In preparation for the upcoming 2006 World Championships in Australia, several members of the Canadian National Lifesaving team trained in Fort Lauderdale for a week after Christmas.

The training camp was held in Fort Lauderdale for several reasons: it's hot in December in south Florida; the driving distance to bring athletes and equipment; a cheaper option than being in Australia for another week; this camp would not interfer with school and work commitments.

The following was their typical daily training schedule: pool practice 5-7, for the swimmers with strong backgrounds; pool practice 7-9 for the other athletes; breakfast; beach 11-2; pool practice for all 4-6pm; dinner. The morning pool practices were typically swimming based, with the afternoon's working on transitions inside sets.

The beach was a mix of basic fitness work: abs, pushups, front-ups, side ups, auz stretches, piggybacks in and out of the water on the beach, wheel barrow on the beach, more abs, and lots of running in and out of the water on the beach.

There were 2 mornings where the board athletes competed in a 2 mile board race (paddle 1 mile along the beach, then paddle 1 mile back). This was done inside a race atmosphere where there were roughly 30 plus other athletes. Day 1 was in Fort Lauderdale and, Day 2 was West Palm Beach (10 plus miles north of Fort Lauderdale). Here’s the results from the 8 teams that competed.

There are currently 3 members on Canada's National team in Australia. They have been training in Australia for months, one of the athletes has been there since Sept of 2005! Another member of Canada's team is currently living in southern California and is training daily on the water in her ski and board.

It was a very successful training camp. Thanks to:
The Canadian Military team, its’ athletes and its’ support team;
Doug Ferguson for organizing equipment and a trailer for transportation of it;
The athletes who took time to better themselves when most people are relaxing during the holidays;
Kendra and Haylie Burton - for making it possible for me to host the camp by coming along and letting me still spend time with family at Christmas