This year, I had the chance to go with 3 of my friends to the Czech International Hockey Camp located in Nymburk in, you would have guessed, the Czech Republic. I wish I had found more info about it to know what to expect so I decided to write this long post to tell you about my experience there and what to expect if you decide to go.

The hockey community in Melbourne, Australia, is tight, so words travel fast. A team attended the camp last year and they had a great experience so we decided to book one week at the camp during the Fall camp (booked a year in advance… who does that!!). So we had a year to forget about it, enjoy life, chill until the camp started emailing us to share their excitement to see us so very soon….3 weeks to be precise. Hold on! I haven’t even booked my flights yet and I don’t think I am fit enough for this.

The rise of the panic monster.
So here I am, booking flights and signing up to group PT sessions about 3 weeks before departure. Better than nothing I guess… but in my head, I felt better about myself, I was doing something that was going to make a difference “insert rolling eyes here!”.
Time to go.
We knew the camp was going to be intense so my friend Liz and I brought a few helpers along: pre- and post-workout supplements, energy gels, snacks, band-aids, painkillers, anti-inflammatory and magnesium. Maybe overkill but in this instance, I’d rather be over prepared than under prepared. Also, I am not an athlete so I will take all the help I can get.
The camp is very well organised, they will send you a checklist a few weeks before so you can make sure you have all the basics you need.

Time to go!

Liz and I hopped on a plane in Melbourne, headed to Prague. Finally, the day we were waiting for. The camp started on a Sunday and finished the following Saturday so we planned on arriving on a Friday to have a day or two to rest and visit the city. The camp isn’t in Prague so if you haven’t been to Prague I would definitely recommend spending time visiting this absolutely gorgeous city. So many things to see and such a rich history. We spent the whole of Saturday doing free tours and I know just about everything about this place now… just don’t ask me any questions.

Are we there yet?
15,901km later and we’re almost there! Our very well-organised Liz took over the planning of how to get to our final destination. Thanks Lizzy!
The camp is run in the lovely town of Nymburk which is about 60km northeast of Prague and is fairly easy to get to. Here are basically the options you have, we decided to take the train.

• Czech International Hockey Camp bus: The camp provides an airport pick up/drop off service but we didn’t use it on the way there as we thought it was a bit too expensive per person. Having said that, I did use it on my way back to the airport. I was too tired to even think about having to take public transports.
• Train: Taking the train to Nymburk was fairly easy. From Prague central station, it will cost you around AUD3.00 per person and takes less an hour. However, the trains aren’t really made for people travelling with…hockey bags or large bags as a matter of fact. There isn’t any room to pile up your bags, even between cars. The only place we found was the overhead trays so try to travel as light as you can. There is also a fair walk from Nymburk train station to the camp so if you are ready to wait a bit longer at the station you can catch one of those little yellow trains which will drop you off closer at Nymburk Mesto. From there, it’s a very short walk to the camp.
• Car: a lot of people come from Europe so they drive themselves there, otherwise, a rental car will do the trick too, it’s only an hour away from Prague.

So, it’s Sunday afternoon and we made it there! A welcome ceremony starts and we find out what’s in store for us for the week, meet our future coaches and get allocated our rooms.
Liz and I shared our bedroom with the lovely Charlotte from France who was attending the goalie camp. We didn’t have the same schedule so we didn’t get to spend that much time together but she was super friendly and easy going and probably the best roommate we could have asked for.

Where did we stay?
The rooms are shared, usually between 2-3 people, unless you pay an extra to get your own room. I can understand the appeal of getting your own room but why not embrace the full international experience and make new friends from around the world?! “Sigh”
Also, if you are the camp with another friend you want to share a room with, then make sure you email them before you get there so they can organise that for you, otherwise, you will be placed in rooms randomly.

The “hotel” is only about 50m from the rink and from the outdoor shooting range so everything is walking distance. The rooms are simple and clean and it’s all you need as you won’t spend that much time awake in there and when it’s time to sleep. Believe me, you won’t care about the thread counts of your sheets or whether your pillow is made of duck down or microfibres… you shall sleep! zzZZ

Yes, you will sweat and yes, you will need to and can wash your clothes.
The camp will give you a free laundry voucher valid for one load but if you need more, you can buy them at reception.

Now that we got this out of the way, let’s play some hockey!
On the day of arrival, you get given your schedule for the week. With a bit of luck, your group didn’t get all the early morning sessions. Drumrolls… let’s just say we got really lucky, we only had to wake up early twice that week…I can’t say the same about our friend Charlotte.
Before the first practice, we got given a spot each in a change room and I have to admit, I felt a wee bit like I was a pro hockey player, the only difference was that I was paying and not being paid for it, details. You too will be given a spot and it will be yours for the entire week, so make it comfortable and homey, put pictures of your loved ones to remember something positive throughout the week…. only joking, it won’t be that bad.
We, the 7 women of the camp, had our own change room but it doesn’t mean that we didn’t have as much fun as the boys next door!

The first skate is mainly focussed on skating drills to establish the level of every player so very manageable in terms of intensity. A good way to ease into the week to come. So what exactly is to come?

