By Envol Swimrun & Lucile Woodward
One week ago, I received a last minute request from Nicolas Remires (Envol Swimrun Owner) asking to me to join him and Lucile Woodward in Croatia to coach a group of 22 women novices in Swimrun.
I took some time to decide because I had scheduled activities in Ticino (CH) and I had to try to postpone them. The truth was that I was really excited to visit Croatia! It‘s been a long time that I have wanted to go there and this was the perfect opportunity!
I accepted on Wednesday and after work on Friday I was on my way to the airport, ready to join the group and to share my experience to these courageous women.
The travel was a bit of a hassle. Nicolas had to change the plans of the following days because of the weather conditions in Croatia, so after my flight I had to jump into a taxi to take the last night boat to Supetar (Island near Split) and into a second taxi to Milna where I met Nico and the group.
The camp was set on a boat (@novidancruising) where the group was sleeping, eating and moving through the various locations in Croatia (Milna, Ragosnizza, Razani, Trogir, Smokvica Vela Otok, Necujam). It was important to have good weather conditions to navigate the sea around the coast and the Islands of Croatia. The crew of Novidan was great. They provided a perfect service for 6 days: ready to change the plans depending on Nicolas' requests. They were available to help the group and cooked very healthy meals, following a sports diet!
The objective of the camp was to introduce these women to the sport of swimrun. We coach ed them in swimming and running, shared our passion and to eventually see them at a swimrun race in the future. Each of them launched themselves into an adventure they had never experienced before, trying to overcome their limits and fears. I‘m so proud of them: it is not easy to came out of your comfort zone, they did it and they did it really well!
It is so beautiful to see how they improved in only 6 days! Some of them had never swam before with their face under water and they finished the camp doing a swimrun of around 10km with swim sections in open water. This is a true example that we should not set ourselves LIMITS, we don’t have to let the fear be in the control. Everyone can SUCCEED, everyone can IMPROVE, everyone can TRY to join their GOALS and DREAMS. You DON’T have to GIVE UP! Keep BELIEVING in your self and for sure you will have a lot of SUCCESS!
It was not only a sport camp though. We had a great time getting to know each other, we (the coaches) shared our experiences and tips and the super women shared back their experiences, lifestyle, fears, passions, families, dreams and favorites french songs (I cannot sing one, maybe I have to study a bit before the next camp).
The community Lucile has created is great, the energy she gives these women to push themselves out of their confort zone is really impressive. This camp was a fantastic idea, she allowed these women to come and try something that was unnatural for them (especially the open water swims or the long distance running because some of them they never swam or they never run more than 5km) but most importantly she was able to convince them, to reassure and show them that they could DO IT.
It is amazing to see that now they are really in love with this sport and now trying to plan their first race together!
I want to tell something to anybody who has a fear of jumping into new experiences:
Keep going and try to improve yourself every day! Nothing is impossible, you just have to TRY!
DAI DAI DAI !
Thank You Nicolas and Lucille for the opportunity! IT WAS A BLAST!
