Gizie & John's Summer in Europe?
Coaches Clinic - South of France - July 3-12, 2006

Barefoot Central representatives, World Champion Gizella (Gizie) Halasz and I attended a Coaches Clinic held in the south of France in a town called Albaron, about 1hrs drive from Marseille. The organiser of this unique clinic is Hilmar Wehner, one of Europe’s leading coaches. The concept of the clinic is for skiers to bring their coaches with them. Coaches have the opportunity to learn from each other, develop better coaching techniques and how to get the best out of their footer. The clinic ran for 12 days with 16 skiers and 6 coaches participating from Germany, France, Hungary, South Africa and Australia. The main coaches headed by Hilmar included myself, Zane DeVilliers and Gizie Halasz. Other coaches on hand were Patrick Wehner, Patrick Oudet and Bruno.

The towboat was a Charger powered by a 200hp Suzuki 4 stroke on the back. A very suitable combination for this type of clinic as the boat was on the water from 7am to 12pm and then again from 3pm to 8pm. Its fuel economy was excellent.

Jump coaching and training was on the water first thing each day to take advantage of the glass water on the home straight. Those not participating had the pleasure of a later start around 9am. Main stream jumpers were Lukas Heiss, Zane DeVilliers, Clemont, Geoffroy and Svenja. All were working on their inverted jump styles. Coach and video analyst, Hilmar, was set up on the dock whilst Zane and I shared the driving. By the time the jumpers had finished the girls had surfaced from their beauty sleep and made their way onto the water.

There were six girls in total, with varied ages between 12 to 28 years, from Germany, France and Hungary. It proved to be very entertaining managing the bilingual aspect of the group. Instructions, demonstrations and drills were provided in South African, Australian and Hungarian (luckily Giz could speak fluent Hungarian). Everyone assisted each other with translating when needed which lead to many laughs in the boat. The level of footing among the girls was diverse. Some were just learning for the first time, others were doing one foot backwards and at the top of scale, attempting line step turns. It was great to see the girls having a go and accomplishing these tricks.

The footing continued with alternate crews until it was time for lunch. Lunch in France is the main meal of the day which included pasta, salad, rice, meats and fruit with yoghurt, hence the need to nap for a while afterwards to re-energize. The temperatures were in the high 20s mid 30s and around 20 degrees through the night. So those who had difficulty sleeping through the night in the heat took full advantage of the opportunity for an afternoon nap.

On two occasions we went to the beach for a swim to cool off. The Mediterranean coast was only 35 km from the training site. For those who passed on having a nap there was always the trampoline, badminton or a ride on the four wheeler to fill in time.

Lukas, Lucy, Zane and Svenja enjoying the Mediteranian Beach	Gizie and Lucy
Orsi and Lucy on the four wheeler	Lunch! Come get it.

It was back on the water around 3pm each afternoon. It was daylight until 9pm so quite a bit a footing was done before retiring for dinner and a well earned bottle of French wine. Everyone shared the chores which included house cleaning, kitchen duties, boat washing and refuelling. It’s no wonder we all felt content and pleased with ourselves at the end of the day.

For an evenings entertainment we all went to a town called Saint Marie de la Mer, which is famous for horses and bull fighting. We attended a night of bull chasing in a big arena complete with clowns and trainee matadors. This was very entertaining as there was some spectator participation in which some skiers got in the arena with the bull and clowns. I’m not sure who were the bigger clowns, the skiers or those dressed as clowns. Great entertainment was provided by two or our girls, who bravely faced the bull in the arena. You must see the photos and video to appreciate the event. Well done to Zane, Lukas, Clemont, Peter, Svenja and Gizie.

The 12 days on the beautiful Rhone river in the South of France, passed by very quickly. We had skied on some awesome water, coached many talented skiers, shared ideas with other coaches and met some great people.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jacque and his family for hosting the clinic on his 1000 hector rice farm, on the banks of the Rhone river Thanks also to Hilmar Wehner and his family for making the clinic happen, the EAME federation and all who attended for supporting the clinic.  

Stay tuned for the next article on ‘the road trip to Hungary’. We drive from Albaron to Budapest for Hungary’s first ever barefoot tournament and the first European Meridian Challenge for the 2006 season.

More Pictures from the trip to France
Our host Jacque with his tractor and boat.	Putting the paddle boat to good use between sets.
Anita on shoe skis	John sqeezing in a ski set himself
Zane de Villiers	Zane de Villiers
Zane de Villiers	Zane de Villiers
Lucy on Shoe Skis	Geoffroy working on back to fronts
Patrick getting instruction from Hilmar	Lucy and Gizie
Jacque and his wife Francoise from Mas de la Vigne - our hosts	The Rice Farm

Gizie and John are sponsored by Wing Wetsuits and www.BarefootCentral.com.au.  We appreciate his support and efforts to bring us these interesting articles.

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