23 athletes and 14 coaches met up at the University of Bath on 13-14 October for the second of the ‘On Camp with Kelly’ Get-Together Weekends in 2007. The weekend was based at the University’s Sports Training Village which is also the site of a UK Athletics High Performance Centre.

Dame Kelly said: “The theme of the Get-Together Weekend was athlete and coach development and learning about the importance of injury prevention and rehabilitation techniques, something that I found out a lot about during my career. It has been an excellent year for many of the ‘On Camp with Kelly’ athletes but is important that they learn how to cope when illness or injury strikes. I hope that athletes and coaches learnt a lot from the weekend which they can incorporate into their training.”

The athletes and coaches took part in the following activities:

• A presentation on using nutrition during competition and recovery from training to enhance performance by Wendy Martinson, Consultant Sports Nutritionist to the BOA
• Various presentations and Q&A sessions with UK Athletics staff
• Practical sessions on rehabilitation and core stability with Kelly and physiotherapist Sarah Bryan, including trying out a hydro pool and ice bath
• An introduction to aqua-jogging technique with Kelly – each athlete’s technique was filmed underwater for analysis and they were given a DVD to take away

The coaches also took part in an injury prevention workshop with Martin Haines from Mobilis Performance to follow up on the workshop that they had done at the Educational Camp in Loughborough earlier in the year.

The athletes received medical support, with physiotherapy, massage and advice from a sports doctor, and took part in one-to-one sessions with Kelly, sports nutritionist Wendy Martinson and sports psychologist Kate Goodger.

The athletes and coaches felt that they benefited greatly from the weekend and as athlete Jordan Kinney said: “A weekend as motivating and inspiring as this reminds me why I take part in the sport.”

The athletes who attended the weekend were: Charlotte Best, Tara Bird, Suzi Boast, Dani Christmas, Jess Coulson, Lucy Dowsett, Jo Finch, Laura Finucane, Emily Goodall, Kirsty Hamilton, Kerrie Harris, Kate Hindle, Jordan Kinney, Alison Leonard, Nikki Maddick, Emma Pallant, Carolyn Plateau, Stephanie Roe, Stacey Smith, Linzi Snow, Rachel Stringer, Rachael Thompson, Alex Turner

The coaches who attended the weekend were: Arthur Almond, Pauline Ash, Tim Ash, Andy Beadle, Mark Best, Andy Bibby, Andy Boast, Rosemary Boast, Jim Feeney, John Griffiths, Andy Lyons, Pam Piercy, John Smith, Mick Woods


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