The Sydney training camp for the upcoming Youth Worlds held in Poland was an exercise in teaching the team how to relax, bond and show teamwork when under stress.

The 2019 Youth Sailing World Championships will take place in chilly Gdynia, Poland from 13-20 July.

Team Coach and Head of State Coaching in Victoria, Carrie Smith, said the camp was designed to create bonds, friendships, build trust and respect for one another off water when it comes to individual routines, sleeping patterns, recovery and downtime.

“They will spend a lot of time together while away from their families and friends, it will be a high pressure environment which is both exciting and daunting so preparing them for this was a key factor” Smith said, adding that the initial focus of the camp was to get the team to bond as a lot of them had never met each other before or spent periods of time together.

“We were also training for the everyday conditions you might get in Poland such as preparing for the weather, the local breeze direction and wave patterns.

“We had a lot of past athletes come to speak to the athletes about the local conditions and help us all work together… there’s not much time between the camp and the World Championships so we are trying to fine tune quite a few things before going away as well.”

Carrie added the ‘amazing’ rapport between the camp and the sporting community helped make the youth camps a success.

“A lot of people in the youth team have amazing role models that are Australian such as America’s Cup teams, Olympic and foiling teams and take a lot of pride in using the same facilities and coaches which drives them to work harder and be mentored," Carrie said.

“We as coaches just make sure the team has the support and focus they need. The team are going to have curfews and need to respect the personal boundaries of other team members so it’s important they all respect each other’s space which is something they may not be used to… the Youth Worlds are unique because we as coaches are there to help them grow into the athletes they want to be.”

Ensuring the team are comfortable with the environment and themselves is critical, according to Carrie, however they need to get comfortable in the water which, for Aussies, means adjusting to colder Polish conditions.

“We will use the conditions in Poland to our advantage, doesn’t matter if its cold - they have prepared for it,” Carrie said.

“In the water we were practicing our starts and found we all have great speed techniques and manoeuvers, that’s why they are National Champs but we really want to put the team under pressure as to where to positon at the start, how to keep tight lines with no gaps and this pressure on the water is really valuable and helps with processes that become reliable and can be executed under pressure.

“Aussies are generally pretty fast, which we hold close to us and we have always been a nation of good sailors and the new generation is coming through with the same skills and mindset - we are helping them to become competitive yet fair.

“A lot of our competitors want to push and race hard but we love strong winds and that will be a huge advantage to us.

“It will be quite hard to win the Nations Trophy with so many amazing countries going head to head but it would be pretty cool to win. We have a great chance in a bunch of classes but consistency is going to be key. I cannot stress enough that sportsmanship is a key value. We have had a serious talk to the team about what that means and respect, responsibility and teamwork are the top values the team wants to take away from the event.”\

Find out more about the 2019 Youth Sailing World Championships here.

2019 Australian Youth Team to date: