The journey from a 9 year old to a medal winner at National Championships

It’s been an exciting two weeks with the indoor season coming to a climax and after the initial euphoria of winning a Scottish Championship for the first time slowly subsiding; I believe it is a good time to reflect about the recent events, not only as a coach but also as a parent. Every coach (or parent) will be naturally proud of the achievements of their athlete and it is indeed a nice experience seeing your child/athlete climbing onto the podium and being presented with a medal. The smiles in the athlete’s face really speak for themselves and how much it means for them having achieved their goal.

Initially, it is a bit surreal and it takes some time to sink in before the question arises: How did it all happen? For me as a coach, I am always intrigued to reflect on success in order to better understand the road, which has let us to this point. As a relatively new coach I remember that after passing my Athletics Coach qualification 2 years ago, the course leader asked all newly qualified coaches how they see their coaching career progressing and what their particular aims were. I had already developed a particular interest in jumps and throws, attending a number of workshops and was quick in replying to the course leader that it would be satisfying to help one of my young athletes to achieve a place on to the podium in the age group (U14) that I was coaching. Having achieved this first goal, maybe there are some thoughts which other new coaches or athletes might find helpful, in particular if their young kids have similar inspirations.

So what are the possible learning points from this journey? Are there any or was it just pure luck on the day? Can an athlete develop into a National Champion overnight?

If we cast our mind back one year ago when Evie competed in her first Pentathlon and finished 8^th place (third last) probably few people would have suggested that she could be the next year’s winner.  Her total score of 1521 was more than 600 points behind the winner; at that time it was like having 1-2 extra events added to the Pentathlon for Evie.

However, after analysing the final results, I personally was quite optimistic and indeed suggested that with the right preparation she could give it a good go and challenge for a medal next year. Good indicators were already there, being able to throw well over 7m in the shot and being able to clear over 1.20m in the high jump. It is important to recognise that the level of performance at that stage of an athlete’s development has to be put into context, bearing in mind that all athletes who finished in front of Evie then were indeed 1 year older. Allowing one extra year of development, I believed that there was sufficient grounds for optimism that Evie could match or even better some of these performances. The outdoor season indeed proved this point as Evie began to throw initially over 8m (May 2012) in the shot and ending her season with throws over 9m (September 2012). Her long jump PB had improved by over 50cm (4.03), her hurdling had made good progress achieving a new PB when she came second in the B final of the Young Athletes League. Although her high jump initially did not progress as it was hoped, Evie started clearing 1.30m and eventually 1.35m just prior to the Pentathlon.

Combined eventers can make use of tables or other tools like an online calculator, which can help to calculate their points for each event. I used this tool just prior to the Pentathlon entering all of Evie’s PBs and was presented with a total score of 2244, which would have been 71 points more than last year’s winner. It is of course one thing to have lots of PBs on paper and another thing to actually perform to your very best in 5 different events on the same day! But then again the adrenalin during the competition can help athletes to exceed their past performances. In the end, Evie’s winning score of 2275 points showed that she not only was able to perform to her potential (achieving previous PBs) but exceeded this aim by achieving two new PBs (hurdles and her weakest event 800m). A year later and she had achieved to beat the score of last year’s winner by 102 points.

So what are the lessons from this adventure and how do you actually become a multi-eventer?

Firstly, Quite simple, I always encouraged my own girls from an early age to do a run, jump and throw at each competition, this provides plenty of experience to learn and apply learned skills.

Secondly, perseverance pays off! Few people have the natural abilities to be good in all different events from the beginning. How many young kids shy away from an event after having tried it only a few times and decided this event is not for them, often simply because they did not win. Unfortunately, children at this stage are preoccupied with the concept of must win all the time, instead of concentrating on skills development. Coaches should make use of the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model, which provides a useful framework for the developing athlete. One important aspect recognised in this model is the concept of Windows of Opportunities where athletes go through certain phases in their development. Skills development is one of these early opportunities and I believe very vital to lay the foundation of any successful athlete. If encouraged, kids are naturally inclined to try new things and I would also suggest they are usually less self conscious than their older peers. Good quality coaching focusing on movement skills and technical aspects of these skills (run, jump and throw) are the key to later success.

Thirdly, be patient with your athlete’s development. When Evie did her first competitive hurdling race at the age of 10, she was far behind the rest of the field and appeared to be struggling with the technique. However, after looking at a video analysis it became clear that because she was still quite small and she was unable to establish a 3 stride pattern between each hurdle, hence had to alter the lead leg at each hurdle (left/right left etc), which slowed her  running considerable  down.

 

Certain tasks (or performances) can only be achieved if athletes have reached a certain physical level and it took me a while even as a parent to recognise this fact while investigating how much Evie had actually grown in the recent past. Tools like a growth chart calculator can be a very useful tool). The relationship between growth spurs and increased performance came particular to light in Evie’s improvements in the shot put and javelin. Evie started her indoor season 2012 with a PB of 6.88m and exceeded the 7m mark for the first time in January 2012 (7.19m), threw 8.00m at the West District in May 2012, won the Young Athletes league final in July with a throw of 8.62m before finishing her season with throws of 8.90m and 9.33m to be ranked first shot putter in her age group in Scotland.

The combination of being already technically skilled in the event and the now increased physical strength were the factors I believe that enabled Evie to finish a respectable 4^th place in the shot and winning a silver medal in the javelin at last year’s age group championships; beating a number of older and physically much stronger athletes. Achieving the silver medal in the shot put this year at the Indoor Age Groups can be seen as another logical step in this development process.

What’s next on the horizon? Don’t get carried away by this early success and let’s remind ourselves at what stage Evie is with regard to the Long Term Athlete Development model. She is still at the train to train stage where young kids have to learn how to train effectively, where the emphasis is on developing generic movement skills and developing an athlete, not an event. Hence, the focus should be to develop an all round athlete and not necessarily a javelin thrower or shot putter, which comes much later once she specialises in one event and enters the event group stage. Winning medals or titles is a bonus but should not be the main focus, although they can obviously help to keep young kids motivated to continue in their sport. There are still stages Evie has to go through before she reaches the senior stage, which is the Train to Compete and later the Compete to Win stage. Still a million years away for a 12 year old girl! With this in mind we are looking forward to next year’s Pentathlon competition when Evie will be moving up to a new age group, well aware that she will likely be finishing in the second half of the field and it’s all about learning and gaining valuable experience…

Resources:

• LONG-TERM ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT: TRAINABILITY IN CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE Windows of Opportunity, Optimal Trainability http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/bayliLTAD2004.pdf
• Growth spur calculator: http://www.bz-hockey.ca/athletes_growth_chart__calculator.html
• multi-event claculator http://cheshireaa.com/statistics/CEscoring.htm#Mens_Indoor_Pentathlon