Page 138 - Mind, Body and Spirit 2015-16

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Lt Col (MAA) T Scarr RAPTC presenting the Association Championship Trophy to the Late Mike Gibson
Inter Corps team
Moving onto Aug and the RAPTC tour to Le Touquet, Northern France. Sixteen RAPTC golfers gathered very early on a Monday morning to travel down to Folkestone to catch the Channel Tunnel. The group consisted of thirteen serving players and three Association members. After arriving at the Channel Tunnel and negotiating our way through the traf c awaiting our train Maj Taylor decided that he didn’t like our queue and that he would brighten up the trip for his passengers by joining another queue which ended up with his minibus demonstrating to the Customs Staff how easy it was to empty and re- pack his minibus! After waiting over an hour for our colleagues to arrive the tour was under way. The tour proved to be a great success with the party playing ve top quality courses across the Le Touquet area.
Over the last 2 years I have been working within ARTD in a busy Phase 2 training establishment,
this in itself presents challenges that I am sure all QMSI’s can identify with. However, I have over this time been lucky enough to work with Army Medical Service (AMS) Alpine Ski Team. It all started with a calling notice for a strength conditioning (S&C) coach from Maj Scott, I applied and had to
WO2 (QMSI) JJ Whiting RAPTC - ARMOUR CENTRE
go to Aldershot and deliver a session with young athletes whilst being questioned on my choices and delivery content. Quite a change from the normal run of Army business, however it only re-enforced my belief that the team was committed to a pathway of S&C and within a few months I was in Holland, Landgraaf home of Europe’s’ biggest indoor slope and a regular summer training camp for all serious Alpine ski-ing teams. The long days meant I was delivering S&C from 0630hrs until 1800hrs in-between the athlete’s ski-ing lessons.
Now two years into the role we are a strong force in the races and are particularly happy to report that this season we have had no injuries, alpine ski-ing has a high risk attached and can in some instances affect a solders’ career. My main role is predominantly injury
AMS, Landgraaf Plyo training
prevention and increasing performance. I start each season with a three day “EX Shut Ups Legs” which always includes lots of squats. We have developed our own bank of athletic assessments which t into our model and focus on movement and power output, a few months later and the team moves to Landgraaf for the two week ski-ing camp, main focus is technical ability on the slopes and a chance for me to see whether they have been following their programmes. The athletes who succeed and get selected to go onto the ski season are those who have potential and have been putting in the gym time.
One of the highlights of Landgraaf is the steps of death located only 100metres away, an ideal opportunity to get into the sun and really get to grips with plyometric and co-ordination training. Although the sessions are all challenging what is most apparent is that the team bonds in the early stages. They all need “team spirit” when they are stood on a glazier in minus degrees with a ski instructor telling them to go back and do better. Morale can be low and performance lowers which then increases the risk of injury. However, the strong more conditioned athletes, in our experience, are the ones who crack on, get the job done and get the medals. The bene ts of a sound S&C programme for the team has proven its worth the time
RAPTC V AGC Team Maj (MAA) Bob Whitaker RAPTC in trouble again
In Dec sad news for RAPTC golf with the passing of Capt (Retd) Mike Gibson. From his twenty ve years’ service in the RAPTC right through to the 2015 season, Mike was a great supporter of RAPTC Golf and a single gure handicap player for many years. Mike will certainly be missed by RAPTC Golf and the happy times on the course will certainly be remembered fondly by many people.
Moving forwards, RAPTC golf is growing from strength to strength with more xtures planned this year and the Festival of Golf Moving to Chester in May. More players are encouraged to come along and join an event. For further details please contact me at stuart.hawkins624@mod.uk
AMS, Landgraaf Plyo training
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING FOR SKIING