Successful Regional Squads last Weekend
Successful Development Squads in Connacht, Ulster and Dublin/Leinster last weekend.
Connacht
Sunday November 15th saw the second edition of the Connacht Development Squad for the 2009/2010 season held in the superb facilities of Athlone IT.
Olympic race walker Colin Griffin was the guest speaker on this occasion and gave a superb presentation to athletes, coaches and parents entitled ‘From Ballinamore to Beijing’ detailing his progress as a young athlete from a small club in rural west of Ireland, a background similar to most of the athletes assembled, to his current status of senior international race walker and Olympian. Colin along with other high performing athletes from west of the Shannon such as Olive Loughnane, Paul Hession and Mary Cullen, as well as Connacht Squad members Cathriona Farrell, Lorcan O’Cathain and Caoimhe King who all performed so magnificently at last summers European Youth Olympics, is living proof of what can be achieved with the right mix of coaching, planning, dedication and talent.
Athletes then broke up into their respective event groups for a training session with a team of Coaches led by Connacht Head Coach Mary Barrett. With well over 100 athletes in attendance the track was a hive of activity and a portent of great things to come from this group of young athletes. There will be three further get-togethers in the spring of 2010 and dates and venues will be publicised in the near future. For futher information contact Regional Development Officer Paul McNamara at paul@athleticsireland.ie or 0872693675.
Dublin / Leinster
Saturday 14th November was the start of the Regional Squad Days for the Leinster and Dublin regions on the resurfaced Morton Stadium. We had sent many invitations to medal winning athletes from both schools and clubs to attend but we were very worried by the bad weather forecast for the day. As 11am arrived the sun was shinning and young athletes were arriving from all directions with reports that we had a traffic jam out on the main road. All 13 coaches were in position to start coaching 220 young eager athletes in 9 events with personal coaches and parents on hand with pen and paper at the ready to pick up some new coaching knowledge to bring back to their clubs and schools. Many of our coaches were young athletes themselves who are or have been national champions who gave of their knowledge and experience to those who are only on the first step of the ladder to success. The session finished at 2pm with many happy faces leaving Morton Stadium looking forward to the next gathering on the 5th December at the same venue.
Ulster/Northern Ireland
Over eighty young athletes, their coaches and parents, from all over the province assembled at the Antrim Forum on Sunday for the 2nd Squad day of the current winter season. Following introductions and a dynamic warm up under the expert guidance of coaches Karen Mills and Gareth Hill the squad was sub divided into event specific groups and worked with the following coaches/disciplines - High Jump –Wendy Phillips; Long Jump – Eamon Harvey; Shot Put - Jackie McKernan; Javelin - Paddy McGrattan; Discus - Paul Kirkpatrick; Middle Distance – Gareth Hill; Sprints - Karen Mills;
Concluding the two hour session Eamon Harvey in a brief presentation examined the numerous influences that impact upon the performance of the young athletes and highlighted the importance of the support from a personal club/school coach to advise and guide and suggested a number of methods and aspects that should be taken into account when considering gaining maximum benefit during recovery from training. He concluded by wishing the athletes and their coaches good luck in the forthcoming Schools International multi events at the Kelvin Hall, the Irish CC c/ships in Kilbeggan and Coleraine and after Christmas the Ulster, Irish, Scottish and UK Indoor c/ships.
The next Ulster/Northern Ireland Regional Squad day will be held in late Jan 2010. Information from Jackie McKiernan, Director of Coaching/Development, Athletics Northern Ireland, Jackie@niathletics.org; mob 079 74403516 or Eamon Harvey, Regional Dev. Officer, Athletics Ireland, eamon@athleticsireland.ie mob 087 2797548
