Page 22 - QARANC Vol 15 No 1 2017

20 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Defence Medical Group (South East)
Army Medical Services Training Tour
Last year I recently attended the Army
Medical Services (AMS) Athletics Training
Tour in Portugal from 4 – 14 May 2016 to
represent Defence Medical Group South-
East (DMGSE) in 2 field events: javelin and
discus. I was the only nurse and individual
to represent my regiment at Frimley Park
Hospital and was the only individual from the
Defence Medical Group (DMG) to attend the
training and compete in the field events. The
purpose of the tour was for warm weather
training with the intent of competing against
the locals and other athletics teams out at
that time. However, this was proven to be
difficult as the weather was not appropriate
for effective training and made the conditions
difficult; the overall event was later called off
due to thunderstorms. However, this did not
deter the team from training; we adjusted
the programme and still maintained a high
standard of training and motivation at all times. Although we had bad weather everyone trained hard and the morale was always high!
I qualified as a nurse in 2015 and trained at Birmingham City University from 2012 for 3 years doing my BSc Hons Adult Nursing Degree while I was a soldier in the Army and have been a member of DMGSE for the last year. I have always been interested and a keen athlete, since school, so having the opportunity to train and compete within my unit for events like this has been very beneficial. I got into athletics as a teenager and have always been interested in taking it further and becoming more involved within the athletics environment and becoming a competent and successful athlete. Joining the Army has given me opportunities to train at a higher level and compete in competitions that I would not get the chance to if I was not with the service. I had previously competed for DMGSE at unit level in javelin and discus as well as the 5km endurance race and was looking at future competitions, both inter service and further in the AMS, so
when I was told about the upcoming athletics tour I was instantly interested. When the admin instruction was published I applied and was in direct contact with the officer arranging the tour. When looking at the nominal roll I was surprised to find I was the only member of DMGSE attending. The leading officer was very helpful and supportive and he was keen to get new participants involved. My unit was also very supportive by giving me the time off to attend the training despite being very last minute as well as being very keen to have me represent the unit and were more than happy to support me in any training or advice I needed.
When I arrived at the airport it was quite daunting as the individuals there were already part of the AMS team and had been on previous tours together. There was such a variety of participants from all different regiments; however, I soon became a valued member of
the group. The participants were very friendly and interested in me and my regiment. I soon got talking to different individuals and seemed to fit in the team seamlessly and was welcomed by everybody. The squad consisted of all ranks from captain to private, all with such huge talent and experience. Each individual was competent and confident in their specific discipline and was more than happy to help give advice when I asked them.
Each discipline was split into subgroups: long distance running, short distance running and field. Each subgroup trained twice a day, morning and evening, under the direction of the coaches. For the field events we did throwing with specific training in the morning which consisted of working on the technique through repetition and breaking down the movement. This was so we could understand and analyse our current throwing technique and make it more efficient and to a higher standard. The afternoon sessions were strength and conditioning circuits specific to functional training which helped us improve our own overall fitness. Both sessions were very intense and physically demanding but highly beneficial. We had a small group and gelled really well so after a few days when people were feeling burned out we had an amazing support network and it really helped push and motivate each other.
My coach, Lynn Waddell, is the Army Women’s throwing champion, unbeaten in 4 years, which is extremely inspiring and she was very knowledgeable and talented. She knew her discipline through and through and was more than happy to coach me in one to one sessions. She spent hours after the training day to help me with my technique and gave me lots of advice. This boosted my confidence massively and I found that I wanted to show her how I had improved as well as show myself what I was capable of. When training I wanted to see how well I was doing and if I was improving so I asked one of the athletes to record me on day one and then record me on the last few days of the tour. I noticed lots of little changes to my technique that just come naturally now and have