Sandown Park Ski Racing Club Camp Forms & Guidelines

SPSRC Website : Information : Camp Forms & Guidelines

Introduction to Snow Camps

We run up to six snow camps each year; summer glacier training in Saas Fee or Tignes; October half-term glacier training in Saas Fee or Tignes & pre-Christmas training camps in Engelberg or Meribel. The race camps are the BARSC races over the New Year holiday; the English Championships during February half-term & the British Championships at Easter (also including the Scottish Championships). We also conduct training during race camps.

Typically most camps are 10 days, except the British Championships which are 14 days. The summer & October camps focus on fitness & technique, whilst the BARSC, English & British are all race camps.

In general we don't take children under 8 on snow camps. If, in exceptional circumstances, an under 8 attends a snow camp they must be accompanied by a parent. From 8 we expect them to start attending some snow camps and for each family to participate in at least two snow camps each year by the time children are in their final "mini" year. This is consistent with the club's status as an Alpine Club with plastic training facilities, not solely a plastic training club.

We do not recommend the October camp for Minis as the weather can be unpleasant. We ask that when a mini attends their first camp they have a parent with them. If they settle well they're welcome on future camps without a parent but as a general rule we expect under 10s to be accompanied. The management committee is reviewing child protection issues & may, in the future, need to make it mandatory for all under 10s to be accompanied by a parent.

So which camps should you do? If you do two camps then we'd recommend the summer camp & then either the pre-Christmas or Easter camps. We hope though that every family will participate in at least three camps to help keep the cost per child down. In this case we'd recommend the summer camp, the pre-Christmas camp & the Easter camp. As they get older & move into Children I, then October, the BARSC & the English Championships become options.

This is a members' club & should evolve to reflect the breadth of aspirations of current members. It is clear the club works best when children of a similar age do a similar amount of snow camps & races with the club. For those children and juniors who want to do more snow skiing than we organise we have contacts at other organisations able to help.

Our Junior trainees sometimes train in different locations to allow them to prepare for FIS races. This is especially vital in their first junior season when they need to score points before the first British races to improve their start numbers.

Snow-camp objectives evolve as the children get older. With minis our main objective is for them to get miles and miles under their skis. Fast, technical, free skiing; bumps, jumps, different snow conditions etc etc. And we want them to have real fun and develop a feel for the snow and a love of skiing. As they get older moving into and beyond Children, we progressively increase the amount of gate or race training.

A huge amount of work goes into organising camps (hence the never ending call for volunteers to spread the workload). The one thing you can do to help immediately is to decide early which camps you'll attend. This allows us to book the right number of hotel rooms at the most advantageous rates, book flights early at lower costs, secure the right number of trainers to optimise the training ratios & generally make life easier & less expensive for everyone.

We advise the dates long in advance, so please make your plans & commit as soon as possible as this makes life much simpler for those volunteers undertaking the extensive organisation.

Booking Form

Click Here for a down-loadable copy of the booking form that needs to be completed and signed for each racer for each camp. Forms should be submitted as early as possible to help planning and in any event no later than 8 weeks before the camp or as advised by e-mail.

Once you have completed it you can e-mail it to Heidi Colley by clicking here and attaching the completed form to your e-mail. Alternatively you can post the form to Heidi at the address below.

Cheques for camp deposits (£500 per week plus flight cost as advised for racers and £200 per week plus flight cost for parents) should be sent to Heidi Colley at 33 Latchmere Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT2 5TP or preferably make a bank transfer (Barclays Bank (Staines branch), Sort Code: 20-81-11, Account No.: 00308234, Account Name: Sandown Park Ski Racing Club). Payment for the deposit must be made at the same time as the booking.

Trainee Declaration

For the camps to operate effectively, there are certain rules that have been developed to ensure that a code of conduct is understood and adhered to.

Prior to each camp each trainee must electronically 'sign' the rulles the rules by filling in the form with their name and the date and then returning them to Pauline Fail and Jo Carpenter by clicking here and attaching the completed form to your e-mail. Alternatively they can download the form and sign it and hand it to Pauline or Jo at the club.

The Rules and Declaration can be downloaded by Clicking here

Consent Form

Click Here for a down-loadable copy of the consent form that needs to be completed for each racer each year.

Once competed, please e-mail the form to Pauline Fail and Jo Carpenter by clicking here and attaching the completed form to your e-mail. Alternatively you can download the form and sign it and hand it to Pauline or Jo at the club.

Snow Camp Guidelines

1. The children should spend as little time travelling as possible so that they do not get overtired before the camp starts. To meet this we fly them to the nearest most convenient airport and then transport by coach to the resort.

2. The housemother, if possible, should not be a parent so that all the children are on an equal footing. Care at the resort is essential and all the children's needs are met from the youngest mini through to the eldest junior.

