ELITEAM World Cup Camp: Sports Performance Training for Young Athletes

A typical day at ELITEAM World Cup Camp starts with a training session, moves through meals and classroom-style work, and includes a second workout later in the day. The programme is deliberately demanding: this is a performance camp, not a holiday with sport attached. Workouts include both innovative and traditional training exercises targeting strength, speed, power, balance and agility, and staff explain how each one helps athletes perform better.

What separates this camp from a standard sports camp is the equal weight given to the head. Campers learn proven techniques for managing stress, performance anxiety and fear, then practise them in challenging, race-like situations. They also work on visualisation, goal-setting and positive self-talk. Daily meetings use the ELITEAM Notebook to reinforce the day's learning.

The nutrition element is practical. Campers spend time in the kitchen baking healthy bread and muffins, then discuss nutritional analysis and how it relates to sports performance. It is a workshop format rather than a talk.

Afternoons and evenings bring obstacle courses, team-building games, strength training and adventure hikes, plus ELITEAM's signature Crazy Relays and the Sufferfest workout. The camp is designed to send athletes home with tools they can use in sport, school and beyond.

ELITEAM runs its camps at Gould Academy, a school campus in Bethel, Maine, in the western part of the state. The setting gives the programme access to trails, fields and indoor training space. The camp is for junior athletes aged 11 to 14 and is structured around developing what ELITEAM calls complete athletes, with sports physiology, psychology and nutrition as the three building blocks.

What's included

- Six-day ELITEAM World Cup Camp programme - Boarding accommodation on the Gould Academy campus - Physical training sessions covering strength, speed, power, balance and agility - Sports psychology sessions on stress, performance anxiety and fear - Nutrition workshops including baking healthy bread and muffins - Obstacle courses, team-building games and adventure hikes - Crazy Relays and the Sufferfest workout - ELITEAM Notebook for each camper - Daily meetings reinforcing each day's learning

What's not included

- Travel to and from the camp - Day-camp option pricing (boarding and day places are listed separately) - Personal expenses - Anything not listed as included