Don't slide before you can 'crawl, walk, run'... 02 August 2023 Storyline: Winter Sports Last Thursday, Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel from a range of ranks/rates and specialisations attended a grassroots skeleton day at the University of Bath. The day kicked off with introductions, safety briefs and demonstrations to get the newcomers started and ready to practice the skeleton push start technique in a 'crawl, walk, run' fashion. The start is one of the most important parts of the sport and must be perfected on the tarmac sliding track before athletes can progress to the ice. From a crouched starting position, skeleton athletes sprint along the ice in a hunched over manner, whilst pushing their sled one handed. Once at speed (after approximately 30m), the athletes then 'load' on to the sled (jump on) and adopt a headfirst, prone position (lying face down) and accelerate down the given track. Once the group became familiar with this loading technique, they gradually pushed faster and further until, by the end of the 2-hour session, all participants were sprinting at maximum effort. Members of the Royal Navy Skeleton team were on hand to assist, give pointers, and note start times. The grassroots sessions also allow the team to scout potential new talent and once the results from all of this year's sessions are collated, a select few will be invited back to trial for their spot on the team for the 2024 Ice championships. Two more grassroots sessions will take place on Thursday 28 September and Thursday 26 October.
