Laura Muir’s mentor Andy Young will be among those to present at a top Coaching Conference in Scotland after the Olympics.
The Glasgow University athletics coach has guided Muir from a 1500m time of 4.38 five years ago to become the first Scottish woman to run under four minutes last year before then finishing fifth in the IAAF World Champs in Beijing.
British 1500m champion Muir, who added the Scottish National Mile Record earlier this summer in Oslo, and Young are now in the Pyrenees preparing for the 23-year-old’s first Olympics – with a London Anniversary Games appearance on July 22 her final big test before Rio.
And now scottishathletics have confirmed Young will be one of the leading speakers at their Coaching Conference in Glasgow on September 24/25. Also on the bill at the Emirates Arena is Robert Hawkins, the endurance coach who has helped his sons, Callum and Derek, qualify for the Olympics in the marathon.
Young was named ‘Performance Coach of the Year’ in 2015 at the scottishathletics Annual Awards – Muir was ‘Athlete of the Year’ – and his Coaching Conference address in September will look how he guided the Kinross youngster to the very top of track and field.
scottishathletics Director of Coaching, Rodger Harkins, said: ‘We are delighted to have guys like Andy and Robert working with us that weekend at the Coaching Conference.
‘They are very well-known on the Scottish scene, of course, but it is important we recognise their fine coaching achievements and they have an opportunity to share their insight with other coaches.
‘We would really like the coaching community in Scotland to support the Coaching Conference as we see that buy-in as vitally important in what we are all trying to do. I keep saying it but you cannot coach in isolation.’
The conference forms part of the governing body’s National Coach Development Programme and will bring together some of the world’s leading coaches to present and discuss key themes important to developing athletes; in planning, athletic development and physical preparation and technical development.
Harkins, who himself led Lee McConnell to three Olympic Games, added: ‘Coaches will also learn more about the core competencies required for athletes at each stage of the pathway and will be provided with key information around technical and physical development of athletes, as well as how to plan effectively.’
Others in the line-up for September 24/25 are Vern Gambetta – Director of Gambetta Sports Training Systems, and leading expert on athletic development; Aston Moore – British Athletics Senior Institute Coach for horizontal jumps and Olympic Coach; Martin Bingisser – International throws coach; Mike McNeill – Coach to Olympian Goldie Sayers.
More details on www.scottishathletics.org.uk
