European Championships - part 2

Official Team Training

Nations' training begin slightly earlier than expected n Monday, which has been beneficial as queues have been shorter, but you have limited time when you can paddle. However, this only applies to kayaks as squirt boats use a different feature. 



On Monday, team GB split into three small groups within our training slot to reduce queues even further which was really good, but actually very tiring as we also limited rides to 45 seconds to replicate competition rides. As in training before, I continued to work on loops, space Godzillas and cartwheels to build a ride together. In the morning's squirt session, I also worked on building a ride on the flat with some more mystery practice as well.




The following day we had float training in the morning and again I worked on generating the crucial air for space Godzillas. After training some of the supporters also went whitewater rafting which looked a lot of fun! On Tuesday's squirt session I mainly focused on my flat water routine, which is slowly coming together. In the evening's open float training I worked more on chunking my ride together but was less focused. It was awesome to paddle with so many different people including a fair few from Great Britain and just to enjoy the time on the water having fun.




Wednesday was a busy day, with another morning float session, squirt session and water zorbing all before the opening ceremony. My morning float session wasn't so great as I was pretty tired but I had a few good rides. I was then meant to rest. However, we then decided to go water zorbing! I don't think I have laughed so much in such a short time - it was hilarious but also very tiring. I first went in with Sophie and then after with Kim, and it is definitely way harder to run than it looks, but forward rolls are lots of fun. After zorbing, we had a squirt session with Den, where we focused on mystery moves and I also learnt to tail screw. In the evening we had the opening ceremony and team meal.
 


Opening Ceremony

My only prior experience of opening ceremonies is from the World Cups where it varied from fire and drums, to singing and dancing. However, the event in Bratislava was spectacular for very different reasons 


As everyone gathered in team kit outside reception, we were given our flags (I was flag bearer) and then parading around the campsite and course. Unfortunately, Cunovo is slightly to far out of Bratislava to go into the city so the ceremony was based on the river banks. After the march, we listened to a few speeches where freestyle was called a "funny sport" due to translation error and then watched to break dancing to some some slightly rude music. We then had a team photo and made our way to the meal.

It was really nice to have all the athletes together for he evening and although some sections were a bit bizarre, I enjoyed spending the evening with the other athletes. (Including the paper aeroplane fight between the French and the Irish!)



Thanks to the McGaley's for the photos, more to follow...

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