Changing a culture is never easy. When SINI inducted its first group of athletes back in October 2002 one of our challenges was to develop a high performance culture in Northern Ireland. There were immediate signs of this starting to happen with athletes arriving early morning for gym sessions under the direction of strength and conditioning staff. When will it start to show in the performance of institute athletes was the question on everyone’s lips. Recent performances would suggest that SINI is starting to make a difference. Paul Brizzel and Anna Boyle recently hit the headlines when they established personal bests at Indoor Athletics championships in Sheffield (AAA) and the Odyssey. Rugby athletes – Tommy Bowe, Glen Telford, Declan Fitzpatrick and Oisin Henessey continue to catch the eye of Ulster and Ireland coaches and together with Gareth Steenson are competing in the U21 Six Nations Championship in preparation for the U21 World Cup later this summer. In addition Stephen Ferris, Jamie McGrugan and Stewart Megaw are front-runners for the Irish U19 squad who will compete in the U19 World Cup in Durban later this month. As the girls involved in the SINI hockey squad (8) prepare to head off to New Zealand for the Olympic Qualifier their results in recent competitions in Argentina and Madrid against some of the top hockey nations gives great optimism for the future. The result squad contains many U23 players which should augur well for the future of the women’s game in Ulster and Ireland. In Gaelic Football many of the current SINI squad are breaking through into their county squads as they prepare for this years Ulster Championship. Players like Paul Doherty (Antrim), Conleth Moran and Patsy Bradley (Derry) and Leo Meenan and Dermot Carlin (Tyrone) are making an impact and we will watch performances this summer with interest. At SINI we are keen to assist in the education of other sports and the general public with regard to the key ingredients of a high performance culture. Since Christmas BBC Radio Ulster has included a SINI slot every Saturday between 5.30 and 6PM on a range of high performance issues. Brian Johnston and presenter Adam Coates report great interest in the series which will continue for a few weeks to come. As we move forward other developments will provide further support for the development of this high performance culture. The development of the Sports Medicine Centre at Musgrave Park Hospital will be a huge boost for elite athletes when it opens in summer 2004. The new Lottery Programme for athlete support will provide a much clear funding package for elite and performance driven athletes, some of whom will be offered scholarships at SINI. Finally
one of our challenges this year has been to increase circulation
of the
newsletter from 250 (Sept 03) to 500 readers. We currently
circulate to 381 readers – can you pass on names of any colleagues
who might welcome receiving a copy.
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The SINI athletes who are members of the Irish National Women’s Team have recently returned from a 3-week training camp to Argentina and Spain. The team played 9 games over the 3-week period to give them vital match practice before the Olympic Qualifiers in March in New Zealand. Based in the geographical centre of Argentina, in the third largest town of Cordoba the Irish played Argentina, Korea and Holland prior to the official four nations tournament in which Germany also competed. . They also played national development and U/21 sides as well as the local club team. Assistant coach Sally Bell said, “ It was great to see this level of support for field hockey. During the four-nation tournament all the games were televised live by ESPN and there were thousands of fans at every game. It was a new experience for the Irish players to be constantly asked for autographs and photos and very unfamiliar to have supporters camped outside the hotel especially in anticipation of getting an Argentinian autograph. Field hockey is the most popular and successful women’s sport in Argentina with over 300,000 players and a current world ranking of 3. They are sponsored by major companies such as Visa, Adidas, Nescafe, Coca Cola and ESPN. The hospitality we received was outstanding and this plus level of competition and affordable cost makes Argentina a very worthwhile destination for training camps. I would recommend it to all especially those looking for warm weather training” |
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WARM WEATHER TRAINING - INJURY NIGHTMARE OR PERFECT PERIODISATION? Due to the nature of our climate in the British Isles many of our Elite Athletes go off to a warm weather training camp at various venues around the world at this time of year. The most popular being southern Spain, the Canary Islands and South Africa. The following section will outline what happens at the camps and what are there purposes? WHAT ARE THEY? The camp is basically a break from the normal winter preparation phase and normally will be spent refining technical work in a more suitable environment or beginning to concentrate more on speed work. The general public often see these excursions as athletes going away to lie on a beach for a couple of weeks; however they are surprised to find that international standard track and field facilities are only 600m from the main strip in resorts like Playa de Las Americas in Tenerife. Full Time athletes often go away twice during the winter to these camps, and athletes holding down a Job often enjoy the opportunity to concentrate solely on their sport for a couple of weeks. All of the SINI athletics squad will have been away at least once by the