Local athlete attends national training camp

A LOCAL athlete has been recognised in a recent National camp for junior athletes that is sponsored by national group Coles.

The 2023 Coles Little Athletics National Camp was held at the Gold Coast Performance Centre, Runaway Bay on Sunday 1st October through to Wednesday 4th October 2023.

This high performance camp hosted by Coles Little Athletics Australia presented a rare opportunity for the best of Australia’s athletes born in 2009 to train and receive mentorship from Olympians and top Australian track and field coaches.

Local Antigua athlete Hayleigh Kennedy from Burrum District Little Athletics Centre was amongst this elite group. Hayleigh had received an invitation to the camp when reaching the qualifying standards through her outstanding performances in the Women’s Multi-Class Discus Throw event at the 2023 Little Athletics Queensland State Championships and 2023 Coles Australian Little Athletics Championship events.

Hayleigh achieved her goals of attending the National Camp to “meet new people, learn new discus techniques like how to hold the discus properly and learn to do the discus spin”. 

She received specialised coaching from veteran coach Grahame Pitt, who previously coached current Australian Male Discus Throw record holder Matthew Denny. 

Hayleigh also participated in the many workshops, recovery sessions, social activities and elite athlete presentations offered at the high-performance camp.

Her favorites being Strength and Conditioning, Pilates, Water Immersion Recovery and Nutrition, saying these sessions were “good fun and I learnt a lot of things I never knew before”.

Olympic Gold Medalist Glynis Nunn OAM who is the driving force behind the camp since it began 11 years ago says “I am always very pleased to be able to contribute to the development of up and coming Little Athletes and look forward to meeting them at the camp.

Nothing gives me more pleasure than to see Little Athletes performing at the best and enjoying themselves at the same time.”

For more information about the 2023 Coles Little Athletics National Camp visit www.littleathletics.com.au