[Athletics] Coaching expertise is the key for Maltese Athletics

Thanks in part to support from the European Athletic Association, athletes from Malta have been enjoying increased success. The key, according to Malta Amateur Athletic Association President Tony Chircop, has been a long-term project to improve the quality of coaching in the island nation.

“Over the last 15 years we have provided training to more than 70 coaches and we hosted the 2003 European Athletics Coaches Association Congress,” explains Chircop. “In 2004 we decided to make another step and, with the help of a grant from the EAA Development Support Programme, we began a process to reorganise and revitalise the association’s coaching structure”.

The MAAA project has led to the creation of new positions known as “Event Coaches”, splitting the role of the single national coaching co-ordinator that the association had in the past. The new structure is designed to ensure greater availability of specialist coaching.

“As a result of our work, our coaches are more competent and we have seen significant improvements in performance levels,” he says. We have had a number of new national records and our athletes brought home 18 medals from this year’s Games of the Small States of Europe in Andorra.”

The role of an Event Coach includes working with the county’s top athletes in a specific event or event group and advising local coaches and their athletes. Qualified Maltese coaches are being selected for the Event Coach positions and given a small monthly allowance to support their work. To date, two Event Coaches have been appointed: one for sprints and hurdles and one for endurance events.

“Since we began the programme our athletes, coaches and club administrators are all more professional about preparation than before,” says Chircop.

The Chair of the EAA Development Committee Janez Aljancic has been watching the project in Malta with interest. “Although still in its infancy, the scheme seems to be working well and we are monitoring it closely to see if there are lessons for other countries,” he said.

In addition to developing the national structure, the MAAA project includes visits by international coaching experts to mentor the Event Coaches and help them develop the leading Maltese athletes.

One such expert is Hungarian Gergely Kulcsar. After hosting the 2004 European Cup Winter Throwing, the MAAA found that the popularity of the throwing events had increased but there was no qualified local coach to support the athletes. So Kulcsar was drafted in and has since made a number of visits to Malta.

Kulcsar’s chief role has been to help develop Maltese throwers and so far, he’s pleased with what has been achieved. “Those athletes who are willing to work hard have improved,” he says, “they’re better now than they were a year ago and that is down to the hard training.”

The results show that Kulscar’s work is bearing fruit. Jean Paul Callus has raised the national record in the javelin to over 60m and he won a bronze medal in Andorra.

But Kulscar knows that a permanently available coach for the throwing events is critical and his longer term objective is to work with local coaches to improve their skills. “The current situation isn’t ideal,” he says. “To bring about significant improvements you have to be with the athletes every day to see how they are training. When I’m here, I try to focus on their technique as much as possible and do the best that I can.”

Another top coach to visit Malta recently is Briton Mike McFarlane. The brief of the former world class performer who now coaches a number of leading athletes was to build on the progress made by the country’s top sprinters under Event Coach Leandros Calleja by assisting with the preparation of the national relay teams.

Following McFarlane’s trip, the men’s and the women’s 4x100m relays have each lowered their national records twice and at Small States Games in Andorra the men beat the highly rated Cypriot team to take the gold medal.

Acknowledging that McFarlane’s input gave the men’s squad a crucial edge, national 100m record holder Darren Gilford said: “His visit helped everyone, you cannot but learn from someone like him.”

With a population of just 400,000, Malta’s success in athletics will always depend on good organisation and outside expertise but, as MAAA President, Chircop is also proud to credit the
local support he has received.

“The EAA’s grant and recognition of our coaching project enabled us to attract additional funding from the Malta Olympic Committee and a local sponsor (sports goods distributor Michel Peresso Ltd.),” he explains.

“With everyone’s help, we have been able to invest significant funds in our coaching,” Chircop says, “and therein, I am sure, lays the key to our recent success.”

This article was featured on the website of the European Athletics Association on the 21st of December 2005.