The Arduous Avoca Camp
John Cahill Medallists Jackson Trengove and Travis Boak took the lead in the off-season, organising a grueling training camp in the NSW coastal town of Avoca
The young leaders picked out a key group of the Power’s emerging players to attend the camp, which ran for a full week during mid-October.
Daniel Stewart, John Butcher, Matthew Broadbent, Matt Lobbe, Jarrad Redden, Boak and Trengove slogged it out to get a head-start on pre-season, all under the watchful eye of Head Fitness Coach Cam Falloon.
Falloon sat down with Daniel Stewart to talk about the camp and you can see the chat by clicking the play button above this story. Stewart was chosen as captain of the group and had to take all the calls from the camp instructor - a former military man - at any time of the day or night.
We’ve got the camp diary below:
Thursday
Players arrive at 5pm sharp. 15 minutes to check in and unpack before meeting at a local rugby field for a light run and stretch.
6pm - players are given directions to local shopping centres to stock up for the weekend and Monday.
7.30pm - dinner as a group
Friday
6am - wake up and head to the local Surf Club for an ocean swim
8am - breakfast
9-11am - running session
Noon and 1pm - strength session in gym in two small groups
4pm - 5pm - light run and skills followed by stretch
6pm - dinner
7pm - team meeting and introductions with former military people assisting us for the week
8pm - meeting concludes and players start preparing meals for the next two days.
Saturday
4am wake up - conditioning session on beach for 90mins
7am wake up (again) - players to be ready in 15mins with bikes, runners and food
7.15am - players given instructions on the training for morning (if all is carried out correctly this activity should take 90mins, it took 3.5hrs!!)
11am - players to be ready in 15mins for strength/core session
12.30pm - lunch
1.30pm - beach activities with Avoca Beach SLSC for the next three hours
5pm - stretch session
6pm - team dinner
7pm - meeting with staff
8.30pm - BED!!
Sunday
12.45am wake up call
1am - 2 hour training session (players got lost and took 3hours)
7am wake up call
7.15am - 40km bike ride through the hills (Norton Summit looks easy now!)
12pm - lunch
1.30pm - strength/core session at Avoca Beach SLSC
2.30pm - ocean Swim through the rip with the lifeguards
4pm - pilates
5pm - optional swim
6pm - dinner
7pm - team meeting
8.30pm - bed
Monday
7am - ocean swim
10am - running and skills session
1pm & 2pm - strength sessions at gym
4pm - Beach recovery
Tuesday
Morning off!!
12pm - strength/core session
1pm - Ocean swim and water running
Afternoon off after swim
Wednesday
7am - ocean swim
8am - breakfast
10am - running/skills session
12pm - lunch
1.30pm/2.30pm - strength sessions in gym
5pm - players put on a BBQ for the locals who volunteered their time to help them out while they were in Avoca
Thursday
7am - ocean swim
10am - speed session
12pm/1pm - strength session in gym
3pm onwards - players tidy up apartment and pack ready to hit the road home to see families