Coach Development Weekend

A total of 35 people from Kilmarnock Harriers were trained in various aspects of coaching and leadership over the weekend.

First up were the new and developing leaders, they attended the Leading Athletics workshop on Friday evening, The three hour workshop gives the new leaders the skills and resources to assist the qualified coaches on club nights. A total of eighteen new leaders were trained and are now set to assist at the club and also at the East Ayrshire Run, Jump and Throw clubs. This certificated course is suitable for anyone with an interest in coaching and is the first step on the pathway to becoming a fully qualified  coach.

Sixteen coaches attended a workshop on Shot Putt on Saturday morning, the session was led by former Commonwealth Games athlete and current Coaching Coordinator with Scottish Athletics, Alison Grey. The coaches were joined by twelve eager and excited young athletes, who were put through their paces by Alison, to aid the learning of the coaches in attendance.

The workshop covered every aspect of introducing the Shot Putt to young athletes, taking the group through a comprehensive warm up and throws workout. The athletes worked very hard and the coaches had loads of questions for Alison, which aided the learning throughout the morning.

The final piece of the coach development weekend was Gillian Mitchell, who attended her assessment day for the UKA Athletics coach Award. Gillian passed all aspects of the award and is the newest fully qualified coach within Kilmarnock Harriers.

These coach development sessions are being run to aid all coaches in the club, with the next session being pencilled in for 3rd June, TBC. This session will be on horizontal jumps and be lead by former Scottish and GB International Darren Ritchie, who is also the Scottish record holder for long jump.

The club have confirmed a Speed and Hurdles workshop on 23rd June, which will be lead by Scottish and GB International athlete Allan Scott. Allan will take the coaches through a comprehensive workshop on developing speed for developing athletes. This workshop is open to all coaches in the club and names should be passed to Jim Goldie.