The untimely and tragic deaths of three of Ulster and Ireland's leading sports people has left a dark cloud hanging over sport in the province. Gaelic Football's Cormac McAnallen, Rugby’s John McCall and Hurling’s Frankie McMullan had all contributed so much to sport in their schools, clubs, counties and country. They were all high performers who will be sadly missed by all who knew and played with them but most importantly by their families to whom we send condolences on behalf of everyone at SINI.

Last week we were rocked by the news of SINI athlete Janet Gray’s accident while water skiing in Florida. Initially the news was horrific but as the days passed news got better and whilst she has a number of broken bones her injuries are not life threatening. As we go to print there are high hopes that Janet will be able to return to Northern Ireland to begin her rehabilitation. SINI staff, physiotherapist Phil Glasgow and Performance Lifestyle manager Peter McCabe are on stand-by to help Janet’s recovery.

LOCAL UNIVERSITIES CLASH AT MARY PETERS TRACK

Following on from the success of last year's match University of Ulster and Queens University will go head to head on the 21st April 2004. The event also sees a NIAF ‘Chairman’s Select’ side making up a third team for the midweek season opener. Last year's trophy was won by the UU Athletics team and judging by the performance of some of their athletes in the indoor season they are in no mood to relinquish their grip on the title. The first event is at 18.15pm and a full timetable is on the NI Athletics website.

Timetable

Over the next few weeks several of our SINI athletes will be representing UU at the Irish and British Universities Championships. This year's Irish Championships take place in Cork in mid April and Anna Boyle and Elaine McCaffrey will be spearheading the medal charge after returning from warm weather camps. The British Universities championships take place in Gateshead during the first weekend in May.

The first weekend in May also sees the annual Belfast City Marathon, again beginning this year at the City Hall. Apart from the High Performance athletes at the front, there will also be several SINI athletes and University staff competing in the relay element of the event. All proceeds going to Macmillan Cancer Relief.

Congratulations to David Shields who has been selected for the GB and NI U18 Camp. After a very successful indoor season GB have recognised his progress by inviting him to the camp. Following a successful application to the Department for Culture Media and Sport’s ‘Gifted and Talented Athlete Programme’ a national support camp for athletes aged Under 18 has been organised to be held at Loughborough in May. No international competition exists in 2004 for U18 athletes so the camp will take on an educational role with a view to preparation for Marrakesh, 2005 (World Youth Championships) and continuing the work of the regional talent and performance squads.
International competition preparation challenges, anti-doping, team building, and coach discussions will form the backbone of the weekend alongside time for technical input from personal and staff coaches.

SINI SQUAD UP FOR ANNUAL REVIEW

The SINI GAA squad will come under review over the next month. Players who are currently in the program will be reviewed in terms of their commitment and progression over the past 9 months and decisions taken as to whether or not they should move out or be retained for another year.

The SINI squad play their first game on Wednesday 21st of April against possible recruits for next year's squad. The Colleges in Belfast will be invited to send along their best talent from the Freshers this year with a view to obtaining a place on the Institute squad from September next year. The possibles will be managed by Jim McAlinden former All Ireland Winning Freshers manager with UUJ.

The Institute athletes are back in action this weekend with the Ulster U21 semi finals. Tyrone and Armagh will have Dermot Carlin and Leo Meenan going out against fellow Institute athletes Finnian Moriarity and Kieran O'Brien while Paul O'Hea and Conleth Moran will be in action against Fermanagh. Good luck to all the players.

DEVELOPMENTS IN BODY COMPOSITION ANALYSIS

Body composition refers to the relative percentage of body fat and lean body mass (i.e. muscle, bone) within the body. In sports where body mass has to be moved against gravity, excess fat mass is likely to be disadvantaged due to the added energy cost associated with carrying this extra mass and because this “drag weight” can also inhibit speed development. On the otherhand, fat mass has some value in activities such as rugby scrummaging where extra resistance can be desirable, although this benefit is largely outweighed when mobility is called for. Yet, it is vital to remember that some body fat is essential for normal functioning and low levels of body fat may be linked with dietary inadequacies and eating disorders. Further, an energy deficiency within the diet can impair performance and importantly, reproductive and skeletal health.

At SINI, body composition analysis is incorporated into each of the athlete programmes and is routinely conducted by sports scientist Declan Gamble. The process involves the assessment of body mass and skinfold thickness and is the simplest, most direct and most immediate technique for monitoring body fat stores. This method can be used to reflect changes in fat stores over time and the appropriateness of the intervention programmes developed in conjunction with the strength and conditioning and sports nutrition staff.

