The trainers of Olympic champion sprinter Donovan Bailey and NBA
star LeBron James are helping China's Olympic coaches develop
better biomotor training programs for their athletes.
China's top sportsmen and women will soon embark on extensive
biomotor training in a bid for better performances at the Beijing
2008 Olympic Games.
Biomotor skills include strength, speed, endurance, flexibility
and agility and tailor-made training programs are being developed
for Chinese Olympians. For example, if an athlete needs extra
power, a biomotor training program will work to improve his or her
strength and speed to achieve the best result.
China's top coaches were hopeful the biomotor training plan
would improve performances, however there were major
challenges.
"In term of biomotor ability training, our athletes have a lot
to catch up with the leading international standard," said Jiang
Xiuyun, deputy director of the administrative centre for handball,
field hockey, baseball and softball.
Jiang was speaking this week at the launch ceremony of the "Hall
of Coaches", a training camp organized by Nike.
"Without enough biomotor ability, the technical skills look
pale."
Jiang has noticed the significance of biomotor ability while
guiding the four national teams based at her centre.
All the four teams have made remarkable progress in recent
years, in particular the field hockey and softball teams, both
ranking among the world's top five.
However, biomotor abilities have become a problem when the
Chinese teams face medal-level rivals, resulting in losses on big
occasions, such as the Olympic Games and World Championships.
"If we want to achieve outstanding results in 2008 Beijing Games
in these four games, making a breakthrough in biomotor ability
training is the key," Jiang said.
Thanks to "Hall of Coaches", the centre invited two veteran
trainers from America-based sports training company SPARQ to
conduct a clinic for biomotor training for Chinese coaches.
The two coaches, Dan Pfaff and Matt James are very experienced
at helping professional athletes including Olympic champion
sprinter Donovan Bailey and NBA stars LeBron James and Carmelo
Anthony.
They are sharing their knowledge on biomotor training with more
than 180 coaches over two and a half days. "I hope we can help to
implement biomotor training into Chinese program," said James.
Since the launch of "Nike Hall of Coaches" program in 2004, Nike
has invited many famous sportsmen and coaches to China including
short-distance runner and Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson,
"King of backstroke" Aaron Peirsol, middle and long-distance runner
Bernard Lagat, legendary tennis coach Brad Gilbert and Jarinn
Akana, assistance coach of Denver Nuggets basketball team.
(China Daily September 20, 2006)