The housemother should always to be in attendance at the bottom of races with hot drinks, blankets etc. and should accompany injured children to receive medical attention. (if parents are not available)

3. Accommodation. Not to have more than 3 children to a room. To room them within their age groups - essential during race weeks. To go to bed at an acceptable time taking into account the early hours they often get up to ski. To have a rest in the afternoons before fitness. Keep to 2* or better hotels (within our price restrictions). This is to enable the children to get plenty of sleep and rest so they can perform at their best at races. Races can be won by hundreths of a second.

4. Children should be given the opportunity to take and do school work during camps.

5. As much information as possible should be given to parents in letters detailing camps. Type of information required is hotel information, exchange rates details of houseparenting and race information

6. If possible to keep to no more than 8 children per trainer

7. To have top quality trainers for all the children - minis also. Everybody pays the same for the trainers

8. Report by trainers and housemother to the parents of each child

Rules for Racing Parents!!

These guidelines are primarily for the racing camps when pressures and tempers are high.

ON THE MOUNTAIN

1. Unless the trainer specifically requests your help, please do not interfere whilst training is in progress. We are certain you would like to discuss your child's progress at some stage, however, the hotel is the place for this.

2. On the longer camps, the trainers may well feel that it is necessary for the children to have a break. We appreciate that their time on snow is expensive and it is important to get as much snow training as possible, however, when there are races at the end of a camp they will not give their best if they are tired. The British teams need rest days and the racers are older and probably fitter than our children.

3. To gain maximum benefit from the camps it is essential that the children are fit. Kevin is always prepared to provide a fitness programme though most parents, we are certain, are aware of the type of training necessary from Sunday morning fitness.

OFF THE MOUNTAIN

House-parenting is not always easy, especially when there are 24 children from minis to juniors! We always appreciate your help and frankly with so many young trainees, we are relying on the parents who stay at the hotel to give general backup if needed. However, there are just one or two areas where we request your assistance.

1. When Parents are staying with the camp, they must remember that the house-parent is in overall control of the children's routine and mealtimes. It is very important that she has total control of the trainees' timetable, whether training or racing, because any individual disruption may well be at the expense of the group as a whole. Remember it is not easy for a house-parent to look after your child under your gaze. Please help by not interfering.

2. All parents have their views on bedtime (and so do the children!), however, the camps are very busy with skiing, fitness and ski preparation and by the end of the day the children are generally exhausted, even the older ones. Although a bedtime of 8.30 may seem early, it must be remembered that a 6am rise is also early - in effect the clock has changed a few hours. Tired children do not win races.

3. Once the children have been sent to bed, we request that parents do not visit them in their rooms until after breakfast the next morning. This is to prevent other children in the room being disturbed

4. Although the house-parents have details of any health problems, we have decided to give all the children an identification label in case of an accident on the hill. This is to ensure that their name, hotel and any medical problems are known immediately. These labels will be worn around their necks, under their outer ski clothing.

5. Banned Substances. It is necessary to remind parents that banned substances in the form of medication will NOT be administered to any child on any of the camps by the house-parent or by the trainers. Parents should update themselves on which substances are banned and which medications include them. Drugs like Night Nurse, Lemsip and some cough mixtures have a concoction of drugs (including banned substances). If parents on the camp insist on administering a banned drug it is totally their responsibility and nothing to do with Sandown. None of the house-parents will be allowed to administer a banned drug at the request of the parents at home in England. There has been drug testing in the past and there will be in the future. Any child can be asked to take a test.

6. Allocation of Bedrooms. There is always going to be a problem but parents have to realise that it is not always easy to put their child with his/her preferred friend. This move may affect other children, may create a disruptive room, or mix age groups (we try to keep juniors away from children during races as they have a different timetable). A lot of time is spent organising the rooms and experiences from the past are taken into consideration. However, the final decision is totally left to Kevin and the House-parent during the journey to the resort and we would like parents to accept these final decisions in the interests of all the children.

7. It is the responsibility of the parents to make it plain to their children that they are on a race camp not a holiday. The use of cigarettes, alcohol or drugs will not be tolerated. The children on the camp are there to race and any child who is breaking these basic rules may be asked not to come on any future camps.

GENERAL

1. Ski Preparation. Please make certain your child goes on the camp with his/her own ski preparation equipment. This includes if possible their own irons, clamps and stands as tables for attaching clamps are generally in short supply. Please make sure all equipment is named. The children need there own waxing equipment as it cannot be guaranteed that they can borrow somebody else's equipment. In any case, if a child is selected for the British Children's Team that child will be expected to have its own equipment.

2. Insurance and Registration. Please ensure that the insurance is for race training and that your child is registered with the ESC.

3. Helmets. Helmets are compulsory for Giant Slalom and Super-G. No helmet means no race!.

These small points are to ensure the smooth running of the camp. You are very welcome to stay in the same hotel as the children, subject to availability, but we must ensure that the children's

SPSRC Website : Information : Camp Forms & Guidelines