The Bahrain Olympic Academy of the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) organised a pair of symposiums on sports on Wednesday at its premises in Juffair with representatives of national sports federations in attendance.
Speaking at the opening symposium on “sports competitions planning”, world renowned coaching educator and applied sport scientist Istvan Balyi emphasised ways of bringing up plans and programmes within national sports federations.
The Canadian, who is acknowledged worldwide as the expert in long-term athlete development and the periodisation of training plans, noted the importance of competitions calendar in boosting the athletes levels.
He also stressed the significance of taking appropriate breaks to achieve the desired development of athletes, in addition to setting up an appropriate number of matches in order to contribute to the development of their capabilities.
“The competition system could either develop or decrease the athletes’ abilities,” said Balyi, who referred to the British Tennis Association expertise, which injected nearly 80 million pounds in 30 years to develop the game, and that only two players are in the top 20 of the world’s best players and the reason is the competition system.
“In tennis, a 12-year-old player must play nearly 200 games a year. He has the experience and the ability.”