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Post by Sy Woan on Apr 23, 2007 22:25:33 GMT
Hi Pete, Many thanks for your reply. A strange one if that. Firstly, I would like to thank people for listening to positive comments made and would have liked for improvements. I understand that there is more chance of me winning the lotto jackpot then anything coming of this issue, so I think I'll let this one be, as it has previous when the problem first came up. This is not a cheeky swipe at you or any of the Preston committee. I thank you for replying to me and giving your views. I'm just sad that its been brushed under the carpet. as for me ' developing bad habits', I very much doubt this? Do i take this as a positive comment? That a sprinter who cares about his club and wants to achieve a good season with Preston wants to put in that extra session on his own? Not all of us are students with free time. When i get a chance to train when I'm not working to pay my mortgage then I'll do that, with a program from my coach. (sorry but that had to be said, as you know..) friendly talk now though..you think people envious of our track? Its the only track I've been on this year with diff types of surface.. we got nice solid part then as you whip round the track u got a big chunk piece thats been slapped in which is a softer ground when sprinting on then its back on to the other surface again. Was it destroyed by the footballers so it had to be replaced? Guess it might catch on though with other clubs. With all this been said... we just gonna go round and round. People falling out, etc..which is the last thing this issue was meant to bring. So..many thanks for your comments, I just find it hard to agree with you saying ' I would rather work with them than attack them', I don't think we have much of a choice.  |
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Post by petehancock on Apr 24, 2007 23:43:55 GMT
Sy
Nothing wrong with doing sessions on your own. I admire your commitment. There was no dig intended at all. I just think that to improve technique (which is what you said) you need someone to watch and give you feedback.
As far as the track repair is concerned we agree. It is shocking. The original problem was a dip in the track supposedly caused by a broken drain. I wish they had left it alone.
The standard of maintainence by uclan is good though, not greasy like wigan, and with long and triple boards that fit - unlike blackpool for the last 3 years.
Hope you have a good season.
Pete h
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Post by Carl on Apr 25, 2007 13:39:54 GMT
Too many people scared of change. Sydey weren't you working on tieing of the shoelaces 'technique'? Apparently it matters what you are doing there?! Sy u need to realise that while you give some people a chance to get away from the major point they will snatch it from you. Absolute joke. Behind you 100% Sy.
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Post by Jane on Apr 29, 2007 19:15:15 GMT
I couldn't agree more with MOST of what has been said on this subject. I personally don't think Uclan give one about athletics, If they did why have they pulled their team of the the BUSA competition this coming weekend. Maybe they haven't got enough athletes. Maybe they haven't got decent coaches. Whichever, they have got a reasonable facility which is not being used to great affect for its athletes. I know of one athlete that is none to happy about this situation. It would appear that potential athletes have to seek out their own coaching. Why have a track and turn the infield into a football pitch. A lot of countries actually have football pitches with a track around the outside. It would appear, that in this country, this isn't good enough for the professional footballers and their fans. But when it comes down to grass roots it's different. At the bottom of the ladder footballers aren't too good to play with a track around their pitch. I wonder after the Olympics next year or 2012 how many footballers/fans, along with the general public, will be having a go at athletes for their lack of medals? Will anybody mention about the lack of athletic facilities, coaching, affordable physio, sponsorship etc. I think not. We should be winning every available football competition/cup/world cup/everything else with the amount of money that is available to them. I think it's a shame when an athletes are restricted in their training because of football. If athletes had the same sort of available cash how good could they be?
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aidan
New Member
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Post by aidan on Apr 29, 2007 22:32:38 GMT
Sy,
It does seem a bit odd that at Preston Sports Arena they need to use the grass in the centre of the track in April when it appears they have so many other football pitches available. However, if all other pitches were unavailable and they have the chance of renting it, do you think it is unreasonable for them to rent it out on the basis that possibly a single isolated athlete might turn up to use the track? How often does this happen?
Yes - it is frustrating, but if you had checked in advance could you not have planned your session to fit round what was booked in? Trained earlier or later?
I pay for 4 x track permits – my own as a coach and 3 x juniors but I accept that I can’t just turn up either with my kids or with a group of younger athletes and expect to necessarily use the track whenever I feel like it.
Similarly I also pay for a swimming contract with Preston City Council and again I wouldn’t expect to use the pool to swim whenever I feel like it. I have to put up with fun swims, aqua-natal classes etc. I plan my exercise / training around these sessions - over school holidays I am aware that there may be additional things on and so I check in advance that the pool is open & that they have a swimming lane cordened off.
If you want daft though - at Sports City recently on a UKA level 2 coaching throws module, we were stopped from throwing Javelins onto the grass because the centre of the outdoor track there was being prepared for a prestigious football match – even though UKA had booked the venue for a throws coaching module!!! We were not allowed to throw anything onto the grass – not even soft hammers from the hammer cage and we had to go back indoors.
