Weekly Updates Monday 20th April

We do hope everyone is still keeping safe and well. Please don’t forget to get in touch if you want or need help with anything at all, keep talking and keep in touch, we are here to help! Try to keep a routine each day part of which should be your exercise regime, take care of yourself and family by eating healthily and avoiding junk food!

Below are some more articles and information that may be of interest to you. (Links to coaching resources and fixtures are unchanged on last weeks news article).

Statistics:

If you’re into statistics then athletics is the sport for you! We are all familiar with the Power of 10 website. A lesser known site is the fantastic Athletics Stats Wales, where the aim is to try and give as complete a record as possible of the statistical history of athletics in Wales from the earliest times to the present day.  It is vital that information about our sport is not lost. Track and field, cross country and road running is covered, with statistics as the main focus of the site, but there will be articles on various topics. It is hoped that the site will eventually give a complete picture of the sport in Wales. Some of the information first appeared in the book ‘History of Welsh Athletics’, published in 2000, written by the late great John Collins, Alan Currie, Brenda Currie, Mike Walters (Joseffs grandpa) and Clive Williams, who was also the editor.

Reminiscing:

It was exactly three years ago that Swansea Harriers were viral and trending on twitter!! There might have been a record 40,382 runners taking part in the London Marathon but it was two Swansea Harriers who grabbed all the headlines:
Josh Griffiths stunned Britain’s elite men by crossing the finish line in two hours 14 minutes 49 seconds on his marathon debut to qualify for the 2017 World Championships in London.
Meanwhile, just over half an hour later, Matthew Rees encapsulated the sporting spirit of the event by helping fellow runner David Wyeth across the finish line after he collapsed exhausted 300m from the end” You can read the full story from the BBC here.

Shopping:

Looking to buy athletics equipment for lockdown? For Fitness and athletics equipment Dr Nueff has been supplying athletics equipment since 1966 for athletes, officials and schools. You can read about their company history here including the use of a ship Ariel for pole vault! Then click here to view their website.

Officials:

Here are four great webinars from England Athletics for our qualified and future aspiring officials to watch, topics include Licence accreditation, new rule book changes, officials recruitment and role of a field referee. Click here to get signed up and or watch on demand.
In addition, a comprehensive list of information forms and other resources for officiating can be found in the officials section of the Welsh Athletics website here.

A Family Club:

Anyone can join Swansea Harriers it’s not just a club for the elite, it is also very much a community club. This week we focus on the family element. The majority of our volunteers come from the parents of past and present athletes. However did you know that plenty of the mums and dads compete for us too! In fact we have a thriving masters section across all event disciplines, the good/bad (delete as you see fit) news is, that once you pass the ripe old age of 35 you become a “master” where age groups go up in 5 year bands all the way to 100! Whilst you’ve been taking your daily walk or jog in lockdown it may have sparked an interest to taking up athletics and running again, so why not give it a go when restrictions are lifted, and we can resume training? You know you want to! There are plenty of current examples including; E & S Barclay; H & T Brett; E & S Brewer; E & D Brownhill & O Davies; C E & H Collins; C S & J Hartley-Green; S Leech & J Griffiths; B & J Murphy; S & S Ingram; M, C & T Lewis & T Gabb; I & M Lloyd; I, J & G McAdie; L & K Philippart; A, C & G Tumelty. If you’d like to be part of the club do get in touch.

Junior Virtual Competition:

A massive increase of 400% of the juniors entered the run jump throw challenge versus the coaches after last weeks extended closing date. Well done and thanks to all those athletes that took part, click here for the full results Lockdown Run Jump Throw Challenge.xlsx Our next virtual competition for the juniors will be by request to hopefully get a much greater uptake. Please get in touch with what safe and inclusive virtual competition you’d like us to create for you next. In the meantime here are a couple of physical challenges you can do at home:

Can you progress from the easiest red challenge, each following challenge gets slightly harder until you get to the final black challenge for Static Balance, Strong Stable Core & Postural Control Floor work (front & back Support).
Balance is important for every event, every movement and in every sport. If you are not in balance when performing a movement you will not be able to perform this movement as efficiently as possible. It is assumed that, where appropriate, all challenges are completed in both directions and using both hands and feet. All positions should be held for 10-15 seconds. Athletes should always maintain good posture and core positioning for each challenge. Click here for full video instructions.

Agility (All Change!) – Change of Speed / direction, level or body shape is the combination of Balance, Coordination and speed.  Agility includes starting and stopping, changing direction and twisting and turning and is essential in all sports movements. Athletes must ensure that they complete all challenges turning / moving in both directions. Athletes should always maintain good posture and core positioning for each challenge. If you don’t have ladder mark a chalk one on your drive, patio or pavement, be careful for trip hazards! Click here for the full video instructions.
Please send us your clips of you in action to @SwanHarrierDev for those of you on twitter.