A Busy week of social engagements!

Last weekend, I traveled up to Penticton to take part in and present at a coaching seminar aimed at bridging the gap between youth triathlon racing and high performing junior elites. This was a really interesting seminar as most of it was disscusion and brainstorming on how do we get more kids into the world of triathlon and then, how do we develop the talent within the sport to achieve medals in the long term.

What struck me as very cool and somewhat unique, was a room full of coaches from different clubs and teams all sharing training and development techniques, all with the common goal of having a more competitive youth and junior racing enviroment while maintaining the fundimentals of our sport and sportsmanship. I think that in triathlon we have a fairly healthy direction for the future of our sport and I think that if we can continue to colaborate within our coaching community, teams, and governing bodies, we may soon have a model of high performance development that other sport will want to emulate.

Thursday Dec 10th, I went out to one of the local high schools to present an informal talk on goal setting and planning to a grade 12 class. It was an interesting experience. As any parent with teenagers has experience, it was much like asking in depth questions to someone that was just about to end their shift. Yet I did a simple coordination game partway through the talk (impromptu) just to see what the response would be and within seconds the entire class was smiling, laughing and comparing their short experience with this simple coordination game. I thought, fantastic! I have their attention. Then they sat down and returned to a collection of eyes looking straight through me at the clock behind me counting the seconds left in there class. I was not surprised by this response but I am always amazed by it. It reminded me of how glad I am that I am not in high school any more!

On Sunday Dec 14th, LiveFit Coaching is going to be offered another Technical running session. This session focused on body position, activation of core strength, and balance while running. The session was 60' with two coaches providing tips, corrections and input. Keep checking back, in 2010 we will be offering many more of these sessions and the best part is they are not restricted to LiveFit athletes, so if you are interested contact us as space is limited to 12 athlete.