IN
BRIEF “ Tomorrows
success is founded on today’s preparation.” |
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MEN'S IRISH HOCKEY TEAM WALTZ TO VICTORY The Irish Men’s hockey Team were celebrating in Vienna on Saturday night after clinching the trophy at the Four Nations tournament. It was a double celebration for SINI athlete Paddy Brown who also earned his 50th 'cap' for Ireland during a 5-1 victory over Russia. This result was a useful psychological boost as the two sides are due to meet again at the European Nations' Cup in Barcelona in September. Paddy's teammate and fellow SINI athlete Mark Irwin stole the show with a hat trick as the Russians were soundly beaten. Ireland had lost 5-1 in the recent series against England but that sorry memory was put to rest in style. The Irish team have progressed since then and enjoyed an excellent weekend in Vienna. The Tournament opener resulted in a draw against Austria and a convincing 2-1 victory over Switzerland was recorded in the second match. The Irish Squad will travel to a camp at Old Loughtonians in mid July and all members of the SINI field hockey program will be involved. The Federation of International Hockey launched its Youth Leadership Certificate Program in 2002 and SINI athlete Bridget McKeever received an award for her contributions to youth development. The Irish Hockey Association nominated her for her outstanding work, coaching juniors both at club (Ballymoney) and provincial level. She coached at clinics and within the regional development squad program as well as finding time to pursue her own playing career. |
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IRB U21 WORLD CUP - RUGBY ROUND UP As the Under 21 IRB World Cup concluded the group matches and entered the knockout stage it didn’t take a rugby Einstein to deduce that the strength of the Southern Hemisphere teams at senior level was also apparent at this underage level. For explanation, many point to the quicker physical maturity of players in the Southern Hemisphere together with the comparative late blooming of players in this part of the rugby-playing world. The global underage tournaments tend to enforce this theory. However not only do South Africa, New Zealand and Australia tend to be bigger and stronger, in addition their players are usually more exposed to top-flight competition. South Africa have six players within their squad playing Super 12 Rugby. Similarly New Zealand, despite losing three players to the senior All Blacks field a number of Super 12 players and Australia have no fewer than ten players of Super 12 experience to call upon. Viewed in this light the task for Northern Hemisphere sides appears rather daunting. Overall the Irish team enjoyed an assorted competition. The squad were unlucky to be hit by numerous player injuries. The tournament started well for them even though they were defeated in their first match by previous holders South Africa, 36-27 but experience from this game was taken into their next match against Scotland with the Irish overcoming their counterparts 21-15. The
next match against Argentina was a decider to gain a
place in the semi finals, Ireland started the match brightly
scoring three tries in the first 27 minutes but took
the foot off the pedal allowing the Argentineans to
come back and win the match 30-19. This now meant that
the
highest Ireland could finish was in ninth position, which
is exactly what they earned after victories over Japan,
52-13, and Italy, 24-19. |
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GAELIC FOOTBALL UPDATE -Visit by Istvan Balyi – leading expert on the development of talented As Gaelic Games in Ulster continues to tackle the problem of player burnout and issues surrounding over training and too much competition, Istav Balyi a leading figure in the world on the management and development of talented young players has provisionally agreed to come to the province to talk to coaches. A preliminary date of Saturday the 18th October has been set and coaches are encouraged to put this in their diary. This is one you do not want to miss. -GAA
Sports Institute Squad currently being recruited |
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INTERNATIONAL ATHLETE SERVICE FORUM A SUCCESS Peter McCabe has just returned from the second International Athlete services Forum held in Springfield, Massachusetts. “ It was very useful to gain knowledge of programmes running in ten different countries” he said, “Each has their own specific set of challenges but there was close agreement in terms of general strategy and extensive sharing of good practice. There is very close alignment between the programmes operating in the UK, New Zealand and Australia and all agree that Governing Bodies should be in a position to produce an annual plan for each ‘Institute athlete’. This should reflect the training and competition schedules the athlete will face over the next twelve months." “How certain athlete services become mapped onto this plan often depends on the athlete’s status regarding their stage of career progression. Typical categories include those in full time Higher Education, those in part-time education, those in secondary education, those in career employment, those in short-term job employment, those operating as full-time athletes etc. Services can be mapped onto the annual plan in a periodised fashion in order to provide support at the most appropriate time. Governing bodies can also help by being aware of key academic commitments so that these can be taken into account when planning fixtures, training camps etc.” “All countries recognise the challenge of integrating elite sport and career. The emphasis between sport and career can shift for athletes, this often depends on whether or not the year contains a major competition. Athletes need to become good at prioritising and efficient in their actions. Learning to plan in an integrated fashion is critical”. The trip also gave Peter the opportunity to gain insight into the type of athlete resource centres developed at the US Olympic Training Centres. “ The first phase of facility development at SINI is likely to include an athlete’s resource centre. It was interesting to hear how the US operates this type of facility and see examples of how athletes use the facility to their benefit. Hopefully I can bring some of my experience to the table when we reach the stage of designing such a facility for our own athletes”. |
 THE UK DELEGATES THAT ATTENDED THE FORUM |
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| RUGBY CAMPS APPLY SPORTS SCIENCE FOR FITNESS TESTING Ulster Rugby’s development programme continues this month with the annual talent identification camps at UUJ. Forty players will be competing to join the SINI rugby squad and those who are successful will be given elite level support over the next twelve months. Director of Elite Player Development, Allen Clarke has identified fitness as one of the criteria that will be used to select the new SINI rugby squad. Therefore, the camps will commence with a rugby specific fitness testing session on the 14th of July. Each player will be assessed on varying aspects of physical fitness; including body composition, speed, agility, explosive power and multi-sprint capacity. Indeed, these players will be the first athletes assessed with the new dual beam light-gate system, which is the latest acquisition to SINI’s sport science inventory. The players will also be given advice regarding optimum nutrition for training and competition, as proper nutrition is vital if the players are to sustain a high level of performance over the course of the two camps. Likewise, hydration status will be monitored periodically, to determine whether players are consuming sufficient fluids. |
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ATHLETICS |
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The
Hockey men’s group completed a series of 6 matches against
England and were unfortunate to lose 5-1 in the series, however the
Irish men bounced back, putting that memory to rest by clinching
the trophy in a four nations tournament in Vienna. The ladies squad
is rebuilding after the World Cup and this has presented some SINI
athletes with an opportunity to step up from the Under 21 level to
the Senior squad, in preparation for the Nations Cup at Barcelona
in September. Let’s hope the hard work pays off for the girls
concerned. 