Body composition analysis has recently been boosted by an agreement between the Nutrition department in UUC and the Sports Science department in UUJ to facilitate SINI athletes who wish to undergo body composition scans, using the Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) method. University of Ulster Sports Science Co-ordinator, Dr Gareth Davison and Declan Gamble, who has experienced the DEXA first hand at a body composition workshop in Liverpool last year, met with Professor Barbara Livingstone recently during a visit to the newly established facility in Coleraine to discuss the potential of using the scanner.

DEXA scanning was one of the methods used to evaluate changes in fat stores during the fat trials programme that was shown on TV last year. For those of you have not heard of the DEXA, the scan is mainly used to measure bone mineral density but it can also provide an accurate assessment of fat mass and lean mass. A DEXA scan is painless and simple to conduct and usually takes less than ten minutes. For the test an athlete lies down on an examining table and a series of x-rays are performed. The results are then produced and can be examined to provide whole body composition analysis, evidence of imbalances between right and left sides and assessments of skeletal health.

The DEXA scan will potentially contribute to the assessment of each athlete’s training status and the appropriateness of their conditioning programmes. It is likely that these scans will compliment the musculoskeletal screening process that currently takes place following the induction into the Institute. It is envisaged that DEXA scans will be incorporated into all athlete programmes and the first batch of SINI athletes will undergo scans after Easter. Progress on this intervention will be outlined in a subsequent newsletter article.

CRISIS INTERVENTIONS FOR SPORT RELATED INCIDENTS

Recent events have highlighted the need for sports professionals to raise their awareness of crisis interventions. Unfortunately critical incidents like injury, disability and death, occur in sport as in other areas of life. I was drawn to the work of Bacon and Anderson (2003), who published a useful journal article on ‘Critical Interventions for Sport Related Incidents’.

They state the importance of addressing the emotional and psychological aspects along with the physical needs of all persons involved with a critical incident. The term critical incident refers to any event that is outside the usual range of experience and challenges one’s ability to cope.

As we appreciate only too well, various critical incidents have occurred related to the sports arena. Fatalities directly related to play and indirect fatalities such as in road accidents involving members of a team are two obvious examples. However, catastrophic injuries are also considered critical incidents as they may result in disability and unexpected retirement from sport. It is common for team-mates and support staff to experience a grief response, first experiencing shock, then a preoccupation with the incident and a wide variety of acute stress symptoms including, insomnia, fatigue, a change in risk-taking behaviour and angry outbursts.

Mitchell and Bray (1990) proposed an intervention model originally designed to help emergency services personnel to process their exposure to extreme stress during traumatic events. It is thought that the model fits well with sport given the similarities that athletic teams have with emergency personnel, both groups spend a lot of time together, share common goals and operate as a cohesive unit. The Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) takes approximately 1-2 hours and is best facilitated by professionals trained to use the protocol.

The process involves 7 steps.

WORLD CLASS COACHING CONFERENCE 2004

Information for Coaches.

Planning is underway for this year's World Class Coaching Conference which will be held at the Belfry from 8th-11th November 2004. The theme of this year's conference is “First things First” and the organisers have taken on board many of the comments received following last year's very successful event.

This year numbers are being restricted to 200 for the opening days of the conference with an opportunity for an additional 150 invited coaches to benefit from the visiting speakers on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of that week.

The conference will be for coaches, with only the top U.K. coaches being invited to attend. As before the Sports Institute has been asked to nominate coaches for consideration and this we will be doing over the next 6 weeks.

Coaches will be providing this year's keynote addresses and the workshops for coaches have been organised to stimulate debate amongst coaches. Topics include:

- Nutrition
- Effective Management
- Coach Planning
- Breathing in Beijing
- Innovation in Performance Analysis
- Developing Vision Skills

All presenters will have worked with individual or team sports at High Performance level and will encourage an interactive approach to the delivery of their workshops.

In a future newsletter, confirmation of keynote and workshop presenters will be given together with a list of those coaches being invited this year. Newly appointed Ulster Rugby Coach Mark McCall attended last year's Conference and comments, “ I thoroughly enjoyed last year's Conference and welcomed the opportunity to interact with other coaches working with athletes in high performance sport.”

With coaches such as Clive Woodward, Bill Sweetenham, Rodney March and Michael Johnston being invited to contribute, this year's conference is certainly an opportunity for coaches working at the highest level in Northern Ireland sport not to miss.