WHILE most athletes and young people look forward to the holiday season as an opportunity to relax and socialise, the Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association has been doing the exact opposite.

Over 20 swimmers have been put through their paces at the annual Christmas Camp. "The swimmers ranged in age from eight to 18 years old and they have been putting in some intense workouts over the past two weeks," said national swim coach Richard Goodwin this week.

"Typically beginning at 8:00 a.m. and finishing at 4:00 p.m., the camp was run at the BASA facility and featured twice daily two-hour pool sessions, along with a complimentary dry land training session with stretching, flexibility and calisthenics," said Goodwin adding, "a new feature this year was that the dry land programme was run by Monroe of MCore. He is a former army drill instructor who put the swimmers through a comprehensive set of exercises designed to improve overall fitness and range of motion."

Bermuda's up and coming swimmers also heard a motivational talk by Olympian Roy-Allen Burch who flew the flag in Beijing this past summer.

"Roy spoke with the swimmers about his Olympic experiences and stressed the need for the sacrifices required in order to reach the pinnacle of the sport," said Goodwin.

All told, the swimmers have approached almost 100,000 metres in the water over the course of the camp. "This type of distance and specifically at this time of the season represents an important part of the swimmers' training. As they now begin to look forward to the international meets starting next year, the time and effort they have put into the Christmas Camp should pay big dividends," added the coach.