McCain South Surrey Athletic Network launch event –Sunday 28th March 2010
After many months of working together, the eight clubs that comprise the South Surrey Network, held an action-packed day hosted by Woking Athletic Club. The clubs making up this dynamic new Network are Camberley AC, Dorking and Mole Valley AC, Holland Sports, Guildford and Godalming AC, Reigate Priory AC, Walton AC, Woking AC and Epsom and Ewell Harriers, Twenty seven coaches and forty three athletes took part in the morning coaching sessions conducted by David Hemery, John Davis, Erik Little and Neville Taylor. At the lunch time launch, David Hemery asked the clubs to work together for improved performance and Chairman, Rob Russell promised plenty of action. Alex Copeland, England Athletics National Club Development Officer handed over a cheque for £90,000 to support the Network over the next three years. The clubs will be focusing on building their volunteer base in the first year with the support of a part time Network Coach and Volunteer Coordinator.
The Endurance session was particularly popular with over 28coaches and athletes working together on the track under the meticulous direction of Neville Taylor, Area Coach Mentor for Endurance. Neville gave a talk to the coaches at the beginning and end of the two hour session. Neville said afterwards that he really enjoyed it. “We had a large group of athletes and we sorted them out into smaller groups by running 1,000metres at 5k pace. We then had four groups of similar ability completing the track session with coaches working with each group and increasing the speed while we decreased the distance from reps of 400m down to 100m.” The group of coaches included Rob Russell, the Chairman of the South Surrey Network and a very active coach at Dorking and Mole Valley AC. Rob is keen to see if we can set up sessions on a regular basis for Endurance coaches in the area.
David Hemery coached the coaches and athletes in the Hurdles group, which included Virginia Mitchell from Woking AC. Virginia organizes the popular Trackers induction group at the club and is a member of the England Athletics Local Coach Development Programme. Ten coaches present are members of this programme. David gave a Coaching Workshop in the afternoon and this incredibly thoughtful and inspirational session encouraged coaches to engage the athlete in decision making from an early age and he shared with his audience, the challenges he faced as a young athlete, who did not have specific natural ability when he started on the road to his Olympic gold medal in the Mexico Olympics in 1968. He spoke of the importance of drive, the importance of self awareness and self responsibility and how his studies showed that the top performers all shared these qualities. Enjoyment, learning and performance are critical factors for athletes and coaches to progress. (It’s difficult to do full justice to the presentation in a short press article).
John Davis, fresh from attending the Loren Seagrave Sprints Master Class, put the coaches and athletes through a series of drills and skills that he had learned at the session. The session was very well received by the coaches and athletes attending. John’s son Kieran helped to demonstrate all the drills.
Erik Little ran a session on “take off” for Long and Triple Jump coaches focusing the athletes on postural stability, rhythm control and good alignment. Wendy Letheby who coaches at Walton AC is planning to share the drills she learned with her colleagues at Walton AC.
The sun shone on a brilliant day, and Christine Benning, England Athletics Club and Coach Support Officer in the area, was delighted that the first South Surrey Network event had been a very enjoyable and constructive experience for the athletes and their coaches involved. England Athletics would like to thank Stephen and GillianWilder, Sally Taylorson and everyone at Woking AC, the four coach-tutors and everyone who attended, for their support for this event.
Christine Benning 30/03/10