The unforgettable Olympic games are over…what do we focus on now

For many, the next few weeks will be hard to put in, not because its back to school time but because what the IOC President, Dr Jacques Rogge described as the “Unforgettable games, The dream games” are over.
With millions watching the action on television throughout the day, sport has had a huge impact on public opinion with both those who are sports fanatics and those who rarely take the time to think about sport.

In political circles fallouts have already begun to take place if we are to believe everything we read in our newspapers. In Ireland, the poor performance of our 39 strong athlete team has been publicly criticised whilst other recognise the difficulty trying to win on today’s Olympic stage.

Team GB had through the British Olympic Association predicted 26 medals, between 6 and 9 Golds, slightly less than the 28 won in Sydney in 2000. In the end they won 30 medals of which 9 were Gold and finished again in 10th position, but the interesting aspect is the spread of sports in which the medals were won in Sailing (5) Rowing (4) Athletics (4) Canoeing (3) Equestrian (3) Swimming (2) Badminton, Boxing, Diving, Archery and modern pentathlon.

Australian beach volleyballers Natalie Cook and Nicole Sanderson who spent a week training at SINI, narrowly missed out on the bronze medal play off to USA.
SINI athlete Paul Brizzel did not progress beyond the first round of the 200m clocking 21 secs to finish 6th in his heat. He did record a seasons best although this was outside his Irish record of 20.53.

In October the Sports Institute will be taking in up to 30 new athletes who have potential to achieve well in either the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne (2006) or the next Olympic in Beijing (2008). Once they have had a break, athletes will need to refocus in the knowledge that the bar is continuing to rise, a professional approach is need and sports have to ‘run very hard’ even to ‘stand still’.

There are many key lessons coming out of Athens and the reports produced by both the Irish Olympic committee and the British Olympic Associaition will highlight these. Sport has had a huge window of opportunity : it needs to build on the positives.
Sports like table tennis and badminton need to build on the exposure game, having such exposure can also produce problems. The debate surrounding athletes pulling out during competition has also been highlighted.
One danger here is that young people watching sports role models may believe that it is acceptable to dropout rather than finish off the podium. With over 10,000 athletes competing in Athens the desired message must surely be to produce your best on each given day even when sometimes your dream is shattered.

Commonwealth Youth Games 2004- Athletics team update.

Six athletes from Northern Ireland will make the trip to Australia this November to compete at the second Commonwealth Youth Games. The track and field competition will take place in Bendigo, which is 150km north west of the Victoria state capitol, Melbourne. The competition days are December 2nd and 3rd 2004 and the team leader for this trip is Jackie Mc Kernan. The NIAF track and field committee will select the team on Thursday the 2nd September, and it is good to see so much competition for places

Currently there are eight athletes who have achieved the NIAF Commonwealth Youth Games guidelines

Steven Morrow, Ballymena and Antrim, 800m, 1.53.09
Coach: Sean Kyle
Jason Smith, City Of Derry, 200m, 22.09 (+ 0.7)
Coach: Steven Maguire
David Shields, Shercock AC, High Jump, 2.02
Coach: Ciaran Conlon
Leslie Leung, Ballymena and Antrim, Long Jump, 6.98 (+1.1
)Coach: Steven Maguire
Stephen Aiken, Lisburn AC, 400m, 48.63
Coach: Bill Kelly
Peter Warke, Lagan Valley AC,400m, 49.10
Coach: Mary Davis
Elizabeth McWilliams, Ballymena and Antrim, 800m, 2.08.81
Coach: Sean Kyle
Paul Pollock, Abbey AC, 1500m, 3.56.51
Coach: Bobby Rea

There are also several athletes just short of the guideline who will be hoping to achieve it over the last few days of the qualifying period

On last seasons rankings it was expected to have one or two athletes nominated to go to Australia, however the competition for places has seen a phenomenal improvement in standards in the Junior ranks (a trend that will hopefully occur with the Senior team during next years qualifying period!) Hopefully the SINI can support these young athletes and their coaches over the next five years so a number of them will be fighting for places on the Senior team for India 2010

Ireland’s Progress on the World Stage.

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the Olympic Hockey Tournament this week but it has given me cause to reflect on the progress of our own hockey teams here in Ireland. Earlier in the year at the Olympic qualifiers the Irish Women’s team drew with Germany in their best game of the tournament but were unable to put together consistent performances and thus qualify. The German team has gone on to win gold at the Olympic games against the more fancied Dutch team. Although several key German players were missing in New Zealand because of injury the Irish on their best day were able to show a level of performance consistent with their opponents. Likewise the Irish Men’s team were competitive against Germany and Spain at the last Europeans and are clearly capable of moving up the world rankings. This summer they beat India who competed in Athens indicating like the women on a good day they have more potential than has been realised so far. Yet the reality is that Ireland in its own right in hockey has never qualified for an Olympic games.

I think if Ireland is ever going to take the next step into the Olympic arena their needs to be continued change. Our performances are not consistent enough, we lack depth in our squads and we work on a shoestring budget, which means volunteers and no fulltime staff. If we look at the Australian model we can see some significant differences, which have kept that country at the highest level over many years.

