Athletics Ireland to support coaches attending EACA conference Athletics Ireland will award bursaries to coaches wishing to attend the European Athletics Coaches Association annual conference at the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd November 2008. This year the association has a wonderful line up of key note speakers. Heading the conference line up is legendary American Coach Clyde Hart. Hart, who has coached a number of the world’s top athletes including Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wariner and who is arguably the greatest 400m coach of all time, will fly in especially for the weekend to share his experience with delegates. The second speaker for the weekend is Sweden’s Yannick Tregaro. The Swede rose to coaching prominence by leading Christian Olsson to Olympic triple jump gold in Athens in 2004. Tregaro has also inspired the likes of double world high jump champion Kajsa Bergqvist and world bronze medallist Emma Green. A fascinating dimension will be added by the appearance of Chinese Olympic Coach Zhong Bingshu, Director of the IAAF Regional Development Centre in Beijing and Vice-President of Beijing Sport University. Bingshu is internationally respected as an expert on Coach Education and will add some interesting insight following the Olympics Games being hosted by his home city this summer. Completing the keynote line up is Canadian Ken Porter, who has coached national team athletes in his native Canada, Australia and Great Britain. Porter has held senior positions in organising committees of Olympic and Commonwealth Games as well as directing countless Canadian championships. As a senior course conductor in athletics in the Canadian coaching certification programme, Ken leads the training and mentoring of many younger coaches and is presently a director and coach with the largest and most successful track and field club in Canada. Athletics Ireland will offer 25 bursaries of €150 each to coaches who apply. The conference fee of €100 will also be paid by Athletics Ireland. All coaches are welcome to apply, To apply please outline the following Name; Club; Coaching Qualifications; Coaching Experience; Briefly outline how you think that your attendance at this conference can benefit the greater Irish Athletics Community; Applications will be assessed by the Coaching Committee and the successful coaches notified, payment of grant will be on receipt of flight details to conference. Athletics Ireland encourages and is strongly supportive of coaches attending International conferences and the constant knowledge development Please send your applications to coaching@athleticsireland.ie or by post to Gary Ryan, Athletics Association of Ireland, Unit 19, Northwood Court Northwood Business Campus Santry, Dublin 9
