Sprints & Jumps Network Day Initiative 2017

The recent Sprints & Jumps Network day in AIT was another extremely successful event in the coach development initiative. It was held in conjunction with the Endurance Coaches Network on the same day and over 130 coaches gathered from clubs around the country. It’s extremely heartening to see such strong numbers attending and this is a function of the quality of the event.

The 80+ coaches on the Sprints & Jumps strand divided their time across three strong workshops. Michael Afilaka has worked with athletes including Adam Gemili and he attracted a large attendance on his return visit.  Michael provided plenty of insights into his methods and also challenged the coaches with discussions on training session structure and composition.

Femi Akinsanya took an interested group through a triple jump session. Femi is developing a strong profile among the jumps community and his latest session was well received.  The number of coaches attending his workshop had increased sharply from his initial visit.

Brendan Reilly always interacts strongly with participants in his workshops. The question and answer sessions have been known to run over the allotted time and this was no exception.  Brendan has a wealth of experience and as the coaches are becoming familiar with his methods they are benefitting greatly.

Martin Dunlop delivered an interesting workshop on conditioning athletes appropriately for the rigours of training and competition. This involved the entire group and provoked some interesting discussions.

The challenge now is to ensure that the next edition is as relevant and interesting. The coaches have shown that they are keen to avail of high level coach education and this augurs well for the emerging athletes throughout the country.