Braintree & District A.C. AGM & Presentation Night. 23.10.2009

Once all the clubs officers had given their annual reports and the formalities of re-electing and electing new members onto the Committee had been dealt with the club's Chairperson, Claire Rolewicz, proceeded to give her annual appraisal of the club's progress during the past year.

She emphasised the steps the club had made locally in recruiting over 250 members during the season, praising especially the endurance section of the club which had increased their numbers and had enhanced the profile of the club as a fast emerging Cross Country and Road Running club in the Eastern Region. Claire Rolewicz, also pointed out the quickly developing coaching skills by the throws coaches, Roy Deer, Neil Potter, Brian Castle and Kevin Cockell, that had led to many outstanding throwing results throughout the season, notably in the younger girls section where Sophia Diss broke the U13 Girls Discus record on three occasions and Chloe Cockell created a new Club Record in the U15 Hammer event on two of her performances in this field discipline. There had also been an increasing number of Personal Bests in every field event in all age groups.

Claire went on to state that the club had been recognised as an exceptional coaching institute, producing three coaches, Ken Hills (Sprints), Simon Mennell ( Endurance) and Eddie Hawkins (Horizontal Jumps), worthy of being selected onto the English Athletics National Coach Development Programme which commenced this Autumn. The idea behind this is to take recognised development coaches to mentor within their own regions, in their respective events. Thus, enhancing the coaching standards, which in turn will be of tremendous benefit to talented athletes of other clubs throughout the Eastern Area of England.

Praise was also meted out to the U13 Girls and Senior Ladies teams that reached the East Anglian League Finals with both teams improving on their respective rankings in this competition.

Finally, Claire, proposed a vote of thanks to all the Club Officials, Committee members and volunteers who had worked so diligently over the past year to make this season such a success.

Club Presentation

This was a memorable night for the younger members of the club with Sophia Diss being awarded 4 individual trophies, Elle Cockell taking 3 and her elder sister, Chloe, taking 2, together with Evie Castle. In the male section Daniel Baldock came away with 2 trophies as did Mitchell Jarvis,Richard Pollitt and James Murphy.

Below is a list of the Prizes and Winners:

Report by Eddie Hawkins

Sophia Diss - New Club Record U13 Girls Discus

At the last EYAL meeting at Braintree young Sophia Diss , who is more noted for her middle distance running, showed her versatility as an all round athlete by winning the non-scorers U13 Girls Discus with a new Club Record of 21.10mtrs. This 15 year old record of 20.94cms was achieved in 1994 by Natalie Buckland who, at the time, was a promising County Discus thrower. This is just another accolade that this very promising and devoted young athlete can add to her already large collection of achievements this season.

Report by Eddie Hawkins

Geoff Capes - Flying Coach visit to Braintree & District A.C. 03.05.09

On Sunday 3rd May, Braintree & District A.C. played host to a 'Flying Coaching' session by Geoff Capes, for all levels of shot putt coaches and athletes in the East Anglian region.

This was a very successful follow up day from a previous session in Ipswich, with all the coaches and athletes present going away with many pearls of wisdom from this much respected Shot Putting Olympian who started his athletic career as a member of Holbeach A.C. in the 1960s. Geoff represented his country over 11 years, winning two Commonwealth Games, two Indoor European Championship titles and is the most capped British male athlete of all time., receiving 67 International caps whilst winning 35 of his international competition. This amiable coach brought humour and common-sense to his most informative technical coaching advise on the discipline of Shot Putting. Coaches were encouraged to participate in this session giving them much needed hands on and tips on how to improve their athletes and coaching skills.

These type of 'Flying Coaching' sessions are the very basis on which all our coaching volunteers, no matter what event they specialise in, can gain invaluable first hand information from experienced UK athletes and coaches.

Report by Eddie Hawkins