Pilates Teacher Training In Greece: Our week in Vassiliki
Updated: Oct 3
This week feels like a particularly exciting milestone for Pilates Training Hub: I’m in Vassiliki, Greece, preparing to welcome the learners attending my first overseas Pilates Teacher Training Intensive.
As I sit having breakfast by the water, it feels slightly surreal to think that an idea I’ve been planning for so long is finally happening.
Before becoming a Pilates teacher, I spent years working abroad and teaching watersports, including windsurfing and sailing. Returning to a watersports destination to deliver Pilates teacher training feels like two different parts of my life coming together.
Pilates Teacher Training Greece; Why I chose Vassiliki
I wanted to create something that offered more than attending a course for a few weekends at home.
The qualification itself is intensive. Lear learners need to understand the theory, develop their practical skills, learn how to plan safe and effective classes, and become confident teaching real people. Completing that training away from the distractions of everyday life gives them the opportunity to become completely immersed in the experience.
Vassiliki felt like the perfect setting. We’ll be training at Club Vass, with the mountains behind us and the water just metres away. Alongside the course, the learners will have opportunities to try paddleboard Pilates, mountain biking and windsurfing—or simply enjoy some quiet time in the village.
It should be a brilliant week, but it certainly isn’t just a Pilates holiday. We have five intensive training days followed by practical assessments on Saturday. There is a lot of work ahead of us!
The calm before the course begins
I arrived before the learners so I could settle in, visit the training space and make sure everything was ready for their arrival.
This morning began with breakfast at a restaurant overlooking the water a peaceful moment before the week becomes much busier.
The students arrive tomorrow. I’ll meet them at Club Vass, show them around and talk them through the week before we head into town for a seafood dinner together.
I’m feeling excited, slightly nervous and incredibly proud that Pilates Training Hub has reached this point. I’ll continue adding to this blog throughout the week and share what happens behind the scenes as our first Greece Pilates Teacher Training Intensive gets underway.
Finding the best places in Vasiliki
As well as preparing the course itself, I’ve been exploring Vassiliki and finding some lovely places for us to enjoy during the week.
This year our students opted for luxury self-catering apartments, giving them the freedom to cook and enjoy their own space when they wish. I’ve also planned a few optional group evenings so that we can relax together away from the training environment including seafood in town and a leisurely cocktail.
Scouting out beautiful bars and restaurants is certainly not the hardest part of organising a Pilates course in Greece!
The Students have arrived!!
The students are here!
I met them at Club Vass this afternoon, helped them settle in and then took them into town to explore some of Vasiliki’s beautiful little streets.
It was lovely to finally welcome everyone in person and show them the place that will be home for the coming week. One of the girls has brought her sister along, too. While we’ll be busy with teacher training, she’ll have time to explore and enjoy her own Greek holiday.
Tomorrow, the real work begins. After all the planning, it feels wonderful to have everyone here and to be getting started..
Training begins: a classroom with a beach view
The training is hard work, but we couldn’t ask for a more beautiful setting. Our shaded deck at Club Vass overlooks the water, giving us a beach view throughout the day.
There is plenty to learn, practise and discuss. Alongside developing their own understanding of the exercises, the girls are learning how to explain movements, observe the people in front of them and plan their teaching.
It’s an intensive week, but looking out across the bay between sessions makes this a very special place to work.
Taking Pilates onto the water
Paddleboard Pilates has been one of the highlights of the week. Taking our practice onto the water gave us a different way to experience familiar movements, with the boards adding an extra challenge to balance and stability.
We also used the session to debrief and discuss teaching skills. Changing the environment gave us plenty to reflect on: how we explain an exercise, how we adapt our instructions and how we support people through a new experience.
Teaching the Club Vass guests
After a couple of days of training, it was time for the girls to put their skills into practice with people outside our course.
We put a blackboard out at Club Vass advertising a Pilates class taught by our trainee instructors—and had a huge turnout!
Teaching the guests really tested what the girls had learned. Working with different bodies meant they had to observe, respond and adapt their teaching, putting their knowledge into practice in a real class.
For me, this was such a valuable part of the week. Watching them step up and teach gave me confidence in their ability, and gave them experience to draw on ahead of their practical assessments.
Away from the training deck
There was time to enjoy Greece around the training, too. I managed to get out windsurfing, and we shared dinners together away from the deck.
The sister who joined us made the most of her holiday, including a boat trip and a visit to Pig Beach. It was lovely to see how the week could work for someone travelling with a friend or family member: an intensive course for one, with time to explore for the other.
Those evenings together gave us a chance to relax after the hard work of the day.
Saturday: practical assessment day
The girls were understandably nervous about their practical assessments. I felt much more relaxed. I had already seen what they were capable of when teaching the Club Vass guests.
I knew that if they taught as they had during the week, they could do really well. Assessment nerves can make everything feel different, but the skills were there.
Both learners passed their practical assessments, which was a wonderful way to finish our time together. There were still theory assessments and coursework to complete, but this was an important milestone and something to feel very proud of.
Back home: reflecting on our first Greece intensive
Now that I’m home, what stays with me is how special it was to take teacher training beyond a studio environment.
I wanted the learners to gain teaching skills and confidence, but I also wanted to introduce them to some of the opportunities that Pilates can bring. During the week, they taught overlooking the beach, practised on paddleboards and worked with guests enjoying a watersports holiday.
For me, it brought together two parts of my own working life: teaching watersports abroad and training Pilates instructors. Sharing that experience with new teachers felt particularly meaningful.
Pilates can open doors to teaching in studios, working overseas, joining retreats or creating something of your own. Our week in Vassiliki offered a glimpse of those possibilities—and reminded me what a fun industry this is to be part of.
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