ADAA Coach Development Seminar



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ADAA Coach Development Seminar

24 April, 2016



Auckland Archery Club, 17th April 2016

Coaches converged on Auckland Archery Club for the annual ADAA Coach Development Seminar.

First up, Archery NZ’s Strength and Conditioning Coach -  Alison Storey had travelled to Auckland to provide a session on Strength and Conditioning for athletes, and injury prevention.  She covered the nature of archery as an endurance sport, and the need to undertake proper S&C training to prevent fatigue and injury.  All major archery nations in the world have S&C programmes, why shouldn’t New Zealand?  Alison identified that we need S&C training to push archers beyond where they would peak from archery training alone, and to enable them to achieve that in a shorter timeframe.

She appealed for greater physical fitness so that athletes can gain better mental fitness, and that coaches should recognise strength is important to be developed before endurance can be instilled.  Coaches should encourage cross-training, with gym-work for upper body and core, and also be aware that the volume of arrows needs to reduce during strength building periods to allow for muscular recovery.

Other sessions provided by ADAA coaches included recognising the signs that your athletes are outgrowing your abilities, and providing tips for how to find and work with other coaches to effectively hand over coaching responsibility.  The collection and use of data was discussed, including types of setups for video analysis.

Coaches discussed the right time to migrate recurve archers onto clickers, the benefits of sight tapes, and also what to do if your athlete (or another coach’s) is sky-drawing.

This was a great session and a valuable opportunity for coaches from the District to share their learnings.  Thank you to the Auckland Archery Club for hosting this event, and for the coaches who contributed in sharing their knowledge.

Andrew Russell - ADAA Coaching Representative