As an Australian the most significant thing that stands out to me during the Olympic Games is that culturally we place a much greater emphasis on success in this contest All our programs work on a four year cycle in preparation for the Olympic Games and as a result we are aware of the resources available and can plan over a much longer period than is currently possible in Ireland. There is a common goal and a recognised priority amongst all parties involved in high performance sport, which makes the vision clear.
Secondly in Australia there is an institute structure throughout the country with over 25 years experience. These organisations provide support in field hockey to over 200 men and women giving them exposure to the best coaching and support services all year round, and over many years. Because of the numbers that can be accommodated the very best juniors plus senior internationals get quality programs, which creates enormous depth and a wealth of experience. In Northern Ireland the Institute of Sport provides support along similar lines to 10 men and 10 women playing hockey at international level but their team mates in the south have no access to institute programs. As hockey is played as an all Ireland sport at international level this is a hurdle that must be overcome for Beijing to become a reality.

The other big difference between Australia and Ireland is the competition schedule both nationally and internationally. In Australia every year at every age group a two-week tournament is played to expose the athletes to tournament format and prepare them for international selection. This is currently not a feature of the domestic scene in Ireland with athletes getting their first experience of tournament play when they first represent their country. Likewise at international level the number of quality competitive international fixtures is limited. Eight of the current Australian Men’s Team have debuted since 2001 but already have on average 62 caps. It would take an Irish athlete as much as three times as long to gain similar experience.

Ireland’s national hockey teams have shown a glimmer of what they can achieve but only change on many fronts will build the depth and experience we need to take the next step.

Pre-Olympic Sports Science Congress, Thessaloniki, Greece

Sport Scientist Declan Gamble recently represented SINI at the Pre-Olympic Sports Science Congress, which was held in the University of Aristotle in Thessaloniki, Greece. The focus of the conference “ Sport Science Through the Ages: Challenges in the New Millennium”, attracted approximately 1500 delegates from around the world. The conference was attended by leading academic authorities and applied sports science professionals who interacted to provide a series of keynote addresses, oral presentations and practical workshops on general sport science topics. These included;

Current issues on athletic competition in heat: thermoregulation and hydrationMetabolic

field measurements

Stress and training

Preventing burnout and enhancing performance

Monitoring athletic training

Environmental aspects of the Olympic Games

Sports Ergonometry

New technologies

Body composition in Elite Athletes

Nutrition in health and performance

Putting sport back into sport science

The information obtained from the conference is now being disseminated to the SINI performance managers and related coaches. This should facilitate the development of SINI’s sport science programmes and hopefully contribute to better preparing our athletes to compete in major international tournaments and games.

Overall the conference was a great success “The experience provided me with an excellent opportunity to interact with and share knowledge with other professionals and also reinforce links with a number of sports scientists whom I trained with during my placement at the Western Australian Institute of Sport in Perth”. “I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the financial contributions from both UK Sport and the University of Ulster’s Sports Union, towards the cost of the conference”.

Ulster Academy Fly’s in Elite 16

The new look decentralised Ulster Rugby Academy was officially launched today by Allen Clarke, the director of Elite player development and Maurice Field who has been appointed as Elite player manager to oversee the academy.

The decentralisation comes as the Ulster Academy announces its new sponsor for the next two years, Flybe airline.

The academy, which is based at the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland at Jordanstown, contracted 16 young players with the aim of grooming the next generation of Ulster stars. In future there will be a reduction in the number of overseas players with in the sport in Ireland.

These young players combine study or employment with academy training sessions, club sessions and a club match each week as well as receiving nutritional and lifestyle management advice from the Sports Institute.

Director of elite player Development Allen Clarke commented, “While at the top level the Ulster Academy continues to go from strength to strength, it is extremely important that the time and effort invested by local clubs in developing our young players is recognised and acknowledged, and both myself and Elite Player Development Manager Maurice Field will continue to work with clubs to ensure that player development is maximised.”

STUDENT ATHLETES – POTENTIAL STRESSORS

As many student athletes prepare to move into their courses following the summer break, Peter McCabe (Performance Lifestyle Coordinator) identifies that it is worth considering the potential stressors ahead in the Higher Education academic cycle.
The challenge of integrating elite sport and education needs careful planning and early identification of potential ‘hotspots’ when commitments in both sectors coincide. Athletes are frequently quite good at identifying peaks in their sporting commitment but are often less exact when it comes to recognising peaks in the intensity of academic related stress. Good performance in sport will invariably depend on a clear focus achieved when other stressors are minimised.
The following table identifies acknowledged stressors related to the academic cycle in Higher Education. Those of us who work with student athletes and seek to maximise the value of our interactions, would do well to familiarise ourselves with its contents. Empathetic interventions may well be needed at times to coax maximal performance.

Ulster 16 Development Squad: 2004/05

Following a successful camp at the sports institute the Ulster Under 16 Development Squad met once again to compete against Dublin Ui6/U17.

The squad, which was split into two and two games, took place at Dublin City University playing fields. Game 1 was very competitive with Ulster going down 3-10 to 1-16. The second game Ulster won 1-12 to 0-7.

A number of players contributed to the success in game 2, noticeably Stephen Monagh (Cavan), Gerard McGarvey (Armagh), Chris McGrath (Down) and Ryan McKena (Tyrone). These and other players will be pushing hard over the water for inclusion in Ulster’s squad that go forward for international rules selection in March 2005.