Aidan.
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Post by Carl on May 1, 2007 0:02:06 GMT
Sy, It does seem a bit odd that at Preston Sports Arena they need to use the grass in the centre of the track in April when it appears they have so many other football pitches available. However, if all other pitches were unavailable and they have the chance of renting it, do you think it is unreasonable for them to rent it out on the basis that possibly a single isolated athlete might turn up to use the track? How often does this happen? Yes - it is frustrating, but if you had checked in advance could you not have planned your session to fit round what was booked in? Trained earlier or later? Aidan. I'm pretty sure that Sy is not treating this as an isolated incident. I'm not talking for him and am not trying to cause controversy however I (unfortunately) have had sessions cut short (or even changed venue), morning, noon and night because of football. It would make sense to ring up but surely, surely when (especially in winter) football often intervenes it becomes totally inpractical. The Arena know the training times in winter and yet they still let games on there, so I am not sure where you are coming from? Should we ring up in winter when its our actual confirmed training times? To say that Sydey should have called up to use a track that hes payed a heck amount of money for regardless if he (no matter what time of day) is on his own is rather ridiculous. I can see it now.... Sy: - 'Ahem, am I able to use the track today or is there a game of football on?' Seems to me the logic is wrong and backward here. |
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Post by Andy Leat on May 1, 2007 22:05:11 GMT
I couldn't agree more with MOST of what has been said on this subject. I personally don't think Uclan give one about athletics, If they did why have they pulled their team of the the BUSA competition this coming weekend. Maybe they haven't got enough athletes. Maybe they haven't got decent coaches. Jane, the reason UCLan have pulled out of the busas this weekend is because 1, we dont have the international standard athletes that the top unis lure in and all the events are won in national standard times/distances 2, its hundreds of miles away with no accomodation so people would have to pay over £100 in all to get there and back and have somewhere to stay for the duration of the competition 3, The cost of going compared to that of actually medalling was not very good so an email was circulated which stated that if anyone was interested then it would happen however the costs were too high for most of us, plus this time of year is crammed full of exams, dissertations and projects! |
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Post by Jane on May 2, 2007 17:57:22 GMT
Andy
Presumably there are the same problems with exams etc. every year and every uni has the same problem. Uclan have usually competed in the past.
If they don't commit to athletics they won't attract the students. As I said before they have a reasonable facility that isn't be used to its full extent for athletics.
I have to disagree with your comment re international standard athletes. Most athletes that compete aren't of international standard, but they love athletics and welcome the chance to compete against other athletes. In fact some higher standard athletes shy away from this event citing the lower level of competition for their decision, It’s very early in the season for a lot of the better athletes so some choose not to enter others use it as a ‘warm up’. For other athletes the Busa’s offer a good level of competition,. It isn't always about winning, You're unlikely to improve greatly if you've no-one to aspire to.
I don't look at all the results for each discipline as my main interest revolves around sprints but I certainly wouldn't class a lot of last years finalists as running 'national' standard times or even the winners in some cases. Even looking at middle distance I would say the same thing applies.
As I said in my previous post, if people were interested enough in athletics to 'invest' money in the sport results would be better, and presumably as the standards were raised other people /organisations would then follow suit and 'invest'.
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Post by guest on May 2, 2007 21:30:43 GMT
maybe somebody has mentioned this to the staff at the arena as there is a list of dates that the track is unavailable on the gates
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Post by Sy on May 2, 2007 22:25:03 GMT
Hi All...
whoa..this thing has grown. I think some things have been mixed up, I really dont mean for me to say..i am sy of preston harriers..i want track all to myself becuase im a sprinter..nothing at all like that, its just that, if i call up, yea track is free..ok..i drive down from outside of preston only to find out that some football game is on..ask the desk..funny enough i never spoke to anybody.
hummm...
besides..all i wanted to know is why the athletics track gets mistreated. I went to see my mates playing football on the astro pitches. he had the wrong football on, he didnt have any other footwear..so the Uclan people say..sorry..u cant play then. tuff they say..rules are rules! Wouldnt it be nice for this 'rule' to be brought to the track? We would then have a decent track that aint multi surfaced with different parts here and there.
yea i'm gutted about the BUSA's also. We should call it BUSA champions league.. would get more interest then! lol ;D
When i have to train on my own..its not because i think im special and see my self as too big for the others to train with..its when ever im free. work pays my mortgage and bills, so i aint got free time like the young folks we have at the track. Maybe that way people in their mid 20's dont step up a gear because of other commitments. Well i wanna change that and do it for preston..just seems like preston aint fussed..as long as i turn up and pay my permit.
Sy
(i aint hating on nobody..just want to help my club..thats all)
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