Acapulco Mexico Training Camp 2005 – 2006

February 28th, 2006 | Dan Kershaw | Newsletter, PROGRAMS, Stingray News, Swim Meets

The Girl’s Perspective

First and foremost, I believe this training camp was an experience that everyone in the senior groups will remember forever. Although we are all used to living with one another due to all of our away meets, it’s very different being with the team for 12 days straight, and in a foreign country. I think that we all learned more about every person on our team, our coach Alan, our ‘mom’ away from home, Gabi, and the culture and lifestyle in Mexico.

The travel from our homes to the villa in Acapulco was a distinct experience in itself. To get to the airport by 4:30 a.m., we had to wake up at 3:00 a.m, which is early even for swimmers. The plane ride from Toronto to Chicago was really short, but the trip from Chicago to Acapulco definitely wasn’t. Two broken planes and eight hours later we finally arrived in the very hot Acapulco!

Waiting for us at the airport was Chico from the villa. We then got our first glimpse at “the Darkness”, our really cool green bus. The ride from the airport to the villa took longer because it was rush hour, but it still proved to be entertaining with the views out the window and the interesting music playing in the background. When we finally got to the villa it was too dark to see much, but it was clear that we were really high up on the cliff. We went swimming in the pool, had dinner and then went to bed excited for the next day.

Waking up to the crisp ocean breeze, and looking out into an endless view of blue sky and water was amazing. It was hard to differentiate between the sky ending and the ocean beginning. In the light we could see that the villa is situated on a rock cliff that is practically hanging over our own private beach below. For the next couple of days we had seven workouts straight. It took us all awhile to get used to long course. I personally found it much harder on the legs, but that might just have been more the walking up the numerous flights of stairs at the villa.

On our second full training day, we went to the bank so that we could exchange money. The banks in Mexico aren’t like the ones here. We had to take a number and then wait for our turn, but Gabi was able to pull some strings so that we were able to get through faster which was really nice. After afternoon practice we went to the grocery store so that we could buy some snacks. The most interesting part was noticing which foods they had more or less of.

On December 30, it was Baylee’s birthday. To celebrate, we sang ‘Happy Birthday’, had cake — and a descending 200’s I.M. set and than a Free set where we were suppose to hold within 80% of our best time, which is definitely harder long course, but it was a fun set nonetheless.

The fourth day, New Years Eve, was awesome. Alan and Gabi kept the evening plan a secret until around 3:00 p.m. when Alan called a team meeting to tell us we would be going out for tacos at Tacos and Beer, seeing the cliff divers, going to a disco for the New Years celebration and then to the beach the next day. For the next hour and a half all of the girls got ready. We got all dressed up, did one another’s hair and make-up, just a nice girl-bonding time. All the girls looked beautiful once it was time to go. The tacos were extremely yummy, so yummy that we went back to Tacos and Beer later in the trip.

The cliff divers were really good — or possibly insane! Either way their dives were very impressive. A couple of our swimmers even got to meet them and on their next dive one of them yelled out: “Canadian Princesses”, romantic but slightly cheesy. The disco was called N Joy. At New Years there was all this flashing of lights and smoke; it really got everyone in the mood to dance. The whole team was together dancing for most of the night and when it was time to go back to the villa most weren’t ready to go. We eventually left and everyone kept on singing and keeping the energy up the entire ride home. Once we got back to the villa several went for a little dip in the pool, and then after a couple of us had a nice talk and bonded over popcorn.

On New Years Day, we convinced Alan to go to the Acapulco Princess Hotel beach instead of a closer beach. The hotel’s waves are huge and as swimmers we just all loved being in the ocean and body surfing. There was a little market by the beach and some people bought some nice souveniers. We had lunch at the hotel and everyone enjoyed his or her meal. The ride home was bumpy, but fun as always. It’s amazing that the stereo never skipped.

After our fun day and a half it was time to get in some work. The next night’s set was a memorable one. We did 9×100 Freestyle descending from 1:20, followed by a 400 I.M. all out. We did that four times! We had five practices in a row . . . and then on Wednesday January 4 we got the afternoon off to go to a market and shop. The next morning we had another I.M. set this time with 3×100 Kick, 30 seconds rest and then a 200 I.M. all out. We did this set four times as well. That night we did 30×100 Freestyle with the fastest interval being 1:20.

Friday January 6 was Erin’s birthday. Alan told us that we were going to go back to the Acapulco Princess Hotel for another beach day. Everyone again enjoyed the waves, went to the market and had a tasty lunch at the hotel. The only difference was that today almost all of the girls got their hair braided. We all worked to try and get the best price possible and we were all pretty satisfied with the results. Once we got back to the villa there was a nice birthday dinner set up for Erin, which everyone enjoyed.

We had the last day of workouts, which were both quite fun – one a 400s Freestyle set and the other one a sprint 100s set. The last day at the villa we all packed up our bags and said goodbye to the staff. To our surprise the CD from “the Darkness”, which we all learned to love during the trip, was given to Gabi so that we could all have it. The plane ride home was a lot quicker than the trip there and everyone had a nice dinner in Chicago. Once we were all home in Toronto, we realized that the Christmas break was over and the next day we had school…..

We all had a really good time and worked really hard, thanks to the efforts of Gabi and Alan and their families. Thanks for the great memories.

Reported by: Steph Cholyk, Senior.

The Guy’s Perspective

Well, where do I begin? It was a long two weeks, and I think some of the swimmers had a rough time surviving. There are so many memories (some good, some just plain funny) and yet only one page to summarize them all, so I will do my best. Where to start?

The first big shock to everyone was the heat, the second, the view. The moment everyone stepped through those sketchy garage doors onto the main floor balcony, everyone was already glued on the railing as they took in the great sea and the glory of the resort 121 stairs below (Eric still believes it was 120!).

The resort was incredible, including the 6-pack a.k.a. the “maid’s room” and the food even better. Every night we enjoyed delicacy after delicacy and generally went to bed stuffed. The staff couldn’t have been kinder to us, namely Chico and Moses, with whom we shared many a laugh.

The guys’ room was great, even with an occasional argument here and there. Since the bathroom had no door, the guys became very comfortable with each other over the two-week time span. One would be taking his morning “bathroom break”, another showering, and a third brushing his teeth, all at the same time… I would say it brought the guys closer together, in a sense.

Workouts were great, too. Long course 50 meter pools, as most would agree, are many times better than the short course 25 meter pools we have back here in Newmarket. Though the workouts were hard, I among other people, felt like I could push myself a lot harder than usual in the pool, and feel that I got the most I could out of this training camp.

I feel the entire group prospered from the time that we had down there although I feel bad for the swimmers without mirrored goggles, because that sun really got to a few people.

Along with training, the group had their days off as well. One of those days was an exciting night at the Disco! After a delicious meal at ‘Taco’s and Beer’, and an exhilarating experience at the ‘Acapulco cliff-dive’, the group went downtown Acapulco to spend New Years night 2005/2006 at a local disco. The guys shared many laughs and actually got up and danced, no matter how embarrassing we looked. Dan lost, and then found his hat and there were many other humorous and shocking experiences that were just the beginning of how the night ended.

With less than six hours of sleep after the Disco, however, the group got up, had our daily serving of pancakes and French toast, and high-tailed it to the beach. The waves were huge, and many people were dominated and destroyed by the ocean, namely Kieran, who was the first to run into the ocean, and also the first to limp out with a sprained ankle.

So with the sunburns, the goggle tans, and the random cheap Mexican paraphernalia, everyone gained a little something down south of the two borders. We had a great time — and would really appreciate going again!

Reported by: Andrew Tamchyna, Senior