The Telecom Hawke's Bay Secondary School High Performance Academy, a relatively new initiative started in 2005, now has the added support and backing of the New Zealand Academy of Sport - Central (NZAS - C).
This is the first time the NZAS - C has broadened its standard codes of practice (which is carded athletes) to include elite youth athlete development.
Last week representatives from the NZAS - C arrived from Wellington to present a number of seminars to the coaches parents and athletes of the Telecom Hawke's Bay Secondary School High Performance Academy.
The first of these seminars was an introductory presentation delivered by John Freer, NZAS - C's chief executive.
John explained the role of the academy and then emphasised the importance of the athlete's participation, saying that this was an initiative based on partnership. He described the philosophy "coach-driven, athlete-centred" as a strategy to enable coaches parents and athletes to implement the principles learnt and to establish pathways to improve sporting performance.
A breakfast session was conducted the next day by Eddie Bright, primarily aimed at educating coaches on matters of planning.
The most important aspect to emerge was that planning and preparation should not only extend into the near future, but that it is essential that a coach and athletes' plans be designed to extend to significant events that are years away, such as the Olympic Games 2012. Members of the Telecom HBSS High Performance Academy will all submit their own performance plan this month.
Cognitive development
The Telecom HBSS High Performance Academy was lucky enough to have Pete Smith, Director of the New Zealand Institute of Youth Sport, deliver a presentation on cognitive development.
Athletes, parents and coaches were given invaluable information that provided important insights. What's more, effective tools were given to assist with and further develop the skills and aptitude of the athletes.
This session certainly helped toward their ultimate goal of achieving world class success.
Throughout the presentation, Pete emphasised the importance of two aspects of sport development. The first of these was time management. He explained the theory and initiatives behind the implementation of effective time management and illustrated this point with reference to statistical data.
The second aspect of utmost importance was core strength for physical development. Pete went on to say that "this body region should be the first area of physical development in any training programme."
Further to this, Pete stated that if attention is not paid to this particular area, an athlete may only be performing at 70 percent of their potential, with the lack of core strength contributing to a 30 percent deficit in performance.
- Joe Hitchcock Sport HB development officer
COLLEGE SPORT: Seminar puts emphasis on future effort
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