Planning for Future Vital
With the Coca-Cola games two months away, schools from all over the country are busy searching for top athletes through inter-house competitions.
Dubbed as one of the biggest secondary school athletics competitions in the Southern Hemisphere, the Coke Games attracts hundreds of boys and girls from schools across Fiji.
The competition has long been a breeding ground for athletes who have gone on to represent Fiji in track and field events at major international meets such as the Olympic Games.
Identifying those athletes at an early stage of their development is a crucial part of that process.
This is where it is important for coaches and teachers to understand the nature of the events the students are preparing for. Teachers and coaches are often pinned to a tight spot while searching for athletes that can participate at certain events.
They are expected to cover all areas of teaching and training in a short period of time.
Identifying the right athletes for the right events and training them for competition requires a good deal of planning and execution.
It is important not to force athletes to take up a particular event based on their physical features but ensure that they are properly trained for those events.
Forcing athletes is the reason many collapse and suffer injuries like torn muscles before reaching the finish line.
A good example could be the middle and long distance events such as the 800m, 1,500m and 3,000m which are all endurance-based races.
Some athletes run at rates that best suit them physiologically. When they compete with fast runners during competitions they are forced to lift the tempo to a level their bodies might not be used to. The excessive workloads leads to injuries or collapse at the finish line because they don’t have enough in the reserve tank to match their opposition.
To address this, it is always good to develop the athletes during the off-season.
Athletes should receive the right training that corresponds with the event they are participating in. Another important but often neglected area is teaching athletes the difference between techniques and tactics.
The former is where they try to improve their performance, while the latter is involves planning for a race, throw or jump.
These days a coach cannot sit back and wait for a natural athlete to show up at training.
They often have to go out and search from a pool of interested students and train them accordingly.
Evidence suggests that good performance generally depends on boys and girls having fun while participating in a particular sport. In other words: Without fun, there can be no victory. Occasionally a great performer arises from the average group. Coaches and teachers should encourage as many students as possible to participate in track and field events.
Training plans that will help the athletes improve their performance during the inter-house, further it during the zonal meets and peak during the Coke Games should be drawn up.
This goes back to the preparations period that the coaches have during the off season period.
The performance of these kids depends on the preparation that they have.
For athletics to grow and prosper, it will be necessary to change our way of preparing athletes at school level.
Coaches and teachers should learn to have goals and plan in advance.