Summary of points covered and arising from the Fairlands Valley Spartans coaches meeting 18 th
August 2010
Attendees: Chris Leigh, Paul Holgate, Richard Sidlin, Katrina Doyle, Richie Bate, Andy Jay, Marie
Colucci, Tricia Hopper, Sarah O’Bryan, Angela Moore, Sean Thompson, Andrew Patterson, Steve
Smithson, David Clarke, Sam Pretty, Graham Blackburn, Jo Laing, Paul Carter, Lisa Potter, Marie
Colucci, Ian Larman,
Apologies: Dave and Tessa Stephenson, Tony Osborne, Roger Biggs, Jamie Drackford
1.
2.
3.
Chris started by going around the table(s!) so that everyone had a chance to introduce
themselves and say what their coaching qualification was.
Chris summarised the points that had arisen from the last meeting in May and the actions
taken. These were:
(i)
Vests for coaches – these have now been secured for all members of the team. A nice
bright orange with names on! Feedback so far has been very positive. Chris
reminded everyone to ensure that they wore their vest whenever they were at
training so that it is visible and other members of the club could see who they were.
(ii)
First aid training – 8 of the team attended the emergency first aid training that Jamie
Drackford kindly delivered. This means that we have 11 of the team emergency first
aid trained, enough to cover each of the training groups/sessions. If there are any
members of the team that have not attended and would like to attend please speak
to Chris.
(iii)
Stretching – Kieran Feetham delivered a ‘train the coaches’ session on stretching and
this is now more actively being followed on Thursdays as well as the Tuesday and
Saturday training sessions. Kieran has continued to make himself available to support
this. Coaches should lead stretches after the session for the groups they lead out.
(Jamie has pointed out that the dance studio will not always be available so coaches
will need to use other areas inside and outside of the Marriotts centre).
(iv)
A good, varied schedule for May to August with some great feedback from runners.
Whilst some refinements can be made to it, the 10K pace judgement session was very
well received and will feature again in the Sept to December schedule.
(v)
Bleep test – the test was repeated at Ridlins (Saturdays) in the last period and was
advertised on the Forum and via the ‘Catch a Coach’ bulletin. Chris is scheduling a
bleep test on a Thursday session so that those who cannot make Saturdays can do it.
(vi)
Core training – a number of the team had previously raised repeating the sessions
that were conducted in Q3/Q4 last year. No actions have yet been taken. This point
was carried forward into the meeting.
Chris had incorporated changes and comments to the schedule already received. There were
additional changes identified for an extra session based on a 4min/3min/2min/1min efforts
pattern (with an additional variation for Group 4) and also for running a longer intervals
session around the handicap 5K course. Chris invited the coaches to volunteer to help and/or
lead sessions within the schedule, particularly for the Thursday and Saturday based speed
work sessions. He also said that there were opportunities to support Katrina on a Thursday.
A number of the team said they would be willing to get involved with the sessions and this
was noted so that the schedule could be amended to include coaches’ names for all of the
sessions. Paul H. Added that we should now show coaches names for the Tuesday sessions
rather than just putting in ‘various’ on the schedule.
Action: Chris took note of the volunteers and will amend the schedule with details and recirculate it in the week beginning 23rd August. If recipients could reply with any comments
by the end of that week the schedule will be ready for publication ahead of the end of the
month.
4.
The group discussed the latest position on the off-track coach development courses. UKA/EA
will be rolling out the new off track/endurance based Coach module but this will not be until
the New Year. Given the level of interest within the club, Chris is keen to give names to the
area co-ordinator so that they can see early on how many individuals we would like attending
the course and to see whether we can influence its location etc. The following expressed a
desire to attend the following:
The new off track/endurance Coach module (successor to the Level 2 coach course) – Jamie
Drackford, Andrew Patterson, Sarah O’Bryan, Jo Laing, Richie Bate, Steve Smithson, Sam
Pretty, Graham Blackburn
Action: Chris will send details of these names to the UKA area co-ordinator, Stacy Quinn, so
that she understands the level of interest in the course so that we can get in on the early roll
out. (Already completed – names sent to Stacy on 22nd August)
For the Leader in Running and Fitness course (one day enabling the coach to lead out groups
of runners and be insured) – Tricia Hopper, Andy Jay, Paul Carter, Marie Colucci.