end of April 2004. BENEFITS? As already mentioned it is an excellent opportunity to concentrate solely on the sport without the normal ‘interferences’ of the home setting. In many cases it is also an excellent opportunity for planning. At no other time in the season does the coach/athlete relationship have as much time allocated to it; and this has many other spin-offs in terms of the technical benefit that can be accrued at training sessions. It is obviously also very beneficial to have fantastic weather to train in. This means that the quality of training sessions can be maintained, and that the warm weather also helps alleviate many of the muscle tears and strains associated with poor warm- up procedures. Whilst Northern Ireland has no indoor spike friendly training facility this will always be the case. Due to large volumes of swimming pools many additional aerobic sessions can be carried out impact free in the water. The change in scenery for training sessions to blue sky and volcanic mountains in the background can often alleviate the tedium associated with the same training venue back home. PROBLEMS? Due to the climate, many of the tracks are often the hard MONDO surface, whilst it is very fast, it is not conducive to heavy training loads. Therefore many athletes return from warm-weather camps with over training injuries (shin splints, tendonitis, soft tissue damage, even stress fractures) and need to take time off for rehabilitation on their return (which defeats the purpose of the camp in the first place!). It is not just the tracks that cause over training injuries, but similarly athletes tend to try and squeeze extra sessions in because they have nothing else to do; or because they feel they should be training harder. In fact the camp should be based around quality sessions and quality recovery time. This recovery should be spent resting or getting massage, and that means actual rest- not lazing around in a swimming pool or shopping! Another issue with the camps is obviously nutrition. As many of the trips are on a self-catering basis, food is often purchased and cooked in a foreign environment and therefore athletes need to be wary that there diet is supporting their training. Likewise the additional heat and flight will factor in a fluid replenishment issue which also needs to be carefully monitored. Peaking for Performance. For maximum results from warm weather camps it is best to draw on the good and bad experiences of people who have been away before and keep in mind many of the issues raised above. The benefits for coach and athlete of a well planned and well practiced camp can be enormous. However the consequences of an ill-advised, poorly planned camp can be disastrous.
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The winter GAA CPD programme has drawn to a close as the coaches begin another season. But we have rolled the practical programme out over the next two months to include five workshops that have been organised in the Counties. These commence Monday 15th March in Monaghan and the focus is on KICKING FOR POSSESSION. Anthony Harkin coach with Donegal last year and in 1992 will deliver the session on Kicking for Possession. Sessions with the same theme will run as follows: 15 MARCH - CLONTIBERT (Monaghan and Cavan)- Anthony Harkin - Donegal Senior Coach All Ireland Champions (1992) AND 2003. 22 MARCH - CLOGHER (Tyrone and Fermanagh) Brian McIver - Ballinderry Senior Coach and All Ireland Club Champions 29 MARCH - CARGIN (Derry and Antrim) Ross Carr - Down Minor Coach and former Down All Ireland Senior Winner 5 APRIL - NEWRY (Down and Armagh) Jim McCorry - Former Armagh Senior Coach 5 April - BALLYBOFEY (Donegal) Brian White - Former Antrim Senior Coach. PLEASE CHECK THE VENUES WITH YOUR COACHING OFFICER. Two new posts are now in place with Ulster GAA. Tony Scullion (Football Development Officer) and Terence McWilliams (Games Promotion Manager) have begun their work with grassroots sport. In two months Tony has made contact with over 700 coaches through County based session that look at INNOVATIVE TRAINING TECHNIQUES. In addition himself and Terence McWilliams are now rolling out a programme on FUNdamentals focusing initially on the in service with Primary School teachers and over the next few months this will permeate into the clubs. Watch out for details in your area. The SINI players continue to make an impact at Senior level. Paul Doherty who has been making great strides with Antrim Senior sustained a foot injury which will sideline him for four weeks. However his training continues within the Institute to maintain the aerobic base. With the Under 21 championship beginning in March the players are again under pressure. As such I would take this opportunity and ask club coaches to look closely at what the young players are doing and try to get the balance right for them. Log on to the web site for up to date coaching articles on all aspects of team preparation.
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GAA - HEART RATE MONITORING WORKSHOP The successful series of coaching workshops, established by Dr Eugene Young, as part of his Excellence in Coaching programme, concluded last week with a presentation by SINI sport scientist Declan Gamble on heart rate monitoring and its impact on programme planning. The workshop involved a summary of the heart rate data collected over the last four years from 40 players during senior intercounty National Football League games, involving Antrim, Armagh, Cork, Donegal, Down, Wicklow and Tipperary. Heart rate data was also obtained from numerous county and university training sessions, during which the intensity of effort was quantified.
