Triathlon ACT has hit the ground running prior to the commencement of the season, with a practical Junior Development session and a Foundation Coaching Course running side by side at the AIS. Both the Junior Development Pathway and the Foundation Course participants had online sessions, prepping the athletes & coaches prior to the face-to-face practical session.
The three-tiered Triathlon NSW / ACT Pathway Programs commenced earlier in the month with an online induction and education session. The inductions were facilitated by Robyn Low-Hart (Coach Education and Pathway Lead TNSW/TACT), Caitlin Sendt (U23 Athlete) and Brendan Sexton (Triathlon Australia National Talent Development Coach).
The Pathway Programs include holistic education across a broad field of areas that will continue throughout the season, while the online section educates athletes to the prerequisites of the state based race series (Billigence Pathway Championship Series). The practical session at the AIS was based around these prerequisites and aimed to have athletes signed off on competencies that would allow them to race in the draft legal racing formats that the BPCS provides.
In conjunction with the Junior Development session, a Foundation Coaching Course saw eight new coaches entering the coaching pathway under the new Foundation curriculum. The new course gives coaches a larger Scope of Practice and the ability to coach unsupervised, across a variety of settings.
The course was lead by High Performance Triathlon Coach, Ben Gathercole. Ben has previously held the position of High Performance Director with Triathlon Australia and has over 30 years of High Performance coaching, including coaching at the pinnacle level of sport - the Olympic Games. Ben was assisted over the weekend by Performance Level Coach, James Thorp (JT Multisport).
In a great step for Triathlon in the ACT, the increase of coaches means that more clubs will have access to accredited coaches, and more opportunities for coaches to further develop into the higher coaching levels. With the wealth of knowledge between Ben and James, and their willingness to give back to the coaching community - TACT is well positioned for a bright future.
Commenting on the weekends' activities, TACT ED Steve Bingley said it was great to see coaches & pathway athletes working side by side.
"It was amazing to witness coaches and pathway athletes working next to each other and developing their craft within the world of triathlon. There was a strong local presence of triathlon in Canberra over the weekend, and it was great to be a part of it".
Triathlon ACT would like to thank all involved with the running of both the Development Pathway session and Foundation Course - both activities which cannot take place without the support of our members.
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