CZ 2015 – Edition 1

Welcome to Coaching Zone – Rodger Harkins

This first edition of Coaching Zone for 2015 kicks off with some useful articles on coaching and training philosophies on training adaption and the long-term development of the athlete, where Tony Hadley presents an insight into his coaching of European Silver medallist Matt Hudson-Smith.
One of the key themes resonating throughout the scottishathletics coach development programme is the development of fundamental movement patterns in our athletes, and there is a great blog looking at how coaches can develop these qualities in their athletes through the warm up. Rodger

Click on section headings to go to each resource:

Coaches’ corner – your questions answered

In this first edition of Coaching Zone 2015, we invite coaches to ask coach-related questions to scottishathletics. For example, if you have a question regarding the warm-up, technical development or planning, please send your question to darren.ritchie@scottishathletics.org.uk and we’ll aim to have a reply by the next edition.

Sleep, the key to recovery and training adaptation

Sleep is, without doubt, the most important recovery strategy for athletes, and those with poor sleep habits may be at increased risk of overreaching and overtraining. In this article Iñigo Mujika provides some practical tips to promote athletes’ sleep quality and/or quantity (blog post).
Suitable for: Event group and event specialist coaches working with developing athletes. 

A different perspective on warm-ups – diversity and variety

In this article, James Marshall takes a look at how we can develop the athletes’ fundamental movement skills through the warm-up (blog post).
Suitable for: All coaches

Long term development of a 400m runner by Tony Hadley

Tony Hadley has coached world-class sprinters including Derek Redmond, Duaine Ladejo and Phil Brown. In this series of videos Tony talks through his development model for 400m athletes, he uses examples from working with Matt Hudson-Smith who ran 44.75 at the age of 19 (Video: 11.38m).
Suitable for: Event group and event specialist coaches.

Event group coach development days

scottishathletics National Coach Mentors and guest coaches will deliver a number of practical workshops and seminars focusing on the key areas around the development of physical and technical competencies and seasonal planning for the club athlete. These days are specifically developed for athletics and event group coaches working with club athletes.

Forthcoming event group coach development days
22 March – Grangemouth (speed & throws), Pitreavie (jumps) and Stirling (endurance)

Additional coach development opportunity
22 February – Grangemouth – pole vault coach development day

To reserve your place, please contact Darren Ritchie on darren.ritchie@scottishathletics.org.uk.

National coaching qualifications pathway and programmes 2014-15

Athletics offers formal qualifications for coaches delivering athletics in clubs. These qualifications are licensed by UK  Athletics, catering for entry-level coaches through to coaches working with performance athletes.

Click here for details of all forthcoming coach education courses, and a selection of useful downloadable documents.

Other resources

Click on the links below for more details on each of these resources:
Book – introduction to athlete development
Written by world-leading movement and conditioning expert Kelvin Giles and adapted for scottishathletics.
Local club coaching sessions
National Event Leads will provide support to coaches working with athletes at the event group and event-specific stages (13+) in local clubs free of charge. National coach mentors will work with a group of coaches and their athletes across any event group or specific event as required.
Inclusive athletics
A 3 hour workshop for coaches and volunteers interested in increasing their knowledge of working with athletes with a disability.