18th February 2010

Coaching Conferences

 

18 February 2010

This weekend’s Aviva Grand Prix will be supported by three world class coaching events, all of which boast an impressive panel of event-specific experts.

Combined events seminar

Toni Minichiello, National Combined Events Coach and coach to World Championships gold medallist Jessica Ennis, will host Friday night’s Combined Events Seminar from 19.30 through to 21.30 (19 February).

Paul Doyle, coaching agent of reigning Olympic champion and 2005 World Champion decathlete Bryan Clay, will give the keynote presentation detailing the planning and key components of Clay’s training.

All of those in attendance will have the opportunity to interact in an in-depth Q & A session.

Key details:

Venue: The Crowne Plaza Hotel, Birmingham, B1 1HH

Date: Friday 19th February 2010

Time: 19:30pm – 21:30pm

Admittance is by invite only but please direct any queries to Sharon Morris smorris@uka.org.uk

Endurance Seminar

Also on Friday evening, and building on the successful endurance seminar which took place ahead of the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in October 2009, Geoff Wightman, Managing Director of Run Britain, will host an in depth Q & A with Jos Hermens, James Li and Ronnie Warhurst.

Warhurst, the most recent addition to the expert panel, is Head Coach at Michigan University and considered to be one of the most successful coaches in the University’s history, having coached, amongst others, four-time All-American Kevin Sullivan and a quartet of three-time All-Americans, Nate Brannen, John Scherer, Bill Donakowski and Greg Meyer.

Meyer is the last American to win the Boston Marathon (1983), while most recently, Warhurst coached New Zealand’s Nick Willis, the reigning Commonwealth 1500m gold medallist, to 1500m silver in the Beijing Olympics.

Over his tenure, Warhurst has coached seven Olympic athletes.

Hermens, a former world class athlete himself, is one of the world’s leading agents, as well as a coach and advisor to a number of athletes including Haile Gebrselassie, the marathon world record holder, and Kenenisa Bekele, 5000m and 10000m World Record holder.

He founded Global Sports Communication in 1985, an agency that now employs 14 people and represents around 120 athletes from 20 different countries.

Li, currently in his eighth year as the distance coach at the University of Arizona, is coach to USA’s Bernard Lagat, double World Champion at 1500m and 5000m in 2007. Lagat was the first American in history to win both events and Li was subsequently named 2007 Coach of the Year by USA Track and Field.

In total Li has coached 30 conference champions, 50 All-Americans, and 9 national champions.

Key details:

Venue: The Crowne Plaza Hotel, Birmingham, B1 1HH

Date: Friday 19th February 2010

Time: 19:30pm – 21:30pm

Attendance is free of charge but the online registration has now closed as capacity has been reached. If you’re still interested in attending, please contact Manjinder Singh msingh@uka.org.uk  or Spencer Barden: sbarden@uka.org.uk

Sprint Hurdles Seminar

On Saturday (20 February), National Hurdles Coach Malcolm Arnold will host a Sprint Hurdles Seminar to include presentations by the renowned Cuban Head Coach (hurdles) Santiago Antunez and former 110mH World Record holder Colin Jackson, the Olympic silver medallist and World, European and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, in addition to guest speaker and former Commonwealth champion Tony Jarrett, also a multiple World and European medallist.

Arnold’s coaching credentials are undisputed; perhaps best known for coaching Colin Jackson to Olympic silver and World, European and Commonwealth gold and a World Record at the time, he has enjoyed a successful career spanning over 40 years and now works with a number of Great Britain and Northern Ireland representatives, including European Junior Championships gold medallist and British under-20 record holder Lawrence Clarke, David Greene, 2009 World Championships 4 x 400m relay bronze medallist and Rhys Williams, 2006 European Championships 400mH bronze medallist.

Antunez is the coach of the Cuban 110mH World Record holder (12.87s) and Beijing Olympics gold medallist Dayron Robles and is one of the world’s top hurdles coaches.

He previously coached Cuban elite level hurdlers Emilio Valle – fifth place in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta (USA) – and Aliuska López, who won the 1995 World Indoor Championships 60mH gold and is a three times Pan American Games champion in the women’s 100mH.

Key details:

Venue: The Malmaison Hotel, One Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RD

Date: Saturday 20th February 2010

Time: 09:30 to 12:00 hrs.

The Sprint Hurdles Seminar is invitation only and includes a ticket for the Aviva Grand Prix, but interested attendees who have not been invited, should email Sharon Morris: smorris@uka.org.uk