12th September 2011 at 09:52PM

So yesterday saw half of Ambition's Childrens Team athletes and coaches get together for a day of crammed full of activities. With a bunch of athletes new to the Ambition setup this coming season, not to mention an all-new coaching lineup, yesterday provided the perfect opportunity to get to know each other away from the mountains!

Unfortunately not everybody could make it yesterday due to either skiing or school commitments (special mention goes to both Ella and Olivia Ward who came 1st and 2nd in their age groups respectively both days at the Welsh Champs this weekend!), but the day was a great success all the same.

After an early start, we were straight on the slope at Hemel for 2 hours of skiing outside of slalom gates, with a few technical drills, but the main aim was just to get 2 hours on skis just enjoying it and having some fun. This was followed by some fitness just before lunch over at the sports track next to the slope. Again, nothing too serious, just a circuits session to begin with to see how the summer fitness training has come along (lots of good planks going on which was good to see) followed by some work on the fit balls, sit fits and balance boards.

The boys enjoying 'The Plank'

Beth 'in the zone' on the balance board

A HUGE thanks goes to Steven and Jackie Smith who without doubt put on a brilliant BBQ at the house at lunch time, which set us up perfectly for some wakeboarding to top the day off! We even had some of the dads join in, giving their coaches a run for their money for sure, especially a certain Mr Tipping who seemed to have some trouble getting up on his board... It seemed that by the end of the session Luke Maynard and Ben Smith had gotten bored of wakeboarding and preferred instead to be dragged around on the cable boardless, each to their own eh...

Will arcing it out on the water

The Oldies getting briefed on their kneeboards

All in all though, a great day and great chance to catch up with everybody. Days like today make you realise that sometimes it's good for teammates to get to know each other away from the snow, and it's something that we'll certainly be doing time and time again in the future. With a brilliant group of kids like those on the Ambition Children's Team this year, both myself and Aaron don't doubt for a second the bright prospects of this coming season.

Until the October Camp...