On Monday 1st of July, after an 18 month shinty, volunteering and fundraising programme, 43 secondary school girls from 5 schools left Scotland for the USA to take part in the Camanachd Association’s first Girls Performance Camp supported by Inverness & Cromarty Firth Green Freeport.
Monday
An early start with a 5am meet at Inverness Airport. The girls travelled from Inverness to Heathrow (1.5 hours) then from Heathrow to Newark (8 hours), just outside New York City. Upon arrival at the Lawrenceville School around 5pm (EST), 10pm (BST), the girls got some dinner from the dining hall, had a tour of the facilities and engaged in a session on expectations, strengths, worries & weaknesses, before settling into their dorms and getting ready for the first day of camp!
Tuesday
There is no rest for the wicked and the girls were up at 7:30 am for breakfast before heading down to the shinty pitches for their first part of instruction led by Katie Drain and Alaina MacLennan from the Camanachd Association. The girls worked on hitting and how to get distance and accuracy in their hitting, as well as some team building sessions to begin to get to know each other. After a break for lunch, the girls returned to the pitches in 33-degree heat for some work on shies followed by controlling the ball using both the stick and body, while still and at pace. Before dinner, the girls were taken for a great Yoga session lead by Linda Olds from Kingussie High School, which helped their recovery. After dinner, the girls returned to the pitches and were separated into their 6-aside teams, these teams would last for the full week and were split as follows.
New York Nicks
Isla (IRA)
Nyah
Sinead
Isla (Portree)
Anna
Ailsa
Eleanor
John & Lynn
Golden State Warriors
Rebekah
Lexi
Eve
Thea
Maisie
Lexie
Sadie
Lyndsay & Hazel
Minnesota Timberwolves
Naomi
Katie
Louise
Beth
Millie
Macy
Molly
Jacob & Chloe
Orlando Magic
Lexy
Layla
Sadie
Amber
Isla
Robynne
Aqsa
Sarah & Linda
LA Lakers
Catherine
Carly
Ella
Iona
Alice
Lexy (Ardnamurchan)
Amy
Alan & Caroline
Pheonix Suns
Teri
Ava
Kate
Erin
Brooke
Eilidh
Anna Maria
Aarron
After an hour and half of games, it was time to turn in for the night and look forward to the following day.
Wednesday
Day 2 in Lawrenceville and the morning started with passing drills and hitting with a focus on achieving distance and accuracy, as the players continued to improve on their core skills. The afternoon saw the girls enjoy their first excursion off campus as they attended Princeton University, the visit provided a unique opportunity to envision their future educational journeys, blending their passion for shinty with the pursuit of academic excellence. It also provided an opportunity to visit an ice cream parlour in the town. Which of these two things was more popular with the girls? We will give you 1 guess. The group returned home for dinner before going back to the pitch to finish the first Round Robin of 6 a side games that were left over from the night before.
Thursday
It was another early morning for the players and again they were down at the shinty pitches for some core skill development, this time tackling and defensive skills. Their reward, a trip to a local outdoor pool where diving seemed to be the order of the day. We had everything from the amazing (Eilidh!) to the, errr, less amazing (Alaina!). After lunch it was back out to the pitches for some shooting practice, developing the girls half and full swing finishing. This session concluded with a competitive penalty shoot out between all the girls (well done Isla McNeil!). Before dinner, there was a team building/tactical understanding exercise in the lecture hall which got the girls thinking about the roles that they have to play when performing in different positions within a team. After dinner, everyone made their way to the on-campus sports facilities for some beach volleyball and basketball which was as fiercely contested as the shinty had been all week!
Friday
On Friday, the final round of 6s games were played and the overall winner was the Minnesota Timberwolves – congratulations to them. Again, the girls were able to cool down by attending the outdoor pool before the girls were put through some skills testing to see just how far they had come on in such a short space of time. Despite longer grass, smaller goals and blistering heat, it was clear that they had taken huge leaps in their shinty ability over the week and the coaches were delighted to see that even after a long week the effort was still at 100%.
