Youth Kitesurfing & Hunstanton Training Camp

The British Youth Kitesurfing Training Program is the official BKSA Elite Youth Training program. It really feels like progress is being made both within each individuals ability and the increasing numbers of young people who are learning through various BKSA schools. The evidence is that the junior category is now the biggest category in the British Kitesurfing Championships.

At the 3rd round of the program 6 people aged 13-16 took part. They have been on the program for up to 2 years. The 6 had clearly been working hard on their tricks since the last round in May. Cameron’s technical ability had rocketed landing 4 different handle passes in one session. Harry’s power as always was through the roof, but this time his technical ability had somewhat developed to. Tom who is probably our smallest rider has some incredible tricks under his belt and Toby had put some serious work in to both his strength and ability on the water since we had last seen him. Stan and Ollie are our newest riders on the block and they had been practicing front rolls, unhooked raleys and unhooked back rolls with heel side and toeside landings.

Our camp was a mixed bag of conditions and despite a forecast for just 14mph we were blessed with 25 mph.

We used day 1 to do on the water coaching where all 6 riders were busting tricks alongside coaches George and Jo. British Champion, George Dufty worked with the more technical fellas to help them increase their potential to land air passes, while I worked with Ollie, Stan and Toby to help them improve their technical level too. The boys tricks were filmed by Will Rockcliffe from Hunstanton Sailing Club giving us plenty of footage to analyse the following day when the wind was forecasted to be light and offshore.

For the youth coaching program there is a lot more involved then just kitesurfing and so its essential that we split our time between being on the water and being off the water. This round we continued with the topic of injury prevention which involved learning about knee & shoulder injuries and how to help prevent them. It incorporated essential lessons on safety with particular reference to deep water pack downs and the all essential ‘tie off’. In addition and particularly relevant to this camp we covered the all important element of competition riding. All 6 riders were registered for the finals of the British Championships which ran this weekend

With both classroom based topics, land based activity and on the water kitesurfing it seemed as though the camp went well and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. Their kitesurfing abilities progressed and their friendships did to. Although the following day, stormy saturday didn’t see the juniors compete due to overly testing conditions (40-50 knots) they all went free riding having fun as a crew of similar aged buddies - an impressive sight and a Team GB in the making.

The Championships for 2016 is now complete leaving this Autumn & Winter for the riders to keep training. Cameron and Tom are embarking on a full term at the World Class Kitesurf Academy while Harry, Stan, Toby & Ollie will continue to work hard on their home surf. The next Youth Training Event is in Barrow on 18/19th September.

The results of the Overall British Championships are as follows for the Juniors:

1st Place: Cameron Auld (Airush)

2nd Place: Harry Way (Slingshot)

3rd Place: Tom Seagar (North)

4th Place: Toby Cooke (Naish)