Asia Triathlon

Despite the current limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, World Triathlon Development continues to work hard putting together important soon-to-be available resources that will support a holistic approach in athlete education – matching one of the key topics of our regular coaches’ courses.

We can also look back to our past Development Camps for some valuable insights. The most recent was the 2020 Chennai ASTC-ITU Development Camp for South Asia, which took place directly after the Chennai NTT ASTC Triathlon Asian Cup held from 24-28 February 2020. The camp was attended by 11 athletes and 5 coaches from India and Nepal and was led by Eugene Lee from Singapore and India’s Pooja Chaurushi. Pooja is also one of the five triathlon female coaches attending the Women’s Sport Leadership Academy for High Performance Coaches (WSLA HPC).

The camp was tailored specifically to the needs of those countries in attendance and included a heavy emphasis on developing swimming technique, cycling skills and strength and conditioning foundations. Education sessions that addressed athlete lifestyle and management were also part of the daily curriculum.

“One of the key objectives of the ASTC-ITU is to address the specific needs of the developing countries of our sport,” said lead facilitator Eugene Lee. “This is always a big challenge as we are only able to assess the true level of competency of both athletes and coaches once we arrive on the ground itself, and only then will we be able to make the necessary changes for the camp.”

The respective country coaches played a key role in leading the program and were also involved in discussions that enabled them to develop their own follow-up development and coaching plans after returning to their home coaching environments. They also received first-hand experience using current technology as one of their coaching tools for assessment and feedback of their athletes. Needless to stay, the changing global landscape since the end of the camp has made that even more important.

Linthoin Gambi from Manipur added; “The camp was very beneficial for me as I was exposed to using technology such as action cameras, metronomes and electronic applications. The camp has also increased my level of confidence in my coaching.”