Athletics
Australia Camps aim to develop High Performing Talent
Athletics Australia release
27 April 2001 – Melbourne - Australia's leading senior and junior athletes and coaches will come together over the coming months in a series of Athletics Australia Event Camps as a build up for the major international championships this year.
The camps have also been organised to maximise the knowledge and expertise of Athletics Australia's high performance coaches and enable leading athletes at both the elite and developmental level to train together.
This week saw the commencement of the camp for sprints and horizontal jumps at Narrabeen in Sydney. The camp which started on Wednesday runs through till Sunday under the direction of AA Head Coach Keith Connor and sprint coach Michael Khmel.
The athletes participating in the camp include Olympic silver medallist Jai Taurima (AIS), Stawell Gift placegetter and Australian representative Darryl Wohlsen (QLD), Olympic representatives Matt Shirvington (NSW), Patrick Johnson (AIS), Patrick Dwyer (NSW), Peter Burge (NSW), Nova Peris (NT), Bronwyn Thompson (QLD), Daniel Batman (NSW), Paul Di Bella (QLD) and Casey Vincent (NSW), and Paralympic representatives Darren Thrupp (QLD), Adrian Grogan (NSW), Stephen Wilson (NSW), Heath Francis (NSW), Malcolm Bennett (SA), Amy Winters (NSW), Neil Fuller (SA), Don Elgin (VIC) and Tim Matthews (VIC).
All Athletics Australia camps are integrated with many of this country's Olympic and Paralympic stars training together with the junior talent coming through.
The coaching contingent includes a number of former Olympic athletes. Triple Russian Olympic gold medallist Victor Saneyev in the triple jump, Olympic triple jump bronze medallist Keith Connor, Olympic finalist and Australian record holder in the triple jump Ken Lorraway and relay representative Kath Sambell are among the coaching participants.
Further Athletics Australia Event Camps on the program include: Middle Distance: 2-7 May, AIS in Canberra; Throws: 7-16 May, Runaway Bay in QLD
Hurdles, pole vault, high jump and walks camps will be held later this year, along with a cross country camp on Sunday 2 September after the Telstra Australian Cross Country Championships and the annual distance running camp over Christmas and New Year at Falls Creek.
Already this year Athletics Australia organised a Relay Camp in Canberra from15-19 February with more than 50 athletes and coaches and a middle distance/distance running camp with the Kenyans in Melbourne from 25 February to 2 March.
Athletics Australia Head Coach Keith Connor said these camps are extremely valuable for both athletes and coaches to share ideas, develop team spirit and fine-tune planning and preparation for the international competition season.
"Peer support is integral to our development as an athletic nation. It is an opportunity to share knowledge and discuss training methods and schedules, and for the junior athletes to train with the seniors who are role models for many of them," Mr Connor said.
