North Ayrshire AC work on their ‘athletics at home’ programme

Thursday 4th March 2021

Clubs are finding various ways to keep their members connected and active during Covid-19.

Here, Kirsteen Brown of North Ayrshire AC, tells us about an ‘athletics at home’ plan for athletes in the U20 to U15 age groups.

‘As the restrictions came into force once again after the Christmas break, we were fully aware that not only the physical health of our older athletes but their mental health was starting to take a dip.

‘We needed to do something to re-engage and decided to try something different.

‘Having 50 athletes in the U15 to U20 age bracket that include those that are event specific, we were keen not to add unnecessary pressure onto our volunteer coaches to manage, so we engaged with Roy Blakely from Mission Fit.

‘Roy is already a massive supporter of the club. He has vast knowledge of strength and conditioning as well as all aspects of fitness. Running his business from home, he was up for the challenge of engaging with our athletes and supporting the hard work of our coaches.

‘Roy designed a bespoke online training hub, with live training sessions on a Monday with a weekly challenge set on a Thursday.

‘The club provided foam rollers and resistance bands to aid the training and are now considering adding our U13 and U11 athletes to the programme. The new training hub has been well received by athletes and parents.

‘I am very pleased and excited to work with NAAC, who are such a motivated club,’ said Roy Blakely.

‘I wanted to create a training hub not just for the performance athletes but also for the participation and the community feel.

‘I was looking to try and bring them all together and have a safe space where they had the chance to maintain/improve their health and fitness; join in with their pals, mix up the monotony, as well as become a little more educated on the biomechanics of the body and training systems involved in their individual hobbies.

‘The thread is fun and inclusive but the aim is accountability and engagement and they have really risen to the challenge.

‘We’re all excited to see how we can keep developing the club and how I can hopefully assist them in future events and athlete performance.’