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Posted by Equestrian Western Australia on 29/06/2015.

High Performance Super Clinic Wrap-Up

 The EWA High Performance Super Clinic was held at the SEC last weekend and was very well supported by Riders, Judges, Coaches and Selectors across all Disciplines.

On Friday evening Victoria Kahn - EA Sports Science Sports Medicine Manager presented a dynamic and entertaining update on ASADA guidelines and provided links to the ASADA Check Your Substances webpage to check medications.

All State and National squad / team members should also be aware that Supplements as not subject to the same manufacturing laws as medication, and as such, cannot be guaranteed by ASADA.  The following website has information regarding groups A to Group D supplements. Any substance found in an athlete’s body is the responsibly of the athlete, regardless of how it got there.  This is known as the strict liability policy.  When using Group A supplements, be sure to use high quality Australian made products and be sure to consult with accredited sports dietitians and sports physicians who are aware of the ASADA anti-dopng codes

Next speaker was Julia Battams the National Performance Director for Dressage and Para Equestrian. Julia demonstrated how riders can use data collected from competition performances to analyse trends in strengths and weaknesses using the Hams horse and athlete management systems (HAMS). Julia also covered how to set SMART Goals using the EA 5 Pillars of equestrian performance excellence and the importance of identifying weaknesses, designing Training and Competition  plans, executing and recording results and finally analysing and reviewing Goals on a repeating cycle.

Riders should ensure they are NOT the WEAK LINK in the partnership!

Olympian Stuart Tinney then joined WA’s own Para Olympian Sharon Jarvis and 4 Star Eventing Champion Jess Manson to speak on Travelling the horse long distances. Stuart and Sharon shared International travel experiences and Jess and Sharon both spoke on the challenges faced crossing the Nullarbor. Each shared the primary message being to plan your route and the necessity to allow the horse to travel with its head down to drain the airways to help prevent onset of travel sickness.

Saturday commenced with a  Seminar with Dr Andrew Hunt was held upstairs for Show Horse Judges and Riders.

Following this a General Forum was conducted for Riders, Coaches and Judges with a Q&A session covering rules and protocols across all disciplines!.

Many thanks to Janet Reid, Kerrie Robbins and Roz Tippett for sharing their time and expertise.

They first outlined their Roles as Steward, Technical Delegate and Judge then addressed issues covering;  

  • Dangerous riding
  • Use of the whip
  • Abuse
  • How to deal with  issues in the warm up arena such as coaching, lungeing and illegal/incorrect heights of jumps
  • Dealing with discrepancies in dressage marks,
  • XC times and stopping on course

Janet also brought along an array of Permitted and Not Permitted items of gear for discussion and review.

Over the weekend as many as 30 squad riders took up the Fitness challenge running both Saturday and Sunday with visiting Level 3 Pilates and EA NCAS Dressage Specialist Coach Rebecca Ashton (NSW) . Heaps of emails with positive feedback on these amazing Fitness Sessions have been received following the Clinic.

Rebecca pushed participants to stay focused while subjecting them to rider specific core training, cardio work and balancing drills.

Athletes were also very fortunate to hear from another guest presenter Dr Tristyn Lowe. Tristyn began coaching both riding and vaulting at an early age. She first travelled to represent Australia at 16yrs of age and then continued to compete for Australia for a further 10 years, including 3 WEG performances. She was ranked 6th in individual female internationally and also competed at a 4th WEG in Kentucky 2010 as a Lunger and coach of the Australian team. Having also competed in Dressage to Medium level and Pre-novice Eventing, Tristyn is an EA NCAS Level 1 General coach & level 2 Vaulting Specialist and Coach Educator. She is a fully registered GP, with  a special interest area in Sports Training and Psychology,  demonstrating the technique of using visualisation and the power of positive self talk to achieve successful outcomes. This plus Julia Battam’s earlier presentation on Goal Setting was then reinforced by Level 2 Coach Educator and Eventing Squad rider Rebecca Thomas.

On Sunday facilitators from WAIS and Athlete co presenter Paralympian runner -Brad Scott - http://www.paralympic.org.au/team/brad-scott worked with 20 young riders and their parents in a 4 hour intensive Developing Champions workshop.

Developing Champions is a life skills program, supported by the Western Australian Institute of Sport, and the Department of Sport & Recreation WA, to assist emerging elite athletes to achieve athletic success, life balance and well-being.

Also on Sunday EWA High Performance Pathways also proudly supported a Jumping masterclass with current National SJ Champion David Cameron. This was held in conjunction with the Swan River SJC’s 5th Annual Young Horse Championship.

David is a Young Horse Specialist, NCAS Level 1 General Coach and a qualified P.E teacher with a passion for working with young horses. While judgeing and riding the four finalists in the young horse classes David discussed what he looks for in a young horse such as conformation, responsiveness, style and its trainability. 

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