Our days consisted of:
Wake up, get ready, have breakfast, gear up, on-ice training #1, off-ice training #1, lunch, gear up, on-ice training #2, off-ice stick handling and shooting, break, dinner, gear up for optional access to open ice, back to your room, want to chat to your roommates and talk about the day? too late, you just fell asleep…..aaannnnd repeat!

I love this slogan “Stars are made not born”, it gives me a thread of hope…

Day #1, I got to say, was a bit tough, at least for me. I tend not to drink enough liquid and I could already feel it by the end of the day so the mission for the week was to make sure I kept hydrated. The week was fairly exhausting, I mean unless you’re an athlete, no one really trains this much every single day so that’s to be expected. The fatigue peaked on Wednesday, I was physically and emotionally drained. Anything could have set me off, a drill I didn’t understand, missing a pass, the colour of the walls, you name it. I’ll be honest, I was on the edge most of that day (pun intended). Luckily, our bodies being so amazing, I started getting the hang of it, the fatigue and my mood slowly got better, I had more energy on the ice and off the ice, my metabolism was at its highest – I don’t think I have ever eaten that much food every single day – and I started feeling good!

Speaking of food, what’s for dinner?
Food (as well as accommodation) is included in the camp fees. There is a cafeteria at the rink where you will be carb loaded 3 times a day. The food isn’t anything fancy and is mainly carbs but you get used to it and don’t be scared of eating too much, there is no such thing! Keep an eye out for mini pancakes for dessert that are served with cream and strawberry jam… we only had it once but I sure still dream about it.
If you want something different and want to pick from a menu then you can also buy yourself a meal at the cafe/bar right next to the cafeteria. Something else you can do if you have the time and energy is to go to town (about 10min) and dine out, this way you’ll also get to visit the town at the same time.

Back to hockey.
One thing I did to make sure I was going to have enough energy for the whole week is that I didn’t use the open ice every night and when I did I wouldn’t skate too late so I could get enough sleep to start over the next day.
All of our coaches were excellent skaters, some playing at the highest level in Czechia. The drills were really good, easy to understand and not a lot of time was wasted explaining them. The first part of the session was usually full ice doing either power skating or drills and the second part was in small groups across 4-5 different stations. That’s usually when they would put the women together. The station part was my favourite. Being in smaller groups, you barely have time to rest, you’re constantly skating and practising which maximised our time on the ice. At the end of the session, you really feel like you had a workout.

Off-ice training which consisted of stick handling and shooting was really valuable for me. I got there not knowing how to shoot properly and now I can actually say that I can. Practice makes perfect and that’s what I needed.

One-on-one coaching. $
We decided to take advantage of that and booked an hour to work on shooting. If you feel like you need to spend extra time on a particular skill, you can book one-on-one coaching sessions at an extra cost.

The skatemill experience. $
During the week, we also decided to book an hour of skatemill. If you’ve never seen it, it’s basically a treadmill but for skating. It was also recommended that we share the session with someone as an hour may be too much for one person, and I am so grateful we did. Liz and I decided to conquer the beast and give it a try. This thing is weird, I have never had that feeling before, it definitely takes a little getting used to. Jacuk, who was our instructor, was really good though. You can really tell that he knows what he is doing and it was really interesting to analyse our skating on video and make the necessary improvements to have a better stance, stride and overall skating skills. I am really happy we got to do this because I now know how I should position myself to maximise my efforts on the ice. 30min per person though… that was enough for me but I would be keen to try again next time.

The skatemill isn’t part of your fees so if you’re interested, you need to make a booking at reception. Also, the skatemill is located in the rink so again, no need to commute.

Do you ever get to relax?
You kind of do. A word I was very happy to read on our schedule was …”jacuzzi”. This activity is included in your week and I recommend you use it, your body will thank you. This happens later during the week, a minibus picks the group up and goes to the impressive sports centre on the other side of Nymburk. You only spend about 20 minutes in the water but it is enough to relax your muscles.

Jacuzzi isn’t your thing? How about a massage? Jítí is the camp’s massage therapist and she is amazing. That massage was the best decision I made during my trip. Plus, to my surprise, Jítí spoke French too!! So I got to relax my muscles and my brain too. Merci!

Massages aren’t part of the camp either so you will have to book (at reception) and pay $ for them separately.

Time for the goodbyes.
We’re getting to the end of the week and even though I am happy it’s almost over, I am also sad to say goodbye. I mean, I got to do this camp with my friends, I made more friends, food and accommodation were all sorted out and I just had to play hockey, how much better can it get??… It’s not a holiday for everyone but that is definitely my kind and I can’t wait to go again.

It’s Saturday, we just played a friendly game to end the camp and it’s time to go. Ready to go back to Prague, for some, it’s time to go home, for others, the travels continue. My plan was to hop on a train and visit Vienna and Bratislava, eat and drink for another week before going back to Australia but as I was ready to leave Nymburk, tired but happy and obviously crazy, I wondered… why not stay another week? …so I did! 😄 Great times and made great friends!

**Exclusive Discount!!**
The Camp has been kind enough to give our readers a discount!
If you want to sign up to a camp this year, make sure you use the promo code “Women of Ice Hockey” in the comments section of your application form to get 10% off the camp fee. That’s money saved that you can use for a one-on-one coaching session!

Find out more about the camp here: www.hockeycamp.cz/