By Sqn Ldr Ben Trapnell

25 brave souls ventured up to RAF Cosford for the latest in a series of events designed to introduce and improve their respective Athletic talents throughout the winter ahead of the upcoming Track and Field Season. This weekend was particularly designed to allow athletes to practice their technique prior to the RAF Indoor Match in Sheffield the following week.

The first day started off with a group warm-up led by Cpl Caroline Livingstone, who got everyone blood pumping, and Flt Lt Nav Childs who proved that flexibility is definitely the key to Air Power! The group then split up into 2 focusing on their individual events. Paul Wilson provided an educational, if tiring, Medicine Ball session which was rounded off with a competition to see how many mats everyone could jump onto. No mean feat, but the results were educational. Sgt Andy Hughes took a thorough session of drills looking at everyone’s running technique and finishing off with a basic plyometric session which had people feeling the results throughout the rest of the day, and the next day, and the next day……

After a hearty lunch in the Junior Ranks Mess the group moved to the Nuffield Pavilion for a brief lecture on preparing for competition. Sqn Ldr Ben Trapnell ran through an Admin Order highlighting where opportunities lay within the Association for those willing to invest the time and effort. The session finished off with Flt Lt Nav Childs leading an informative discussion on how to plan the lead up to a competition and what to do on the day. The highlight of the discussion was seeing the contrast and similarities between the preparation of sprinters and throwers.

The afternoon session focused on starting block practice, throwing technique for most. For the distance athletes there was a short and sharp speed session and an introduction to a variety of options for training which also sought to analyses what the objectives of their current training were. The afternoon finished with another outstanding ‘light’ core session which saw more funny faces being pulled than a children’s birthday party.

The evening saw most retire to the Families club for a light session of 6 Nations Rugby and a subsequent return to the Horn of Boningale Pub.

A wet Sunday morning saw us retire to the gym for a light work out with our eyes on the match the following week. Most concentrated on lifting technique and sport specific plyometric moves, whilst a few benefitted from the expert hands of Flt Lt Gwynn Wallace. A newcomer to the team and the first RAF Physiotherapist in many years, he can count amongst his more unusual finds the discovery of a still fractured collarbone and a variety of inflexible feet.

The day finished with a series of 300 core and abs exercises led by Flt Lt Nav Childs before everyone cried mercy and departed for home, hopefully a little wiser and more aware of their potential. There will be one more training and standards day on the 26^th of March so send a Query to Fg Off Charlie Todd now to book your place. For a look ahead to this seasons fixtures, see the 2011 Fixtures List in the events Section of the website.