Girton Sports Excellence Programme

Sportsmith 2022- Remember the fundamental purpose of youth sports

Whether you are a strength & conditioning coach, technical coach, parent, medical professional or perform any other role in a young athlete’s developmental journey, there should be a common purpose: helping young athletes enjoy sport, improve and maximise their abilities, and realise their goals and aspirations. Combining good coaching skills with relevant scientific data should enable our young athletes to receive the most evidence-informed and individualised programmes to optimise their development and involvement in sport.

Girton Wraparound

5-8 - Emerging Athlete Program

Students in the Emerging Athlete Programme have had a tremendous start to the year, they’re still arriving to our morning and afternoon sessions with a smile on their face and a wonderful attitude. We’ve been playing lots of games as a group with a focus on decision making skills, these skills are extremely important for our field and court based sports and we will continue turning up the intensity so we can do this fatigued. 

The equipment for the first year athletes has been ordered, each student receives a mobility kit which includes a foam roller, a glute band and a lacrosse ball. Next term we will look to develop various recovery techniques to help our athletes.

Spaces in the program are filling up, I will accept new athletes until the end of the term. If you wish to submit an application please send an email to benfurphy@girton.vic.edu.au

9-10 Program

What a difference an uninterrupted year can have on your development inside the gym, our athletes have worked through an accumulation phase the last month after completing some preliminary testing. We use a variety of strength tests to get a baseline for our athletes in which we can build on in the coming months. Next term, our athletes will learn some new skills such as the introduction of the power clean. 

VCE

After success at the regional regional level, a number of our athletes have had great success at the state events also. Charlie Whitsed (pictured below) won the U18 Boys 50m breaststroke final making him the fastest in the state. His national event is in 10 weeks. If he wins this, Charlie will be able to try out for the Commonwealth Games squad. The photo below shows Charlie working with Girton’s sports scientist Jamie Tarrant to develop some midline stability whilst replicating the glide phase of the stroke. This will be Charlies focus the next few weeks before we can look to increase the difficulty of this exercise.