After many (many) years DD has stepped back from his coaching duties – I think everyone would agree his contribution has been enormous and greatly appreciated by all – so there are important changes to the way that the club is now organising sessions. This is an attempt to summarise the changes but feel free to get in touch with any committee member if you want to find out more:
i) Sessions are now being planned by a small group of leaders (Ryan Holt, Gemma Finnie and Paul O’Mara) with a similar focus as before. The sessions are based around the run up to key races in the season and are designed to maximise performance at these events.
ii) We are renaming “Beginners” as it’s no longer a representation of the group and will now be known as group 6. This group will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of Wednesdays. Group 6 sessions will be adapted slightly to ensure they are suitable for individuals who are new to the club, returning from injury or looking for a slightly less intense work out. We hope this move will make it easier for runners to transition from group 6 (if they want to) to other groups and will ensure they’re fully integrated in to the club.
iii) We’re doing away with the covid spreadsheet – hurrah! But England Athletics have pointed out that we should always be running sessions with a small leader-to-athlete ratio and they recommend 1:12 where possible (this isn’t a covid measure, it’s something EA have always required but it’s not something that has been clearly communicated). We will deal with exceptions to this on an individual basis and we be monitoring this ratio to understand if we need more leaders in particular groups. For this reason, we will need to ensure that we’re training in appropriate sized groups each week. Leaders will be asked to help out by indicating their availability in advance.
iv) Leaders always have the discretion to amend sessions but we ask that leaders communicate in advance if they’re planning on changing a session so that people coming to the club know what to expect.
v) Lastly, we have a number of individuals at the club who have achieved higher level coaching qualifications. These individuals will be offering personalised 1-2-1 training programmes for individuals who are targeting specific races. We will provide more detail on this in due course.
6 Responses
I just wanted to echo the huge thanks to DD for such an immense contribution as lead coach – especially over the last year or so with logistics being so difficult. 🙌
DD your are always our champ, Harrier of Harriers
DD thank you for all your hard work, and contributions to TBH over the years.
Thanks for all you have contributed to the club David, especially keeping us all motivated and making us still feel like we have been part of a club during the pandemic.
DD absolute legend!
Massive thanks for all of your hard work as Lead Coach, DD! Whoever sends out the weekly session e-mails from now on will have a very tough act to follow… (although I realise of course that there is waaaay more to the role than composing witty e-mails on a Sunday!!)