SIMON COMING TO TRAINING DAY

EDIT: We are now at our registration limit for the training day. Athletes are welcome to continue submitting registration forms, and we'll start a wait list. CT

We're kicking off the 2008-2009 Season in style, with a visit from two-time Olympic medallist Simon Whitfield. Simon will be visiting the PTC on Sunday October 19th, for our Training Day. The registration limit for the training day is 40 athletes, but Simon will be doing a Q&A session for the athletes, which we can open up to a larger group. Stay tuned for registration details for the Q&A for those who aren't registering for the training day. To register your athlete (age 10-20) for the Training Day, visit this link.

NEW TRI BIKE

DO IT YOUR OWN WAY

By Wayne Goldsmith
www.sportscoachingbrain.com

OK - the Olympics have finished.

Now comes the “GAMES”…………the junkets and fact finding missions the Sporting leaders from most countries are about to embark on to find out what the USA, Germany, Great Britain, South Korea, China and Australia are doing to be successful in the Olympics.

The logic seems simple enough.

“Our country didn’t win any medals at the Olympics” says the Minister for Sport.

“Country XYZ won lots of medals at the Olympics”, says the CEO of the Sports Commission.

“Therefore if we want medals and we copy them we will win medals”, thinks everyone in the room.

“Hooray!!!! Problem solved - let’s buy some air tickets”.

Seems like common sense.

Waste of time.

Waste of money.

Waste of energy.

---------------------------

Interesting article, especially the last part. Full post here.

COACHING WORKSHOPS

OAT is offering two different coaching certifications for 2008-2009; Community Coach, and Competition Coach. For anyone interested in pursuing their NCCP certification, I would recommend starting here (download the linked pdf file) for an overview of the New NCCP program, and some detail on the Competition certification in particular.

You can fine dates and further information on the upcoming workshops here.

Coaches may also want to take a look at the Coaches Association of Ontario Calendar for non-triathlon workshops. Note that you only need to take the workshops offered by OAT in order to become certified as a triathlon coach, but you may find other workshops (ie. Fundamental Movement Skills for those coaches working with KOS athletes) valuable.

COACHES WANTED FOR TRAINING DAYS

CERTIFIED COACHES WANTED

The Ontario Association of Triathletes is seeking NCCP certified coaches (Comp Intro, or enrolled in Comp Dev. preferred, Level 1 accepted) to assist with PTC Training Days for 2008-2009. Eligible coaches must be members of OAT, and must provide a current (less than one year old) “Vulnerable Sectors” police background check.

Training Days are schedule for the following dates:

Sunday October 19th, 2008

Sunday November 2nd, 2008

Sunday November 30th, 2008

Sunday January 4th, 2009

Sunday February 1st, 2009

Sunday March 1st, 2009

Sunday April 5th, 2009

Sunday May 3rd, 2009

Preference will be given to coaches who are able to make an ongoing and consistent contribution to programming. E-mail me for an application form. Coaches are welcome to attach a one page CV in support of their application. Training Day coaches will receive an honourarium of $75 per training day, in addition to a polo shirt to be worn by the coaching staff. Deadline for submission: Friday September 19th, 2008, 5:00pm.

Please Note: that successful candidates will be asked to attend a planning session, in person or via conference call, prior to the first Training Day.

TRAINING DAYS

Training days are monthly one-day triathlon clinics, hosted by the Provincial Triathlon Centre, at the University of Guelph. The primarily goal of the training days is to bring together KOS (10-15) and Junior (16-20) athletes for a day of training and instruction with their peers. Athletes will undertake workouts designed to improve their skills & technique and/or sport specific fitness, depending on the needs of the athlete. Training Days typically start with sign-in at 7:45am, and conclude at 2:00pm (note: the 10-12 group will conclude at 11:00am)

TRAINING GROUP FORMAT

The 2008-2009 Training Days will be expanded to include 10-11 year old athletes. Consequently, we will separate the athletes into three training groups: Group 1 will be the 16-20 year old group, Group 2 will be 12-15 years old, and Group 3 will be 10-12 year olds. We may reassign athletes to different groups, based on an assessment of their skills, fitness and experience. 

