Over the last month I've been working closely with the KZN South Junior Surfing Team which consists of boy and girls surfers from u/13 to u/17.
This is the first provincial team I have worked with so it's as exciting for me as it is for them, unfortunately i'm going to be one of the judges at the National junior champs so I wont be able to be team coach, so that position has been allocated to local professional surfer Klee Strachan, so the team is no doubt in good hands, my job how ever is focused on the preparation leading up to the event and with two weeks to go I'm very happy with the teams progression through the program.
On our first meeting we ran through a basic fittest testing battery, we tested their:
- Aerobic fitness
- Anaerobic fitness
- Core strength
- Upper body muscular strength
- Muscular Endurance
From these test I managed to identify their weakness, and found the area's which required the most work.
After sending each of the team members a basic program, the juniors had 2 weeks to prepare for the Regional Champs.
Those who lived in close proximity to me (KZN South extends from Amanzimtoti all the way to Port Edward) meet with me 4 -5 times a week.
Their training consists of strength training, aerobic an d anaerobic fitness, core, stability and proprioception training and then the conventional contest surfing training heats ect.
It was great to see how this training payed off for the juniors when KZN South walked away with 2 golds, 2 silvers ,1 Bronze and two copper medals, we also had numerous semi and quarter finalists and they walked away with one of the team members being awarded the Most Outstanding Girl Surfer of the tournament.
So it was rewarding for me as a sport scientist to see how the hours spent had paid off.
In between all this I have been training to take part in my first half marathon on the 2nd of October, so all of this running has left me with shin splints so I will shortly be blogging on Shin Splints, treatment and rehabilitation.
Wade Botha
Sport Scientist
International Surf Judge
