Letter from The Editor

The main focus of the first bulletin of 2009 is how coaches can make a difference in an athletes’ life.  First, an article on talent selection focuses on how scientific methods will help beyond the more general competition-ranking based method. This will look at how athletes will last longer in their career without risking their physical condition.  This leads us to how to treat for hamstring strain and creating better sprint acceleration. As we all know, hamstring muscle strains are common in athletics, especially in the sprints and jumping events, and often cause extend­ed absences from training and competi­tion. In addition a common problem identified by coaches is the ability of the sprinter to make smooth transitions from one phase of the sprint to the next.

Both, would need close involvement of coaches. Authors Carl Askling and Alf Thorstensson and Ralph Mochbahani provided options on how to deal with the issues.  

This edition also highlights one of the success in creating an engaging and participatory based program. The idea was a multi-sensory experience called the Athletics SPARK during the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships in which the jury of the 2008 European Athletics Innovation Awards selected the project as the winner of its Promotion Category.  We believe that such program can be adopted to raise awareness and interest of athletic.

You will also be glad to see the return of activities of member countries, whether in 2008 or upcoming 2009 events.  India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka share their performance and highlights of events.

See you again soon.