In the week following the first Special Olympics BC Performance Project athletics camp, SOBC – Burnaby coach Shirley Sywak still sounded energized by the experience and thrilled about the new ideas she was already implementing with her athletes and fellow coaches in her Local.
“It was phenomenal,” Shirley said. “It was so exciting to see our Special Olympics athletes getting some focus on really being the best they can be. [For the coaches], this gives us a whole new dimension to unleash our capability and spill that over to the athletes.”
SOBC athletics coaches and athletes from all around the province came together at UBC for the camp on May 11 and 12, and had the opportunity to work hard and learn tons from the significant coaching experts gathered to support them, including the world-class experts with Allinger Consulting International and coaches from UBC and the SFU Strength and Conditioning staff.
The 20 SOBC athletes from Locals around the province were selected based on their times in Regional Qualifiers and invited to participate along with 14 SOBC coaches. The camp included targeted work on sprint and start techniques, introductions to valuable technology such as video analysis and sport-related applications to enhance coaching and the athlete experience, key dryland training work, and functional testing to establish baselines against which to measure future growth.
Shirley, for one, was thrilled with the experience, calling it a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with coaches of the level we had [from Allinger Consulting, SFU, and UBC].” She felt the camp taught her valuable new methods for personalized instruction for individual athletes, new drills, and tips and specific exercises she is already starting to employ to take her coaching to a new level.
She said she appreciated the holistic view of athlete development employed by the camp coaches, and she also valued the opportunity to be connected with these other experts she can turn to in order to discuss ideas and issues, providing an outlet to talk through tips and the best ways to look at and coach elements. Another result of the camp for Shirley was making her feel confident in the parts she already does do well, such as her fitness expertise.
Shirley, who is looking forward to coaching at her second SOBC Provincial Games this summer, feels empowered by the experience to help her athletes develop and reach new heights. “Truly, we can really help them progress,” she said. “I’m a privileged person to have been able to attend this.”
Shirley and fellow SOBC – Burnaby athletics coach Deb Colvin have already started sharing the tips and techniques gained at the camp with the other coaches in their program and trying out some of the new drills with all the athletes. This is a critical part of the Performance Project plan, aiming to train coaches who will be equipped to carry these teachings back into their programs to assist hundreds of athletes, beyond those who directly participate in the high-performance events.
RBC Foundation has donated $25,000 to the performance initiative, providing great support for future opportunities and growth. A representative took the time to visit the athletics camp and present the much-appreciated donation.
Check out more of the fabulous photos by Julia Dorofeeva of Allinger Consulting International
Read the summary shared by the SFU Strength and Conditioning staff
Great gains were observed when the aquatics athletes and coaches who participated in the first SOBC Performance Project camp came back together for a second session this spring, held around their racing in the swim meet hosted by SOBC – Coquitlam.
In the pool, SOBC – Victoria athlete Ben Vanlierop showed incredible improvements of eight to 20 and 28 seconds off his times from his Regional Qualifier events to the Coquitlam meet, while SOBC – Campbell River athlete Jesse Shade showed impressive improvements of three to nine seconds in his times.
And during the dryland training, SOBC – Campbell River athlete Nicholas Benner described how he had been inspired to give up pop after the first camp, and had since lost nine pounds. He has started employing techniques he learned through the Performance Project camp in his own training at home, such as doing circuits in his weight-room workouts.
Stay tuned for future updates, with more camps soon to come in speed skating and aquatics.