ITU
SOLIDARITY PLAN:2002 AND BEYOND
At
the recent ITU Executive Board meeting in Cancun,
Mexico, the following proposal from Libby Burrell,
ITU Executive Board Liaison to the Solidarity Commission
was approved:
Since
1995, ITU has enjoyed the generous support of Olympic
Solidarity by way of an annual grant of $30,000us.
In the past ITU has used this money to host training
camps for young, talented athletes from national federations
who do not have a great deal of funds to support athlete
development. The annual camps have been held in: Cancun,
Mexico (1995), Madras, India (1996), Perth, Australia
(1997), Lausanne, Switzerland (1998), Kona, Hawaii
(1999) Puerto Rico (2000) and Edmonton (2001), and
funding has gone to athlete travel, accommodations,
food and coaches honorarium.
The
revision to the plan of hosting one annual Solidarity
Camp is intended to foster long-term development and
advancement of talent and the support of identified
athletes with a view to participation at an Olympic
level. The success of such a programme must be evaluated
in terms of the development pipeline potential and
the eventual medal winning performances from with
this group of identified athletes.
4
Phase Plan: The 4 Phase Plan involves holding
an International Camp event 2 years with Regional
Camps in each alternate year.
Identified
Talent from the International Camp must be fed into
a scholarship programme where possible. Possible centres
of Excellence must be sourced to provide the necessary
training and sport science expertise to support these
athletes. This model also provides development opportunities
for coaches from each of the regions.
The
phases include:
Phase I (2001): International Camp with a representative
coach from each region in attendance.
Phase
II (2002): Regional Solidarity Camp with coach
who attended the International Camp from the previous
year to preside over the camp.
Phase
III (2003): International Camp with athletes identified
from regional camps (6 from each region).
Phase
IV (2004): Scholarship programme to provide specialised
support to identified talent from International Camp
of previous year.
Outline
of Regional Camp:
· Objective to be determined by specific needs
of the region
· $6000 allocated to each region in regional
camps (5 x $6000 = $30,000)
· Regional Development Coach to coordinate
· Must include athletes from at least 5 countries
within the region.
· Programme outline submitted to release funds
· Programme reports to be submitted to Congress
(ITU Solidarity Commission) and on the basis of this
funding allocations will be made the following year.
· Names submitted for the camp of the following
year.
· Scholarship candidates to be referenced.
· ITU to approve all coaching staff for Regional
camps.
· Balance of men and women in attendance
· 30 athletes world-wide maximum
· Ages: 16-23 years (16-19 sprint), (17-23
Olympic distance)
Outline
of International Camps:
· Clearly defined objectives: to produce Olympians
from developing countries
· $30,000 USD budget currently
· 30 athletes maximum
· Ages: 16-23 years (16-19 sprint), (17-23
Olympic distance)
· Well organised camp plan with a view to advanced
level performance and coaching
· Not to be held at the same time as
World Championships
· Hand pick coaches and sport science support
group
· Screen all applicants from regional nominations
based on Regional camp reports and race results.
