Teens progression

Boys, there had to be a football, didn't there !

As the Teens develop, both physically and mentally, they become capable of performing at a higher level.

We reflect this through progressing them up through the Groups, so they can train with Teens of similar ability.

An important part of their development is competing at events, so they can realise their full capability, being "tempered by the fire". It also provides reliable measurement of one-off performances.

Therefore, progression in future, from one group to the next will be based on three criteria :

• Capability : performances measured at training and especially at ‘Club Events’

• Attitude : i.e. mindset, and compliance with the Respect and Endeavour Rules*

• Representing the Club : participating in at least two of the selected ‘Club Events’ within the year

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NB To enable safe and effective sessions the Groups will need to be of certain sizes so that the coach to athlete ratio is appropriate.

Capability

We're using the measured and event performances and seeing how they compare to the EA's PB Awards standards. For the younger Teens, the events we're forcusing on are the Under 13 Quadkid events: 100m, 800m, long jump and Vortex throw.

For all Teens, we're also measuring other events based on Run, Jump and Throw.

Attitude

To succeed at anything requires more than just talent. All elite athletes work incredibly hard at their craft, e.g. Noah Lyles trains for 5 hours per day (he does have a rest day). Therefore we expect all Teens to try hard at doing the activities they have been set. To support that we have in place two rules, RESPECT and ENDEAVOUR:

RESPECT rule : "When the coach talks, I will listen"

ENDEAVOUR rule : "I will try my best to do the activities how the coach has asked or demonstrated to me"

Representing the Club

‘Club Events’ are events/meetings identified by the Coaches and communicated to the Teens.

Since beginning of April, there have been about a dozen Club Event opportunities :

Track & Field :

1. Mark Cawte (Swindon),

2. Wilts and Glos Championships,

3. Glos AC Spring Open,

4. Brewer Memorial Games (Glos),

5. Midsummer Open 1 and 4 (Blackridge),

6. 3 Low Key opens for younger Teens (Cheltenham)

Road/trail :

1. Bourton Junior/Senior Mile,

2. Junior Sizzler,

3. Club 40th Anniversary Parkrun

I will release further events soon, and they will cover:

• other T&F events e,g. Leamington Open and Running2Time events (more to follow, hopefully)

• the Meteor Mile,

• the Coln Valley run,

• a Junior and Senior Parkrun,

• the Cross Country league races

• possibly one or two others.

NB If you know of an interesting event, suitable for Teens, please let me know. I will produce a race calendar for 2026.

Hopefully, with this increased focus on progressing through these three criteria, the Teens will become the best athlete they can be.

So Onwards and Upwards.

Dorian