Power and Speed Group
March 07, 2009
For the serious athlete, age 14 and
up, who is willing to train four to five days a week from September to August.
If free space allows, some younger
athletes could be invited to join some event specific practices.
If any athlete, parent, or coach
would like to discuss an athlete's suitability to this group,
please contact Thomas Riekki at ThomasRiekki@telus.net.
Coach: Thomas Riekki
Helper: Linda Riekki
I am writing this to address some queries/complaints regarding my training group which is run by my mom and myself. Hopefully it will help to avoid any further confusion. We are a power and speed training group for athletes age 14 and up and our main focus is the group of serious athletes who are committed to the five day a week training schedule, which we started this past September. We have the greatest admiration for this group of athletes' commitment and dedication to achieve their best, and our main priority is helping them achieve their personal goals. In the spring, we do have another group of older athletes who also join us. Their focus is somewhat different due to various reasons: they play other sports, work, ect. From these athletes we do expect, as well, a high level of commitment during this time so that I can incorporate a successful training schedule for them, and this presents some challenges due to their fitness and skill level relative to the athletes who have been committed all winter. Planning individual schedules takes a lot of time, and we need to know what other activities they are involved in, what their event interests are, what days they plan on practicing, and we need to know if they will not be at practice on one of those days. This expectation is no different than any sport an individual gets involved in.
Last year (2008) my mom and I offered a series of training sessions which lasted six weeks to any middle school aged athlete who was interested in learning more in the area of sprints, jumps, and hurdles. Throughout the season, when time and space allowed, some of these athletes who committed to the whole program, and were able to master the basics, were invited back to further enhance their skills. The same was offered this year for the month of March, but unfortunately the information was not posted on the website, so not everyone was able to take advantage of it. I believe these sessions have caused some confusion. The sessions were for the younger athletes to learn the basics of the events we coach, but my regular training group is not for this purpose. It is for the serious athlete who already has the basics down. We would love to be able to help more in the area of early development, but unfortunately time does not allow. Teaching the basics and technical training patterns requires a lot of time and attention, and draws us away form the athletes who have already put in a lot of serious training time.
Once again, this year, if space and time allows, we would like to be able to include or invite back some of the younger athletes for some training. If space allows, these younger athletes will have to meet a certain criteria. This is not meant to exclude or offend anyone, but the athlete must have the basics down, and be able to physically and socially fit into, and not effect, the training of the older athletes. As well, they must be a serious younger power and speed athlete whose intention would be to join my yearly training schedule when their age allows.
I would like to remind everyone that we are volunteers and are trying to do the best we can. Since there are so many power and speed events which are all uniquely technical, and there is only two of us, we have to limit numbers in order to provide adequate training. Any decisions we make regarding an athlete's suitability to this group is based on the information we have, and we hope that this will be respected. If there is any coach, parent, or athlete who wishes to discuss our decisions or their suitability to our group, please feel free to contact either my mom or me.
Thomas