Proposed North West Young Athletes Coaching
Dear Coaches/Club Secs/Teachers,
The following dates, between now and Christmas, have been agreed for the North West Young athletes squad.
Day 1 - 30th Oct, --Abbey Voc School
Day 3 - 20th Nov.—Abbey Voc School,
Day 4 - 4th Dec.-- Finn Valley Centre
The Coaching Days are aimed at athletes and their coaches who are
[1] in the 14 to 17 age brackets ie athletes that are in the 14,15,16,17 age brackets for AAI competition or for Junior/Intermediate at Ulster schools level
[2] Are medal winners in either Ulster Clubs/Schools competition 2005
[3] Are members of athletic clubs in either schools/clubs in the North West region
The proposed format for the coaching days are as below
The cost per athlete will be 2 euro per session
All disciplines will have qualified and recognised coaches in charge –ie Sprints/Hurdles, Middle Distance, All Jumps and Throws
Time 10.00 –12.30
10.00 -10.30 General warm up – active –variety – maybe skill related—drills/relays/throwing –this gp session to be taken by one coach – a short discussion with the coaches at ditto time
10.30 -- 11.30 – Event specific –athletes work with a Coach at a Specific event
11.30 -12.30
[a] Presentation to young athletes from a quest speaker on one of the following aspects--- Wk. 1 – Getting fit for sport Wk. 2 – Planning for success Wk. 3 – Fluid for sport Wk 4 – Fuel for sport
[b]Coaches get together –discussion/evaluation of the day
This session will be led by a Senior coach and will test the beginner coaches skills of observation, developing coaching techniques, and on overall evaluation of the training session
Comments from last years sessions
'A sincere thank you to the Finn Valley Centre and the Abbey Voc School for putting their facilities at our disposal again and to all the coaches/beginner coaches/parents and young athletes for attending'
'We had a number of coaches, some new on the scene; some on the scene for a while attend last week. The feedback from all was excellent and positive. The young athletes should have gained and we, because of inter action should have learned from each other and indeed become more motivated. One of the suggestions coming back from the coaches last week indicated that we should have brief get together’s before and after each session'
'Before the session the
following suggestions were put to the observing beginner Coaches: did
the coach/group use:
[1] drills /skills/technique before work
[2] Positive reinforcement before correction/criticism
[3] Working the whole group - not to exhaustion
[4] challenging/variety/enjoyment/fun
[5] Quality before quantity
[6] Involve the athletes in observing –technique/drills
[7] Encourage feed back from the athletes
[8] Challenge all the athletes – appropriately
[9] Awareness that athletes will pick up skills at different paces
[10] Awareness that athletes are at different stages of growth/fitness etc
[11] Most groups will be mixed ability/age/sex – was this taken into account
Eamon Harvey