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Whitchurch Hockey Men’s Performance Squad Team Building Weekend - August 2014 - Morfa Bay

At the start of August the Men’s performance squad travelled to Morfa Bay Adventure for a weekend of pre-season team building.

Below is an insight into how the weekend went from squad member Gareth Thomas.

The squad arrived bright and early Saturday morning in Carmarthen ready and raring to go for Camp. Coach Greg had given them an extensive list of clothing and items to take - everything but the kitchen sink - so they already had a good workout session from hauling their bags around before they had even started!

Before the activities started we were unsure what to expect, but were soon divided into four teams, with four captains: Ted, Phil, Neil and Dougie.

For the first activity, Ted and Dougie’s teams were pitted against Phil and Neil’s teams in a variety of challenges. These included blindfolded catch, skipping, skiing, football, and also challenges involving buckets of water; something Coach Greg was a victim of.

Archery then followed, which proved a challenge to Doug, Greg and Andy. Several shorts ended up hitting the fencing rather than the target, and an owl, aptly nicknamed Hedwig, was nearly incapacitated with an arrow. JJ and Geraint proved to be the masters of this activity and in a final shoot off JJ came out on top. He celebrated his win by proudly wearing a lumberjack shirt for the evening.

The high ropes and abseil were next. Alun Welsh completed the abseil effortlessly in only two jumps. These activities were accompanied with some team singing, some play fighting, and Rhodri “Spiderman” Ryland teaching Andy “Simba” Gray how to roar.

The pinnacle of Saturday’s activities, which everyone was looking forward to, was the muddy assault course. This consisted of walls, nets, tyres, tunnels, a rope swing and many more challenging sections. The squad was again split into two teams, with the losing team subjected to extra fitness.

Before they had even begun the course, the teams warmed up on the log run. The assault course was challenging and competitive, with Phil and Neil’s team catching the leading group and Rhys Welsh tactically slowing down to influence the race. The teams had to then repeat the log run, and worked hard knowing that food and alcohol were waiting at the end. Unbeknown to the teams, that wasn’t the end, as they were told that they had to do the assault course all over again, in what was nicknamed “secret fitness”. Greg threw in the towel at this point, potentially out of fear of upstaging the rest of the group with his fast pace. In the end, Dougie and Ted’s team were victorious, with yet more fitness to do to finish the day and the losing team having to do double the amount.

The group refuelled during the evening with a delicious BBQ, which was savoured that little bit more following the strenuous day of activities. After demolishing all the food on offer, they moved onto the day’s fines. Plenty of drinks were consumed, and this made for some valuable team bonding, that then moved onto the local watering hole. Running around all day had clearly made some squad members extra hungry and a curry was in order before retiring to bed. The final challenge of the day involved trekking up the enormous hill to get back to the accommodation, before crashing out for a good night’s sleep.

An early morning followed the night before, with some people nursing sore heads at breakfast. First on the agenda was a trip to the beach for a raft building competition. Much to Tom’s despair, it was decided that they were man enough not to need wetsuits, choosing to brave the Welsh sea water. The aim of the task was to build a raft in teams of 7, take two trips out to sea, passing around one of the instructors as they went, then dismantle the raft back on the beach. The first team to complete would be victorious. Phil’s team made a good start, finishing their impressive looking raft in record speed, but this lead didn’t last long, and the team finished last. Iwan’s efforts earned him an award for holding his team’s raft together and being a “raft hero”.

The performance squad and coach would like to thank all the organisers, especially the instructors who made the weekend what it was. They made all the activities fun and always went the extra mile to make sure they all had an enjoyable experience. Overall the camp was a huge success; it brought the group closer together, helped with fitness, team building and will hopefully help with their National League hockey campaign this year.

To view more photos from the weekend please visit the gallery page (http://whitchurch-hc.com/gallery.html)

Some information about Morfa Bay

Morfa Bay Adventure is a family run organisation near Pendine with over 25 years of experience in the outdoor adventure industry.

Outdoor activities include:

Abseiling / Rock Climbing

Archery

Body Boarding

Caving

Go Karting

High Ropes/Zip Line

Laser Combat

Mountain Biking

Mud Assault Course

Paintballing

Raft Building

Sumo Wrestling

Quad Biking

Walking

Adventure activities include:

Bushcraft

Coasteering

Gorge Walking

Land Yachting

Paddle Boarding

Sea Kayaking

Surfing

So whether it is a residential activity week, weekend, full day or even an afternoon, there are numerous activity options to choose from. Please visit their website http://www.morfabay.com/