Tag Archive: weightlfting

1. Excelsior ADC Newsletter

   13th March 2019 7:46 pm Leave a Comment

   Excelsior AD Club newsletter March 2019

   
   We have had so much happen in the last month, and exciting things happening in the run up to Easter, it is best to keep them all in one place. So here you go.

   6 members complete their Athletic Development Coaching Course

   

   
   Archie, Daisy, Flora, Jakin, Rebecca and Stephanie all completed the 1 day “Athletic Development Coaching Course” in half term.

   This was funded by Teinbridge CVS. They had to complete online learning and assessment and then plan and coach sessions. All 6 were brilliant and did much better than many adults James has tutored.

   Healthy Athlete Workshops

   
   We have received another grant from Teinbridge CVS to run a series of 3 “Healthy Athlete” workshops.

   This will be in addition to the “Sports Performance Workshops” we run in the holidays which are aimed at secondary school pupils looking to help improve their sport (next one is April 10th in Willand).
   I am thinking of doing the healthy athlete for 2 hours in Willand, will include:
   • a guide to making a healthy lunch box
   • what snacks to take to competition/ training
   • how to warm up/ cool down safely.

   
   This will be for Primary school pupils in years 4-6, this format is flexible, so please make a suggestion. Cost will be £5 for members, £8 for non-members.

   New weight lifting equipment arrives

   

   
   £2000 of Eleiko weight lifting equipment has arrived from Sweden
   The funding from the People’s Postcode Lottery has bought this top level weight lifting equipment. Thanks to them for funding the club.

   We have had several new members join the weight lifting sessions in the last 2 weeks- and we are starting a new Tuesday morning session for beginners in addition to the Monday and Friday evening sessions.

   
   We shall host the “Graham Cooper Memorial” competition in Willand on Monday April 8th.

   .
   Spa Discount for Excelsior ADC members

   

   

   
   The Thurlestone Hotel and Spa is owned by the Grose family. Mary Grose is an accomplished equestrian who James used to coach.

   She has given us an offer of 10% off all spa treatments and will “look after our members” if you wish to book a night there- speak to her directly. This applies in term time during the week.

   
   James on BBC Somerset Radio

   

   
   Finally, those of you that listened have said some nice things about my interview on the radio.

   It was great to talk about the club, my philosophy of coaching for the long term benefit of the athletes, and name dropping a few of our members.

   Thanks

   I set this club up in response to my experiences in International and professional sport. It is my overwhelming desire to offer expertise locally at an affordable price for all.
   I know “You can’t be a prophet in your own village” but thanks to all our members who train every week and to their parents and our volunteers for helping it run.

2. Open letter to British Weight Lifting

   15th January 2018 3:53 pm Leave a Comment

   Open letter to the Chief Executive of British Weight Lifting

   

   Excelsior ADC

   Dear Mr Metcalfe,

   I am writing to you on behalf of my club members who have concerns and questions about what BWL is doing and what benefits they would get if they join and what the club gets from its membership.

   Excelsior Athletic Development Club (Excelsior ADC) has been running weight lifting sessions for over 3 years now. We are the only affiliated club in the South West outside of Bristol. We have about 20 members lifting weekly with many more coming on an irregular basis. Our Sport England funded outreach programme “Love to Lift” reached an additional 40 females last year.

   We have 3 main concerns:

   1. What do we get as a licensed club that non-licensed clubs don’t get? An example was the recent Technical Official (TO) package that was sent out on social media by BWL. This excellent package was not offered to clubs first. We have asked for TO training courses for over 2 years now. First with David Gent, then with Rich Kite. Why wasn’t this package offered to clubs first, to either host, or to get first take up? I spoke to the person who organised it who had no idea that our club existed, or that we were looking to hold a course.

    

   2. As a fully licensed level 2 coach, I am able to go into the lifters area at competition to coach our lifters. However, due to the lack of technical officials, this rule is hardly enforced at local competitions. At the Bristol Competition in November there were many people bimbling in and out, including a golf coach who wanted to see what was going on! If BWL is going to make every coach jump through expensive hoops, then the rules had better be enforced, and competition organisers given relevant support (i.e. TO training).

    

   3. Is BWL there to support the clubs, or to use them as a revenue stream? The plethora of courses that are being marketed are both confusing and expensive. I have been tutoring 1^st4sport courses for over 10 years, and the BWL courses are the most expensive, with the least content.  At the moment joining BWL and entering a competition are very expensive for someone starting out. It is a major barrier to participation.

   The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst ‘s motto when I was there in 1989 was “Serve to Lead”. We were constantly reminded that our job as potential officers was to look after the men in our command. BWL would do well to think about this and look after the clubs and members first, then look to target outside people second.

   Our club members would like an answer to these questions please.

   I look forward to your reply.

   Yours sincerely

   James Marshall.