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10th March 2008

Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork…

The 2008 GBR Yacht Racing Academy squad met for the first time last weekend for a training session at UKSA. The weekend gave new squad members the opportunity to meet members of last year’s squad who have been invited to join the squad for a second year.

The theme for the weekend was teamwork. The squad took part in a series of team workshops run by High Performance Development, a company specialising in individual and team development. Ruari Chisholm, Mark Denton and Sean ‘the iceman’ Chapple travelled down to the Island to spend time with the new squad.

The weekend kicked off with a talk from Mark Denton, an experienced sailor who skippered ‘BP Explorer’ in the 2000/01 BT Global Challenge round the world yacht race. Mark shared his experiences and the lessons he learned during the global race, captivating the audience while teaching them the key ingredients for a successful team. Find out more about Mark by clicking here.

The following day after some early morning fitness training Ruari and Sean, a former Royal Marines Officer and expedition leader to the North and South Poles, ran a series of teambuilding exercises designed to get the squad thinking about team dynamics, communication, utilising strengths within the team, dealing with conflict and developing team pride.

On Sunday, the squad had the opportunity to put their team skills into practice during a full day out on the water keelboating. The day gave the squad a chance to polish their skills ready for their first regatta in two weeks time – the Red Funnel Easter Regatta.

Following the regatta the squad will spend a full week at UKSA training for the 2008 racing season.