopefully a combination of both one on one and en-masse. We'd have scheduled time for group coaching but I'd obviously be around for the whole weekend to cover things individually if requested. Before it all happened I'd want some contact with everyone attending - it would probably involve filling out a standard questionnaire I use. This would give me an idea of material to cover with the group that would be of maximum benefit to everyone, as well as ideas for individual material to cover.

Different skill levels are not as much of an obstacle as you might think and I think there are a lot of situations where this is actually beneficial. For example, I don't like to outline the correct strategy for any drill. The reason for this is because as players start to work out the correct strategy for themselves, they communicate with each other. The better players will explain to worse players why the strategy is correct which is good for both sides. I've seen people start a passing drill pretty much unable to pass but after 30 minutes of work, they have the drill down smoothly because the better players are helping them get to their level and accounting for their mistakes.

I would hope it would attract a range of players and that it would be a supportive learning environment regardless of ability. I do think intermediate players would get more benefit than total beginners though.

I might be interested in this

I'm in and happy to do stuff to make it happen ( non intellectual things like picking up faeces and emptying bins, making tea)
There had better be a wipe board and gratuitous press ups for insubordination

I'm interested too, if anyone needs intensive training its me!