The match data illustrates that players, on average, performed above 80% of their maximum heart rate (HRmax) for most of a 70 min game, with the majority of these values falling between 80-95% maximum heart rate. There was also more high intensity activities, such as repeated sprints (90-100% HRmax), performed in the first half compared to the second half of games, a trend that is also present in similar intermittent field sports, such as hockey, rugby and soccer. In general, the decrease in high intensity activity in the second half, can be attributed to a lack of appropriate conditioning (match fitness) and/or a decrease in energy stores (predominantly carbohydrate). Importantly, this trend can be offset by training programmes that condition players appropriately, to perform at greater than 80% of their HRmax for between 60-70 minutes. Training at this intensity helps to replicate the competitive demands of games. Unfortunately, the majority of the county and university training sessions that were analysed, did not facilitate this level of conditioning. Basically, training programs for Gaelic footballers should focus on skill development, whilst replicating competition demands during practice, i.e exercising at greater than 80% HRmax. Therefore, the message emanating from the workshop was that the overall intensity of training needed to be elevated. The coaches at the workshop where encouraged to utilise fully integrated ball-control activities, drills and modified games in training. If structured appropriately this method of training has the potential to simultaneously develop superior levels of Gaelic football specific fitness. Some of the information from the workshop will shortly be available on the website. |
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PERFORMANCE LIFESTYLE - NEW UK TRAINING PROGRAMME LAUNCHED UK Sport has just launched a new Training and Accreditation Programme for Performance Lifestyle advisers. The Programme is designed to ensure that the advisers have the skills and knowledge to deliver the Performance Lifestyle service. It takes into account previous knowledge and experiences that advisers bring to the role and supplements any gaps that they may have. The Programme is built around a series of 3-day workshops, practical training and reflective assignment work. Up to five modules can be studied, two being mandatory (Induction, Practical Training) and three being optional in that it is possible to gain Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) should an individual be able to show previous evidence that they have met the learning objectives and criteria for these modules. Optional modules are Transitions in Elite Sport, Communicating with Athletes and Career Development. It is envisioned that a new advisers may take up to one year to complete all models and meet the appropriate standard of service delivery. Peter McCabe Coordinator: Performance Lifestyle at SINI takes up the story, “A few of us in the UK recently completed a Graduate Certificate Course in Career Counselling for Elite Performers. This was delivered over the web from a University in Melbourne, Australia. Many of the aspects of the course were excellent, but there was a heavy bias towards assessment of theoretical content and it took over a year to complete. At the UK Coordinators group we took the decision to break free from the constraints of the Australian ACE license and at the same time decided to create our own UK Training Programme based around practical experience and on-the-job training. We have even established a link with Loughborough so that an adviser can go on beyond the five modules to complete extra pieces of work in order to qualify for a Graduate Certificate in Athlete Lifestyle Management. The aim is to ensure the quality of delivery to the athletes and I am confident that the new programme will equip the advisers to do just that”. Peter will be involved in the delivery of specific training workshops,
playing his role within the UK Coordinators team to develop service
staff across the Home Countries and Professional Sports (Welsh Rugby
Union, English Cricket, Lawn Tennis Association).
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SPORTS DIETITIAN TRAVELS WITH IRISH SENIOR WOMEN’S HOCKEY SQUAD TO USA Ruth Wood-Martin, Sports Dietitian in SINI travelled with the Irish Senior Women’s Hockey Squad to their training camp in San Francisco to oversee nutrition and hydration strategies to support training and competition. The main issues surrounded the provision of adequate energy, in particular carbohydrate, and sufficient fluids to maintain hydration. The repetitive nature of tournament play, with limited recovery time, puts extreme demand on players to refuel and rehydrate sufficiently to support subsequent match play. Therefore the main areas that were considered were Good nutrition and hydration practices have been emphasised to all players as part of the nutrition support programme which has been ongoing with the squad since April 2003. All players were aware of the Hydration Protocol and Nutrition and Hydration for Recovery guidelines, and had been given Nutrition and Hydration Tips for Travellers. Hydration monitoring All players had two fluid bottles; one was used during training
and rest times and one was used for matches. Diluted isotonic drinks
were made up, kept cool and refilled as necessary to keep players
hydrated and fuelled throughout matches. Breakfast was provided at the accommodation and players had a wide food choice including cereals, breads, bagels, muffins, yogurts, scrambled egg and bacon. Lunch was a movable feast and was planned at least 2 hours before training and match times. Suitable foods which included a variety of bread and rolls, ham, chicken and cheese, yogurts, fresh fruit and fruit juices, and cereal bars were bought locally and were set out for players to help themselves. Sugary sweets like jelly babies and wine gums were kept on the bench for immediately before matches, during half time and for players who were rolled off during matches. A variety of high carbohydrate snacks were available for straight
after matches to promote optimal refuelling. Evening meals were planned in different restaurants in the local area. Menus were circulated to the players in the morning, and food was pre-ordered. This prevented any delay in receiving meals once we arrived at the restaurant.
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RUGBY HOCKEY GAA ATHLETICS |
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