British Triathlon and South Central Academy Update.

Hi All, as you know the Academy Leads & BTFHQ have been having a number of calls, meetings, etc as to what happens next in relation to the Academy.

Below is the official BTF statement issued today 6th Aug: "We recognise that the unprecedented circumstances caused by the Covid-19 situation has affected all athletes, parents, coaches, English Regional Academy leads (RAL) and British Triathlon staff and that everyone’s situation is unique. The England Next Generation (ENG) programme staff and RALs all share a responsibility to athletes and parents during this time and have endeavoured to engage and connect with their athletes throughout the lockdown period. When it is deemed appropriate by those individual ENG staff and RALs, it is hoped face to face activity will recommence, but only when safe to do so and when the need is such.

To provide some clarity, we can confirm the following regarding the English Regional Academies:

The 2019-20 Regional Academy and England Next Generation year is being extended to December 2020. Athletes selected into academies or the ENG programme for this year will remain part of the academy during this period.

There will be no trials for English Regional Academies in September 2020.

As the Covid-19 situation changes nationally and regionally on a daily basis, we cannot currently confirm what academy activities will take place this year with due consideration given to regional variances.

RALs are not obliged to run academy activity during this time. RALs have been encouraged to make decisions based on their personal circumstances first, the need of academy athletes second, thirdly to assess the availability and cost of hiring facilities and finally the appropriateness of holding activity during this pandemic.

The process for inclusion in English Regional Academy and England Next Generation programmes for 2020-21 (planned to run from Jan-Sept 2020) will be published in due course."

So what does that mean for South Central Athletes?

There will still be an application process via BTFHQ where athletes will be asked to submit activity times. As yet this is still being finalised, any link will be posted as soon as we can.

These will be collated & sent out to the Academy Lead, Scott Murray.

For the athletes currently in the Academy there will be 1-2-1 interviews and possible a personal statement. For new athletes coming in they will be asked to complete a personal statement. There will be guidance provided on what the personal statement has to cover.

There are weekend days pencilled in at Sibford School & I am waiting for their response to what has been proposed through the Academy Action Plans & Risk Assessment.

The first weekend will effectively be a re-connecting weekend and then we, as a coaching team, will look at what happens next.

Obviously a lot of the what happens next is subject to change, given the changing COVID situation.

There will be some sort of Academy for 2020-2021; there will be some form of benchmarking assessment & re-assessment; there will be time for skill development. Just that some of the hard detail has yet to be nailed down.

Happy to try to answer any specific Qs on email southcentralacademy@britishtriathlon.org or on a call 07870596873. Scott.