Richie Bate said that he would like to attend the L in RF course first if that was readily available
(course dates for this are frequent and can be booked on line via the England Athletics site).
Action: Chris said that he would send a note to those interested in attending the L in RF
course with a link to the EA site so they can easily see which dates/venues are available.
(Completed – Chris e-mailed those who had expressed an interest with course
details/venues on 23rd August)
5.
Core training – there was a level of interest in repeating the sessions that had been offered at
the later part of last year. Chris pointed out that Jamie’s wife does do a core training session
on a Tuesday evening so this can certainly be promoted within the club. There was a
consensus view that we should run pilot sessions on both a Saturday at Ridlins (using the
indoor room, two groups, one at 9:20am and one at 10am) and Thursday at Marriotts
(8.15/8.30 for 20-30 minutes). We can then get feedback and assess whether this can be
incorporated on a more regular basis. Action: Chris will speak to Jamie about facilities and
equipment and then set a date for the sessions and advertise within the club.
6.
Catch a Coach – this has been published each month since the start of the year. Chris
reminded the team about contributions. If you have any ideas for new features, material to
be included etc, please just let him know. The material gets pulled together during the last
week of the month so that it is ready for publication on the first day of the following month
i.e. the September edition gets published on the 1st September. Richie has ideas about a
regular feature that included a ‘meal of the month’ and an ‘exercise of the month’. Richie will
send Chris the details for the September edition. Chris will also remind Kieran about the
information he has suggested to add regarding stretches, rehab etc.
7.
Access to the coaches’ board on the Forum – Chris has checked with Tracy regarding security
access to the Coaches section of the Forum for all members of the team. This should now be
in place. Action: please can all members of the team check they can get into the information
as this will be the prime method for sharing information within the team.
8.
AOB
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
It has been recognised that some groups on a Tuesday are going through a dynamic
warm up routine after an initial run out. Other groups are not doing this. Also, a
number of the team pointed out that the pace of the running both on the way out
(warm up) and back in (warm down) is too fast. Best practice would be for the groups
on Tuesday to have a scheduled warm up run to the start of their session/efforts.
Whilst they are doing this the lead coach for the session should control their pace by
staying at the head of the group (and also a brief explanation of why they are
controlling their pace!). As they run out on the arm up the lead coach can then
incorporate more easily a range of dynamic warm up routines e.g. high knees, heel
flicks, skips etc. Chris suggested a similar approach is taken to the situation that was
faced with stretching i.e. he will have a chat with Kieran regarding the range of
exercises to carry out during that warm up phase and incorporating them into the run,
showing members of the team and then incorporating them into the Tuesday
sessions.
One minute/One minute sessions – it has been recognised that the 1 minute efforts
session has resulted in a few hamstring/calf injuries in Group 1. This session can tend
to see runners push themselves harder in shorter bursts and if they have not warmed
up correctly this can raise the risk of muscular injuries. It was suggested that for
Groups 2 to 4 that the lead coach does cover this point/risk with the runners as part of
the pre-run brief. For Group 1 Katrina would like to switch the session to longer
efforts. This will be incorporated into the September to December schedule.
Given the way in which a number of members of the team will now be supporting
sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays particularly it was suggested that a briefing/cue
card was developed that covered the key points that coaches should be looking out
for and doing as part of the session e.g. the importance of effective re-grouping on
Tuesday runs, being aware of all runners within the group and not letting any fall off
the back unnoticed, key points on effective warm up and warm down/stretches etc.
Action: Chris said that he will have a go at developing a version of this and
circulating to the team for any comments before it is published to all members of
the team. In a similar manner, session cards could be made up that cover the key
element s of the range of Thursday based speed work sessions we cover so that these
can be used as reminders/cues for coaches taking out those sessions.