Great weekend down at the picturesque Queenscliff with 25 players attending from all grades on both the men’s and women’s side of the club. There was plenty blood, sweat, tears and big hearts. The groups were split evenly into four teams- Trav Sucks, Diff Athletic, Goannas and Boats n’ Hoes. Queenscliff put on some brilliant weather for us and we were well trained by the fitter and better looking of the Blackburn family, Tim.
The Saturday started strangely when Tim’s car broke down 4 times and each of the team’s had to push it 500 metres down the road. The first session had some sprints, boxing, skipping, running with bricks, planking (without the photos on social media) and the highly anticipated game of Trounce Ball. The standard was set high in the first session but there was no vomiting. The second session after lunch saw the Gunner’s crash a wedding on the beach (the groom and bride looked stunning) and had to do some dreaded sandbag runs, sprints, swimming, more sprints and then some beach cricket. Luckily for us the water was perfect and the conclusion of the day, everyone had a dip in the ocean. Club legend Disco Stu whipped up an amazing pasta dish for tea and by then, we were well and truly spent. Many had an early night, others watched the new version of The Karate Kid in anticipation of the UFC fighting on the Sunday morning for points whilst one unnamed player spoke of his disinterest in Rebecca Twigley.
Sunday came and many rose to some sore bodies. We headed to the oval and by 9am, the sun was already warmer than the day before. The players were traumatised by push up-burpies-squats-planking drill before we got into some sprinting. Greg Van Meeuwen, decided to show the club why he was voted club “Bachelor of the Year 1984” by getting his top off and what a rig it still is! We did some competitive longer distance running and some sprinting. These drills enabled some good support between teammates whilst some teams, well all teams engaged in some nasty and humourous sledging.
It came down to the last drill of the weekend but team “Trav Sucks” won the longest plank and won the overall weekend. All team members received vouchers from The Stolberg whilst Meryl, who was battling a cold the entire weekend, showed the most guts and determination and won the Gunner’s Award for best player over the weekend in terms of performance, attitude and teamwork.
It was a great weekend had by all and no doubt a few sore bodies for the week ahead. We are also seeking a sunscreen sponsorship for the 2014 camp if anyone has some good connections. The camp provides a great fitness base for the players going forward in the 2013 season along with some good team bonding between players of all grades. The support amongst all players and teams was exceptional and helped everyone go that one step further. Congratulations to all players who came along and put themselves outside their comfort zoned and challenged themselves to reach their full potential. It is the players with this attitude who will further the club in the future.
Thank you to Tim Blackburn for his excellent training throughout the weekend, Trav “GOAT” Dowling for organising the entire weekend and not going ahead with legal proceedings over one of the team names and to Stuart McCleary for coming down from Bendigo to help us run the weekend and his amazing meal preparation.