Group 1 and Group 2 will Swim, Bike and Run, with an additional core session. These two groups will swim at the same time, but bike and run separately. Both groups will start in the pool at 8:15am, and end at approximately 2:00pm, including breaks between sessions, and a lunch break.

Group 3 will swim and run, with a core session. After the first few Training Days, we will evaluate the possibility of a bike session for this group, although swim and run will be the priorities. This group will start at 8:15am and end at approximately 11:00am, including breaks between sessions.

Coaches will work with the same group throughout the day, across all sessions. 

ON MAKING IT BIG

A quote from Alan Cross' Ongoing History of New Music, from an episode on successful bands that came from very small towns - it's written about musicians, but it could apply to anyone working hard to become world class in any discipline.

It's much easier to be a pessimist than an optimist. And people are always telling others that their dreams are unrealistic, naive or stupid. It can get discouraging. I don't know how you feel, but I think this pessimism is part of the Canadian psyche. I get the feeling that unless we're talking about hockey, the general feeling of this country is that we'd rather have egalitarian mediocrity over celebrating and striving for individual excellence. I think that the twin mottos of Canada should be "who do you think you are?" and "why can't you just be happy with what you have?". Sure the odds at succeeding at certain things may be long - but so what? Doing something awesome is by definition hard to do. It's supposed to be - otherwise everyone would do it and it wouldn't be special. We don't live in a world of kids' soccer where no one keeps score and everyone gets a trophy to preserve their self esteem. In the real world - and in the global scheme of things - you have to compete. And yes, the possibility of failure and disappointment is there. In fact, the chances are that you will fail, especially if you're hoping to make it as a professional musician. Or you might get lucky and get to live your dreams, no matter where you come from. And if it doesn't work out, maybe you'll still have some fun trying. Three chords and the truth. That's your formula.

GAAG FAILS DOPING TEST

ITU imposes 2-year ban on Gaag (September 6, 2008 )

Yesterday The International Triathlon Union (ITU) announced it has imposed a two-year ban on Dmitriy Gaag, a triathlete from Kazakhstan, after committing an anti-doping rule violation in an out-of-competition doping control test in Des Moines, United States on June 20, 2008. 

The ban begins June 20, 2008 and prohibits Gaag from entering or participating in any competition or activity authorized by ITU, its National Federations (NFs) and/or any other signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code. 

Gaag's anti-doping rule violation was a result of an adverse analytical finding of recombinant erythropoietin (EPO), a substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

Full article here.

Dopers Suck.

TRICAN HIGH PERFORMANCE DIRECTOR

Triathlon Canada announced that they are seeking a new High Performance Director. Resumes accepted until September 26th.

GUELPH LAKE 2

Two PTC'ers wrapped up their season with the Guelph Lake 2 sprint on the weekend. James Loaring took the win, and Angela Quick was 3rd overall and first junior (her last Junior race). Sheri Fraser took the overall win for the ladies, with a 3+ minute lead over 2nd place.

James even made the The Guelph Mercury, for our first bit of media exposure. I'm not holding my breath for a feature in the Toronto Star next week, but maybe we'll make that a long term goal.

There were lots of familiar faces in the junior men's race, with Karsten Madsen taking first (5th overall), followed by C3's Taylor Reid in 2nd, and Derek Quick (coached by Dan McKerrall) in 3rd.

The next generation of juniors battled it out in the Try-a-tri, with David Mackie (Fighting Koalas) posting a convincing win over 2nd place finisher Derek Hambly (Hamilton Hammerheads). Isabel Ormond (Fighting Koalas) edged Sasha Boulton (Fun2Tri) by 1 second to take the overall women's win. Five of the top 10 finishers in the try-a-tri were 14 or 15 years old. Well done!

Full Sprint Triathlon results here.

Full Try-a-tri results here.

With the season ended for the PTC, we'll take a short break, evaluate the year, and start making plans for next season. The PTC squad will get back to a full training schedule in October, and the first PTC Training Day is Sunday October 19th.