Easter notes and plans

Here are the plans for the coming half term. We are still looking for a leader for the younger group on 22nd May.

Leaders and coaching

Now that we have the Junior Section up and running and regular sessions, the most significant part of the Junior Coordinator role is planning out leaders for group sessions. That in turn is dependant upon many volunteers to keep it all happening. So I thought it worth sharing a bit about this role.

The mainstay of group leadership are the leader qualifications. I regularly let it be known that we have an annual budget for training leaders. This is a critical requirement for sustaining Juniors.

England Athletic (EA), as the sport’s governing body (Not the FRA) are responsible for coaching schemes and coach licensing. EA have an array of qualifications. But just two entry points to what EA refer as Development Paths.

• LiRF & CiRF
• Assistant Coach

There is also a need for volunteers, who don’t necessarily have qualifications to support the leaders.

LiRF & CiRF courses

Leader in Running Fitness (LiRF) is the starting point for running coaching. The course teaches the basics of training improvement, skills & fitness; as well as group management & structure. So it takes the neophyte group leader and teaches the basic skills for leading running – really just exactly what we need for our Junior Sessions. The club provides two places on this course each year. It is essential for the ongoing viability of the juniors that we put two people through each year.

The Coach in Running Fitness (CiRF), is the stage 2 qualification for running coaching. It builds on the themes introduced in LiRF and develops them further. Adding more sophisticated training concepts – such as periodisation. It’s a good qualification for people that want to develop as coaches, beyond the basics of skills for participation. The club offers one place on this course each year.

Please do ask me, or any of the regular leaders about these courses. They are an essential part of the set up & you could even learn some useful things about your own running.

Assistant coaches

Assistant Coach course is the primary track & field entry point for coaching Development Path. Other Fell clubs use this qualification but its unclear why, other than it being the only Development Path that directly addresses coaching for under 12s. Unfortunately, the course takes a number of days more than the LiRF. Those extra days are taken up with teaching for throwing & jumping events. Not very relevant for Dark Peak!

FRA fell coaching uplift

The FRA do provide some course add ons that address aspects of hill running & aspects for coaching U12s. As and when these come up, I advertise them. These are relatively new. When we’ve put some people through them and got some feed-back, we’ll share that.

Disclosure and Barring

One of the critical aspects of the formal coaching qualifications is that a coaching license comes with a DBS check, that is renewed every two years. It’s important to have at least one DBS checked person to lead a session.

Leaders

So where does all this coaching fit in? For the U11s, its good to have some coaching knowledge, but not essential. The parents are encouraged to stay with the group. This means there are a good number of people to make sure everything runs smoothly. The leaders main role is to make sure things keep moving forwards and keep everyone sufficiently active. To do that, its good for the leader to have a plan.

For the O11s group, its really useful (but not essential) to have the grounding of coaching training. As well as preferring to have a certified leader, its good to make sure that we have a supporting adult. Because parents don’t typically join these sessions, its good to have a second adult to help out, sweep and back up the leader.

The kids. The point!

We don’t have a performance program, the focus is on participation and skills for life-long enjoyment of running in the hills.

U11

The U11 group (6-10) is all about getting out there, running around, building confidence and gaining skills.

My sessions generally follow a similar plan:

1. Warm up – that’s the body & sociability(*)
2. A bit of directed running. A jog out & maybe some intervals.
3. Games! running around games; tig in its many versions. Hide n seek for a bit of recovery.
4. Maybe some additional directed running activities.
5. jog back & warm down.

Occasionally we forego the games in favour of an adventure. The recent lap of Mam Tor being a very successful session.

(* ) I think its important to build social relationships () in the club. Its meant to be fun & friendship helps to develop that.
( ) I’m really keen to hear from someone to volunteer to put on a social meet, e.g. ice cream parlour.

Its good to plan out a session a bit. To make sure you’ve got enough games up your sleeve.

The purpose is to make it fun, to engage the kids in something they want to do and want to come back to.

The point of the activities is to build fitness and skills. Junior racing focuses on short races & so speed. This aligns well with the observation that younger kids don’t tend to run in a consistent manner. They run in fits and starts. A sprint, then a rest, then another sprint. Games like tig build on that predisposition, but enable the running phase to be drawn out over time.

The other major aspect is skills. Rough ground, vegetation, steep inclines – up and down. playing games in this terrain builds all those skills. Checking out the risks and managing the exposure keeps it safe and it all helps with the development of judgement.

Managing the group is important. Not losing anybody is paramount! Make sure an adult is spotting in Hide n Seek – some kids are excellent at hiding. Making sure the group is playing together is very important; no body left behind, or left out. Changing the games to suit the group and the dynamics is important.

O11

For the O11s group the plan is to develop from the stop start running style of young kids, to longer runs – more stamina. It’s very important not to make the mistake of thinking this means long runs in adult terms. U16 racing is in no way comparable to adult racing (off the tartan track), the distances are far shorter than all but the very shortest adult fell races.

Many of the kids also run cross country in the winter. Key areas to build on this (and indeed for those that don’t XC) are terrain skills. So introducing and developing skills for rougher ground and steeper slopes. When the location allows its also good to get out there in the hills; to the tops! To the wild places!

This group largely prefer to “just go for a run”. That’s good and with the participation philosophy to the fore, thats largely the best thing to do. There are some limitations, particularly around keeping the group together & not going too far. These can both be managed with breaks in the run. Spending some time on drills & skills; for instance stopping for a bit of fun on some steep slopes, or a bit of rock hopping.

In the winter when we are stuck in a park, a bit more structure and planning can be a necessary evil.

Risks

The two most dangerous things we encounter are roads and water. At the start, its good to get the group off the road and away from cars as early as possible. But carefully and with everyone being attentive. This can take some juggling, alongside registration.

We rarely cross by going into running water. Occasionally we’ll take a short stride over. It’s important to recognise that risks associated with water are a different set of risks to those we usually manage on the hill. Given we don’t plan to wade, it’s key when planning routes/sessions to recognise when rivers are in spate and so should be avoided.

Wild Camp

We are still hoping that someone will take the lead role for the wild camp, so it can happen, we have a number of potential options, it just needs someone to put the (very minimal) strands together.

Other Activities

If anyone feels there are other activities that would foster group cohesion, or further the objectives of enjoying running in the hills, please do share your ideas.