200 KIDS

[huw williams]

I'm doing a coaching day tomorrow at Woodcote High School in Coulsdon

[size=200]With 200 kids[/size]

Thats only a 100 less people than there were in the film 300 ferchrissakes

[size=200]200 kids[/size]

Anybody got any kids at Woodcote HIgh?

[Amy]

we will be thinking of you

[Nick W]

Huw, yes I have a lad there, Henry. He's a full on "ginger" so you cannot miss him if he is attending your session!

[huw williams]

[quote="Nick W"]Huw, yes I have a lad there, Henry. He's a full on "ginger" so you cannot miss him if he is attending your session!

[Andrew G]

[quote="huw williams"]Excellent - BC rules dictate that in the spirit of equity, we have to treat ALL children equally - even 'gingers' - I'll look out for him

[Stu Merckx Man]

huw i went to woodcote!

[huw williams]

[quote="Stu Merckx Man"]huw i went to woodcote!

[quote="huw williams"][quote="Stu Merckx Man"]huw i went to woodcote!

[quote="huw williams"][quote="Stu Merckx Man"]huw i went to woodcote!

[quote="Marek"][quote="huw williams"][quote="Stu Merckx Man"]huw i went to woodcote!

[Marky Mark]

Huw, are you mad

[huw williams]

Wow what a day that was - things have changed since I was in school, in those days we used to have lessons!

It was a mixed sport opportunities day giving the kids a chance to experience olympic sports - so they had cycling, basketball and net ball coaches, an Elite-level Archery coach with high-power bows (imagine doing the risk-assessment for that - "Im gonna give 200 novice kids a bow and arrows, can I have insurance please?") - I spent the whole day looking over my shoulder at the adjoining field where the 'thunk', 'thunk', 'thunk' of teachers getting shot in the back could be clearly heard.

For the cycling disciplines there were 3 coaches, myself and 2 others so to reflect the variation in olympic cycling disciplines on offer and cope with the high volume of kids we set up three different disciplines.

1) A BMX starting-gate and ramp set-up so riders could practice ramp starts - onto a short course around the playground, all against the stopwatch

2) Track bikes on turbos set up in front of a giant screen showing the pursuit races from the olympics - kids got their first experience of riding on fixed wheel. We gave them the task of doing a set distance within 4 minutes - typically they would blast off at top speed, get completely knackered within 30-45 seconds, try to stop pedaling, get flipped over the bars (or they would have done if they weren't bolted into a turbo) before limping sheepishly to the line in the remaining time

3) A skills course in the playground where they had to negotiate a series of slalom gates, limbo poles, bottle pick-ups etc timed against the stop watch, time penalties awarded for each cone knocked over etc

Groups of up to 20 riders would spend 45 minutes on each discipline then move on to the next, this was sub split into girls and boys - it was a masterpice of planning and delivery if I say so myself and we just couldn't get the kids to stop when it was time to switch disciplines - they just wanted to keep going. "But it's fun on the BMX too" I'd say - no matter they just wanted "one more go" where they were.

Gotta say that's a bloody impressive school - no wonder Stu is such a presentable young man if he went there. All day long we had no instances of bad-behaviour. At break-times the entire school would come out and watch what we were doing and there were hundreds and hundreds of kids of all ages milling around and only ONE playground supervisor who just stood inconspicuously against the fence and didn't have to intervene in any ill-discipline once, all day. Occasionally they'd wander up in small groups, ask questions about the bikes or "were you in the Olympics"

Also it's the first time I've been called SIR all day - and I LIKE IT

The regional schools sports development officer was there and she asked us to do more regular days with all the schools on her patch which takes in the Coulsdon/Purley/Chipstead/Woodmanstern. She's handing out ACC flyers to pupils at all schools - the idea being that we (ACC) can run pre-club run coaching sessions for riders not old enough or too inexperienced to join the club run yet. Further down the line this will hopefully translate into a steady trickle of young riders joining up, being looked after properly and hopefully staying in the sport (and going INTO Butlers rather than sticking knives in each other outside it

All in all then one of those life-affirming experiences you often hear parents talking about in relation to their kids - loved it

Below is the regional BC manager's response

H[color=#4040FF]uw,

Thanks again for your help yesterday it will be noted in my report!
I've attached our standard go-ride registration letter for community clubs for you to complete, in order to form the link between the schools etc to the Addiscombe then will need to register you as a go-ride club. We can then help with the progress towards ClubMark Accreditation. I think working the PDM you met yesterday could be very exciting for cycling in the area which can only benefit Addiscombe CC, potentially 4-6 school clubs each feeding into yours, it would be nice to think that this could be a model example of how it should be done!

Any questions etc, please feel free to contact me.

thanks again

Ric Jamieson[/color]

[Michelle]

What a day! It sounds fast, fraught, fun and fundamentally knackering.

Seemed like you enjoyed yourself too....all down to the planning and the great kids I suspect.

Great to know that in theory we should get a steady trickle of younger riders into the club starting sometime next year.

Brilliant. Nice one Huw, looks like you've done us proud.

[adrian]

Nice one, sir - I mean, Huw.

[quote]Groups of up to 20 riders would spend 45 minutes on each discipline then move on to the next

[quote="adrian"]Nice one, sir - I mean, Huw.

[quote]Groups of up to 20 riders would spend 45 minutes on each discipline then move on to the next