2009 Program News
9/18/09: Week 1 Recap-Welcome to Delaware and ICECP
The first week of ICECP is in the books and it was a busy, productive and exciting start to the program. In total, national-level coaches from 27 different countries and 13 sports are represented.
During the introduction ceremony, they took time to learn about each other, their respective homelands and were welcomed to Newark by University of Delaware freshmen.
In the opening ceremonies, the coaches were greeted by representatives from the USOC, UDel and ICECP. They were commended for the undertaking they were about to embark on and welcomed to the US.
St. Joseph’s University head men’s basketball coach Phil Martelli got the energy level up and helped motivate the coaches in his keynote speech. All the coaches left that session ready to get down to business.
And then the work started. The coaches attended presentations from nine different experts on 11 topics in sports science and coaching education. They attended five 90-minute sessions each day. Topics included adolescent strength training, biomechanical principles, sports nutrition, fluid balance and temperature regulation in athletes, sport psychology, sport medicine and grants and funding.
Presenters included Dr. Avery Faigenbaum, a professor at the College of New Jersey, Drs. David Barlow and William Farquhar, professors in the health and exercise science department at Delaware, Dr. Kristine Clark, director of sports nutrition in the Penn State athletic department, Bob Shillinglaw, Delaware men’s lacrosse coach, Dr. Tom Kaminski, director of athletic training education at Delaware, Jeff Schneider, director of strength and conditioning at UDel’s Ice Arena and Dr. Matthew Robinson, sport management program director at Delaware.
Dr. Barlow gave two presentations on biomechanical principles related to sport. Topics in his presentations included technique, equipment and differences in muscle fibers. Adam Mohamed, the national senior swim team head coach in Maldives, found Dr. Barlow’s presentation to be a wealth of applicable information.
“The way it was presented and the information was very helpful,” Mohamed said. “I also thought the nutrition presentation was great and I took away a lot.”
Dr. Clark’s sports nutrition presentation included three 90-minute sessions over two days. It invoked plenty of questions and discussion among the participants and included carbohydrate loading, weight gain and loss, optimizing nutrition for training, recovery and muscle building. Her presentation was supplemented by Dr. Farquhar, who spoke about fluid balance and proper hydration in athletes. He also discussed VO2 max and other measures of athletic performance, as well as temperature regulation in athletes during training.
Dr. Kaminski spoke at length about sport injury management, maintenance and prevention. Graduate student Laura Miller also made a presentation on sudden death in athletes.
While most presentations where aimed at developing the coach, some were meant to help the participants improve the sport structure in their countries. Dr. Robinson gave presentations on SWOT analysis and acquiring grants and funding.
Professor Schneider got the coaches out of the classroom and into the weight room when he oversaw a hands-on session on the practical application of strength training.
“All of these classes have been great and will open new horizons for me. It’s a great environment and an ideal way to learn,” Mohamed said.
Friday gives the participants a chance to kick back and relax. After morning and afternoon class sessions, the coaches will have the opportunity to attend one of several UDel sporting events, including volleyball, field hockey and men’s soccer games. On Saturday, the group will attend the football game against Delaware State and be recognized down on the field at halftime.
Rota Onorio, a national basketball league coach in Kiribati, appreciates that break in the action.“It’s a very hectic schedule,” he said. “But the classes are really helpful. I’m just trying to take it all in.”
Onorio said Coach Martelli’s keynote speech was “very inspirational” and helped to motivate him for the program. As a fellow basketball coach, he appreciates Martelli’s experience in the coaching field. Other coaches shared Onorio’s sentiment on Coach Martelli’s opening talk.
“The motivational talk by Phil Martelli was splendid,” said Gabrielli Qoro, the national jumps coach and technical official in Fiji. “He’s been there, done that.”
Qoro identified with Martelli’s talk and agreed about the importance he put on having dreams, organizing, communicating, building relationships and providing groups with energy.
Overall, Qoro is having a great experience in ICECP.
“The experience in itself, getting to exchange ideas with other coaches from around the world, is a big boost, imparting knowledge and placing it in our countries’ situation.”
