By Flt Lt Jacqui Smith

The final Feb coaching weekend before the track season was another successful event. There were 25 athletes, 2 coaches and the Men’s Team mgr in attendance, even though the weather was less than favorable, most managed to get there!

O’s (Mark Owen) took the whole group for a dynamic warm-up session concentrating on dynamic stretching and foot reactivity drills, as well as using the SAQ kit. After this extensive warm-up, the team split into 3 groups: Ruddy Farqhuarson took a plyometrics session with the jumps athletes demonstrating correct foot contact positioning and introduced a small plyometrics circuit; O’s took the newcomers and developed their contact drills demonstrating correct foot and arm positioning; and Andy Hughes took a sprints group focusing on sprint work and block starts.

In the afternoon, the team split into their disciplines. Ben Trapnell took the distance group for a 3 x 4 x 300m endurance session on the track, managing to avoid the snow, which partly covered some of the track. The hardened sprinters were also on the track with O's for a tough (and cold) speed session. Ruddy took the jumps groups, demonstrating high jump drills and techniques using crash mats of increasing heights. Greg Dunson took the hurdles group, focusing on improving lead and trail leg action.

The Sat evening, the team went out for an Indian in Shifnal.

Sun morning, the numbers dropped to approx 10 athletes due to further imminent weather conditions and the session consisted of weights and conditioning CV work.

Many thanks to the coaches, and experienced team members, for their time and contribution to this and previous weekends. With such a large influx of new athletes to the team, as well as the development of existing team members, I hope that the weekends have provided an ideal springboard from which to launch into the new season. For those who attended the weekends, I hope that you gained suitable experience and training to assist with your disciplines.