The girls and staff were then treated to a Zumba session, led by the wonderful Miss Olds. Dinner was followed by a much-hyped quiz, hosted by Aarron. Unfortunately, it was yet another case of overpromise and underdeliver for the quizmaster as instead of writing his own questions he paid £30 for a company to do it for him. The teenage girls were therefore treated to fun questions such as:
Who was the president of the USSR in 1973? And What was the name of the first number 1 single for The Everly Brothers?
Despite that, there was a winner and that was Orlando Magic – congratulations to them for staying awake throughout the full thing!
Saturday
Saturday came around like a lightning bolt and it was finally time for the girls to receive the carrot for all their hard work with the stick. New York City. The full trip group went up The Edge, giving incredible views of the entire city, before splitting off into school groups to explore. From the Chelsea Markets to the Statue of Liberty, 9/11 Memorial to the Empire State Building and beyond, the girls and their teachers covered immense amounts of ground and truly lived the American Dream!
Sunday
Fears of a struggle to get the girls out of bed on Sunday after an incredibly intense week were exaggerated and the last full day was kickstarted with some 10-a-side games in their school teams.
IRA & Kilchuimen
Portree
Ardnamurchan
Kingussie
There were a number of closely fought battles and it was so encouraging to see just how far the girls had come since day one. Hitting, positioning and blocking were all night and day from when they arrived. There has to be a winner though and it was in the cruellest of fashions – a penalty shootout – that Portree would defeat IRA-Kilchuimen. Congratulations to them for their win!
Later in the afternoon, the girls attended an Awards evening to celebrate what was an incredible week in the USA. Full list of award winners available below:
Joker Award – Iona Taylor (Kingussie)
Best Dancer – John “Snake Hips” MacKenzie (Portree)
Snack Dealer– Nyah Campbell (IRA)
Communication Award (Off the Pitch) – Layla Orr-MacIntyre (Ardnamurchan)
Communication Award (On the Pitch) – Catherine Robertson (Portree)
Hustle Award – Millie Lavin (Kingussie)
The Magician Award – Teri MacLeod (Portree)
Ice Queen – Jacob Green (Ardnamurchan)
Drama Queen – Alan Gray (Ardnamurchan)
Duracell Bunny – Isla MacKechnie (Ardnamurchan)
Positivity Award– Lexy Macleod (Portree)
Clutch Award – Isla McNeil (IRA)
Unsung Hero – Eve Jackson (Ardnamurchan)
Hard Worker – Amber Anderson (Kilchuimen)
Most Improved – Eilidh MacIver (Kingussie)
Player of the Camp – Lexi Farquhar (Kingussie)
We then had our last dinner at Lawrenceville which was followed by teaching a ceilidh dance to another Camp Group – Ultimate Peace – in the dining hall. This was followed by a period of learning different cultures dances!
The shinty side of camp later concluded in the evening with three Staff v Girls teams games. In what proved to be three very competitive games and a chance for the pupils to run the coaches ragged in the heat. However, after building the girls up for 6 days, it was time for them to be put back in their place as they were defeated (very narrowly) in all three games.
To round off our night, Jacob, Alan and Ailsa treated us to a ceilidh in one of the dorms which was an amazingly powerful way to sign off what had been a once in a lifetime experience for the girls.
Monday
From Strip the Willow to strip your bed as on Monday, it was time to travel back to the UK. However, a 9pm flight time gave the girls the opportunity to visit an American Mall for some shopping before heading to the airport. A delayed flight would be enough to make some kids cry after such an intense week but instead our girls made the most of a frustrating situation, drawing some bewildered looks from fellow travellers as we awaited the flight.
During the 5-hour layover in Heathrow, we decided it would be a good time to force some staff and pupils to reflect on their time in the USA. See what they thought of the trip below:
The Camanachd Association would like to put on record its appreciation first and foremost to Inverness & Cromarty Firth Green Freeport, without whom, the girls would not have had the level of experience that was delivered. Secondly, to all of the girls who were – to a woman – fantastic. Hard working, eager to learn, resilient and good craic is all you can hope for as a coach and that is exactly what this group were. To the staff who travelled for getting stuck in, sometimes out with comfort zones, and bringing positivity and laughter to the trip and finally to Lawrenceville Staff for providing us with a fantastic platform to deliver a lifechanging experience.
