20 July 2009

British Triathlon TID programme

British Triathlon Launches Talent ID programme@UK Sport

British Triathlon has launched a new talent identification programme called ‘trigold’ and is looking to recruit existing high calibre athletes, who have the drive and determination to move into triathlon and win Olympic gold in London 2012.

With just three years before the Olympics, British Triathlon are looking for male and female runners who meet set performance criteria (see notes to editors), are aged between 18 and 30 and also have a history of competitive swimming at club or county level. Athletes who meet these requirements are invited to apply for ‘trigold’ at www.trigold.org.


Applicants will be invited to a three day initial assessment at the National Performance Centre in Loughborough where athletes can get their first taste of triathlon and meet the elite performance team.

Following the initial assessment, successful athletes will be invited onto an intensive three month training programme before then moving onto a nine month fully funded scholarship with British Triathlon providing a training, development and performance programme to develop the athletes swim, bike and run skills.

08 July 2009

AYG 09 ended: Team Singapore review

The 9-day Asian Youth Games (AYG) ended on 7 July. From Singapore, 90 athletes competed in swimming, athletics, football, 3-on-3 basketball, beach volleyball, bowling, shooting, sailing and table tennis at the Games, winning 9 gold, 6 silver and 15 bronze medals in six sports.

Out of the 90 athletes in Team Singapore for the AYG, 33 are from the Singapore Sports School (SSS). Out of the 30 medals won by Team Singapore, SSS athletes contributed 17 medals (5 Gold, 5 Silver and 7 Bronze medals).

From my personal findings at AYG, the following key areas that Youth Olympic Games (YOG) athletes and supporting teams will need to work on towards next year YOG:

- Physical preparation (eg hard work, skill development, intense training
camps, stamina)
- Mental preparation (eg simulation, confidence, focus, toughness,
concentration)
- Recovery (eg sleep, nutrition)
- Coaches as motivation
- Team and family support
- Clear tactics (winning strategies).