Dear Athletes and Parents,
On behalf of myself and all the members of the NDLAC Committee, I would like to welcome you to Season 2020/21. Amongst the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, community sport has been a shining light for many families, and we are so pleased to be able to conduct a full season running from early October 2020 through to late March 2021. Our Covid-19 Safety Plan ensures the welfare of our athletes, volunteers, family and friends is given the highest priority whilst also allowing for plenty of fun, fitness and Personal Bests at Foxglove Oval. This plan also includes the appointment of 2 new Covid-19 Officer roles to our Committee and we are blessed to have 2 wonderful parents with extensive healthcare industry experience in these roles.
Last season we focused on three main areas and drove a theme through these:
1. A new digital age for NDLAC – With a brand-new website already up and going, as well as advanced plans for replacing paper results sheets with electronic Tablets to reduce results handling effort and streamlining information for athletes and age managers. These will be tested in the first few weeks of the 2020/21 season with a view to rolling out across all age groups as soon as possible.
2. Increased Focus on Training and Skills Development – In four key areas: (i) Doubling our Coaching focus with dedicated training for Younger Age Groups and Older Age Groups; each held at later times on Thursday to encourage maximum participation. (ii) Bringing former NDLAC Superstar and current Australian Hero, Alysha Burnett in to the coaching team to work in partnership with Martin Smellie. (iii) Making Level 1 Athletics Coaching courses available for Age Managers free of charge.
3. Greater forward visibility of Programs for Saturday and Thursday Training – to allow anticipation and excitement to flow for athletes as they see their ability to improve and perform in pet events and experience other events. We are busy putting our programs together for the 2020/21 season, and for the first 2 weeks athletes will be able to nominate their preferred training and skills development disciplines as noted below.
To commence this season, we really want to place a big focus on enjoying athletics safely – including both a focus on the way we run events, but also the physical mechanics of engaging in the events. As such, we intend our first two weeks to be a big drive on skills both for athletes (in some cases teaching new disciplines, and in other teaching ways to further grow performance) but also for parents (to help understand how the events are run safely and time effectively). We think this two-week program will again set the foundation for a fantastic season in which all our little athletes can perform safely, and our parents can engage confidently in the weekly events.
The 2020/21 season will have a different feel to past seasons in some areas given the Covid-19 guidelines, but in many ways it will be “business as usual” - OR EVEN BETTER - for us at Foxglove! The oval looks absolutely outstanding, and we have tweaked the track layout to further optimise this wonderful space. We continue our exciting digital transformation and even more coaching and skills development. Our fun, themed meets including Pinkletics and Bring a Friend Day will still go ahead, as will our special Centre competition meets - Pentathlon and Multi-Event - and Middle Distance Handicap and “Cool Runnings” 100M sprint-off. We will look to make further, ongoing improvements to our program as permitted, and for all our parents and guardians, the Coffee Van will be onsite! ;-)
We are so excited about the season ahead, and with your energy and enthusiasm, we believe it will be an outstanding season at Northern Districts Little Athletics Club.
Matt Gleeson
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