Berlin 2019

Welcome to the information page for Yeowie’s 2019 Berlin Summer Ice Camp

For the 7th(!) edition of my summer ice camp, we return to beautiful Berlin for 9 days of mostly ice skating in circles, but also doing other ice-skating-related things, such as eating ice cream. As has been the case for previous camps, there will be a heavy focus on technical development, and the camp will be designed to accommodate skaters from juniors just starting out, all the way up to senior world cup level. Skaters transitioning from other skating sports (e.g. inline skating or short track) are, as usual, especially encouraged to take part.

There will be ice on 8 of the 9 days of the camp, in addition to off-ice training that will consist mostly of running and jumping (and the occasional bit of (low) walking). Owing to the location, expect random ‘culturally-enriching’ activites aside from the sports. I aim to educate not only about the ins and outs of how to train at the elite level, but also how to sustainably live alongside that training – an aspect which is often forgotten or neglected.

Please let me know ASAP if you would like to be a part of this wonderful camp, spaces are limited. Below is a video montage of some of the previous camps.

Details

When: The camp will begin on the morning of Wednesday the 10th of July and run until Thursday the 18th. Please try to arrive by the evening of the 9th.

Cost: Ice time will be 160 euros (20 euros per person per day – yes, it’s expensive #sadface), and my time will be 90 euros per person. Public transport is 30 euros for a 7-day ticket and 7 euros for a 1-day ticket, Berlin is also driveable but parking can be difficult to find, or expensive depending on where you stay. Food budget can vary widely, but past experience has shown that one can eat quite well for as little as 3 euro per person per meal when buying all supplies from a supermarket and preparing your own meals. Flights and accommodation will depend on where you’re coming from and where you decide to stay.

Where: The ice hall (Eisschnelllaufhalle) is located at Konrad-Wolf Straße 39 and is accessible by the M5 tram. In fact, when searching for accommodation, I highly recommend being very close to the M5 tram line which runs between Berlin Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) and the ice hall. On most evenings we will gather at my apartment (also located on the M5 tram line) to cook together, review technical videos from the day, play cards, and be briefed on the next day’s training.

Staying: There are too many hotels to count in Berlin. As you’d expect for a city of 3.5 million people, there are also a multitude of AirBnB options. Choose accommodation appropriate to your budget and desired comfort level, get some friends together and share a large airbnb and car perhaps; the possibilities are endless. As mentioned above, it is highly recommended that you stay close to the M5 tram line.

Getting there: Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is serviced by two airports – Tegel (TXL) and Schönefeld (SXF) both receive frequent flights from most european cities and many international ones too. Tegel has the TXL bus which runs every 7 minutes to and from the city centre, and Schönefeld has S-train and regional train services connecting it to the centre. Berlin is also well-connected by rail, and high speed trains run frequently from many large German cities and nearby european capitals. One can also drive to and from Berlin, but one should consider that, being a capital city, traffic can get very bad and parking, while not particularly expensive, can often be difficult to find.

Bring: A good attitude, ice skates , training clothes (ice skating suits and clothes to run in). Good running shoes will be useful, running spikes will not be necessary. Do not bring a bike. If you do not already have your own long track speed skates, please let me know well in advance because arranging skates takes time (I can generally get some skates together for people to rent, given enough notice). If you will only be in Berlin for my camp, do not bring inline skates, but if you intend to arrive significantly early or leave much later than the end of the camp, then I would recommend bringing inline skates.

For those new to long track, coming from either inline or short track please note that short track and inline boots are not suitable for long track. If anyone is looking to purchase cheap long track boots, let me know and I will ask around shops and clubs that I know to see if anyone has second-hand skates in your size. We have also identified an inexplicably cheap supplier of new beginner-oriented long track equipment and have gotten as far as testing the boots and found them to be quite good.

Questions?

If anyone has any additional questions, feel free to leave a comment below, or contact me using the ‘contact’ link on the top or bottom of this webpage. Answers to common questions will be posted here.

Past Camps

Rather than collect a bunch of corny quotes from people who have been to this camp in the past, I include group photos, and links to more photos. Enjoy 🙂

Click here for some photos from the 2015 camp