2013-10 October Newsletter - City of Portsmouth Athletic Club

Many are complementary;swimmers come with a wellestablishedaerobic base, goodfootballers have 90 minutesfartlek training every match,gymnasts have a core strengthand co-ordination most of usenvy, so the real problem ishow to manage the variousactivities, where to build in therest, recovery, rebuild periods.We can't uninvent thecyberworld the challenge ishow to integrate that withtraditional sports. Some of ourcoaches actively engage withthis brave new world, usingipads and iphones to recordand analyse running action,there is even a photo finish appshould you want it. So ratherthan take David Bonds whollynegative opinion of the screenbound youngster i'd argue toaccept it, engage with it, evenuse it to enhance theexperience of athletics, ourchildren are no more singledimensional characters thanwe,the adults are.Give them the opportunity toparticipate in organised sportand most immerse themselvesin it completely.... Then gohome and tell their friendsabout it on which ever socialmedia they choose. Though Iwould say well policed, I'm notthat naive.division 2 of the UK YouthDevelopment League. We werekept waiting a long while forthis to be confirmed but it isthoroughly well deserved. Theyalso managed to tearthemselves away from thescreens long enough to pick upbronze medals at the NationalRoad Relays. Again thoroughlydeserved.Meanwhile our 'explosive'seniors are into the grindingpart of their year, with barelyenough breath to whisper“track” as the long reps arechurned out. Not a time of yearwhen the word 'fun' is used inconjunction with 'session', butthere is a new training mantrabeing preached and it is allabout fun; the introduction ofgames into training.I know our throwers have longused conditioning games,sandpit bounds and jumps, butI notice the 'run-through-abrick-wall-brigade'multieventersare using machoversions of the games theInroductory Coaching Groupuse, it's now a race betweencoaches to get to the beanbags first.Phil BuddOur present 'igeneraton' havemanaged to gain promotion towww.portsmouthathletic.co.uk Page 4