Athletics Australia – News – #AJAC13: Coaching Conference a resounding success

Athletics Australia’s Mini Coaching Conference held as part of the Australian Junior Athletics Championships has been declared a resounding success, with more than 250 coaches engaging with the many sessions offered across three days.

Featuring strength and conditioning guru Peter Lawler OAM, who coached javelin thrower Joanna Stone to an Olympic silver medal, as well as many of the Athletics Australia National Youth Event Coaches, the presentations were developed to provide guidance and ideas for the coaching of athletes aged 13-16.

“The Mini Coaching Conference was a great success with coaches from all over the country taking up the opportunity to hear from some of the best coaches in our country. The mix of theory and practical sessions gave coaches the opportunity to take a look at how other coaches work with and develop their junior athletes and this is a fantastic result,” Jill Taylor, National Coaching Development Manager, said.

“It was so very exciting to see between 90 and 120 coaches at each of the sessions offered. This is a great indication of the thirst for knowledge amongst coaches around Australia and we look forward to making this an annual event at the national juniors,” Sara Mulkearns, Athletics Australia Junior High Performance Manager, said.

“I personally would like to thank the very talented National Youth Event Coaches for taking the time to be involved in this event, as well as John de Bes at Athletics Western Australia and the Department of Sport and Recreation WA for their contribution to making the event worthwhile.”

The three-day program of activities featured strength and conditioning sessions hosted by Lawler that discussed body exercises for athleticism, graded exercise for junior age athletes and new techniques involved with strength and conditioning.

Lawler’s presentation on day one was followed by a distance running, hammer throw and horizontal jumps session, while day two focused on high jump, throws and hurdles and day three on sprints, throws and pole vault.

The success of the Mini Coaching Conference at the Australian Junior Athletics Championships has seen the introduction of a Coaches Morning Tea at the Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney (NSW) next month.

To be held from 10:30am on Saturday 12 April, the Coaches Morning Tea will feature a presentation by Athletics Australia’s new High Performance Director Simon Nathan and provide coaches with an opportunity to network about coaching practices and methods they are currently employing with their athletes.

The Australian Athletics Championships will be held at Sydney Olympic Park from 11 April, with more information about the event and the National Athletics Series, incorporating the Qantas Australian Athletics Tour, available here.

 Athletics Australia – News