Olympic Hockey Star Coaches Aylesbury Juniors
14 September 2008
GB Olympic hockey star, Lisa Wooding, was in town last Thursday taking a coaching session at Aylesbury Hockey Club's newly established Junior Academy. Lisa has recently returned from the Beijing Olympics, where she was part of the GB Women's squad which just missed out on a medal. Lisa took twenty-eight juniors through an intensive session emphasising the key skills and techniques which are required to succeed at the international level.
Aylesbury have set up the Junior Academy this year for their 14 to 18 year old boys and girls, building on its highly successful junior section. England Hockey have specifically targeted this age group, as part of their talent identification programme, where athlete development is typically very rapid, especially in a sport like hockey where juniors are introduced into the adult game. Lee Eldridge, Aylesbury's Head Junior Coach is taking charge of the Academy, assisted by other coaches within the club. However, the club have also engaged Lisa's coaching consultancy to prepare the coaching syllabus, act as advisors and mentors to the Academy and run specific sessions throughout the season.
Mike Fulwood, who is co-ordinating the Academy programme, said
The Club is making a big investment this season in it coaching programme, including the Junior Academy on Thursday evenings at RAF Halton, plus specialist goalkeeper coaching, for adults and juniors, on Wednesday evenings at Meadowcroft. The focus is on high performance and excellence so that our players can take their game to the levels required in top class hockey.
At the end of the session on Thursday, Lisa stayed on to answer the many questions that were asked about the commitment required to become an international hockey player, what were her best moments of the Olympics and who she met there (which included Usain Bolt!).