giving YOU the
edgeWhen?
Saturday 16 September 2017 9am – 5pm
Where?
At the John Thorpe Centre Lecture Theatre, Northampton, NN3 7QL
Hot Off The Press NEWS!
We are delighted to welcome Josh Brown, 2016 British Junior Men’s Figure Skating Champion of CBBC TVs “Ice Stars” fame to our line up. Josh will be coming along to give a keynote address talking from an athlete’s perspective.
Josh is 17 years old and has been competing internationally for Great Britain for over 7 years. During his career to date he has represented GB at the Junior World Figure Skating Championships and European Youth Olympic Games. He has won two national titles at the Junior and Advanced Novice level and is now competing internationally as a Senior athlete as well. Over the last three years he has also been a part of the award winning and highly popular CBBC TV show “Ice Stars”, which followed a group of skaters from Nottingham, UK, and the ups and downs of their day to day lives in the world of skating.
Josh will be talking about how even young athletes, in any sport, can benefit from investing time and resources into areas other than just physical training, equipment and technique and how this can help focus on delivering results when it matters, not just in sport but school and other aspects of life.
Why is this Seminar for you?
You…
- Are a busy sports coach working hard to help your athletes perform at their best
- Have heard about all kinds of new sports science techniques but rarely get the chance to find out more about them, let alone apply them
- Think the latest techniques are for “elite” performers and don’t really apply at the grass roots level of coaching
- Don’t have time to do this or that course to learn even more techniques
- Wish your athletes’ parents could know a bit more about what the route to the top involves
- Are doing the best you can in the circumstances, getting reasonable results but wish your athletes could just progress a little bit more…
How would it be if you could…
- Get your athletes listening more attentively and actually doing what you say? No, really – exactly as you want them to!
- Lose less downtime to injuries by managing them more effectively?
- Know exactly how to taper your training to ensure your athletes were right at peak performance for important competitions or matches?
- Understand the difference between overtraining and overreaching?
- Teach your athletes the number one secret to being at peak readiness with THE most effective warm up techniques?
Well, now you can!
We are Elizabeth Ryan and Bob Allen, of Coaching at the Cutting Edge…
Elizabeth Ryan coaches young athletes in mindset skills, motivation and confidence to enable them to perform at their best. She works with young athletes from a variety of sports including swimming, squash, tennis, gymnastics and figure skating, including the 2016 British Men’s Junior Figure Skating Champion, and has presented at the National Ice Skating Association’s Annual Coaches’ Convention. A Master Practitioner of NLP, Elizabeth often works with the language of negative self-talk, getting athletes first to notice and then change how they talk to themselves. Some of the negative beliefs holding her young clients back, had also resulted from the language other people used around them – well-meaning, but unwittingly damaging, comments from coaches, parents and friends. Elizabeth strives to bring the message to parents and coaches that a small amount of attention paid to their approach to the athlete can have a hugely positive effect on the motivation, training and ultimately competitive results of their athlete.

Elizabeth Ryan, Founder, Ice Cool Confidence

Bob Allen, Principal Osteopath & Owner, Sollus Healthcare
Bob Allen is an osteopath and sports massage therapist with a special interest in the treatment of sports injuries particularly in young athletes. He has treated athletes of all ages and levels of ability including world champions from a wide range of sports including powerlifting, triathlon, swimming, and cricket. Bob noticed increasing numbers of athletes specialising in a single sport were having problems related to a demanding training schedule with 3 or 4 sessions per week and sometimes more. His preferred approach is to treat all of the factors that cause an injury, focusing on resolving the problem, not just treating the symptoms, and to explain the causes of their injury, how to manage it and how to prevent it reoccurring. Bob also takes time to speak to coaches and parents in the hope of reducing the number of training-related injuries and to provide practical advice on how to manage an injury if it does occur.
Together, we quickly recognised that we have the same passionate drive to change and improve things for young athletes who are training hard, but struggling to progress as quickly as they would like because they need more.
Access to a full support team with physios, massage therapists, nutritionists, strength and conditioning coaches and help with sports mindset, tends to be provided only once an athlete reaches the elite level. It seemed so obvious to us that by filling this gap in some way for all competitive athletes, the struggle would be lessened, motivation levels would rise and progress would be greater, faster and safer.
Ongoing research, aimed at improving sports performance, means coaching techniques are constantly evolving with current ideas regularly being updated or replaced. But we understand that coaches are busy people who don’t always have the time to keep up to date with the latest coaching ideas. Just as parents often don’t have access to, or a full understanding of, the science behind their child’s sport.
So we set about organising this conference to address just that.
Our aim is to bring you the latest sport science, delivered in an easy to understand way with practical ideas that you can take away and immediately apply with your athletes, at your clubs. Through Coaching at the Cutting Edge.
Some of the topics which will be covered include:
- Mindset for motivation, confidence and better results – the impact of your language on your athletes’ success
- Prevention and management of injury
- Simple yet effective ways of managing workload to optimise performance and reduce injury risk
- Overtraining and overreaching
- Post Activation Potentiation – optimising performance in the 20 minutes before competition
- Footwear characteristics, implications and considerations for injury
Standard tickets £65
Group discounts available (10 or more tickets);
Take a look at some of the expert speakers who will be presenting on the day

Tim Silvester
Personal Trainer, Strength & Conditioning
Tim has over 30 years’ experience as a gym instructor, gym user, athlete, gym manager, Personal Trainer and Strength & Conditioning coach working in a high performance environment with the Scottish Netball Team, Scotland Women’s Football Team and several Paralympic athletes.
Over the last 7 years Tim has provided Strength & Conditioning to figure skaters from beginners aged 8 all the way through to seniors. As an add on to this he was invited to present at the annual Coaches Conference for 2 years in a row, had input into the High Performance Programme and delivered workshops and classes at various camps and GB training days across the UK.
Tim will present on overtraining and overreaching, looking at some of the research and why it is so hard to identify and diagnose. He will also look at ways of minimising the known effects of overtraining, suggested measures for reducing its occurrence and the need to increase the athlete’s self-awareness.

Chris Lorkin
Head Strength & Conditioning Coach, Northamptonshire County Cricket Club
Chris is currently working at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club as Head Strength & Conditioning Coach, having previously worked in similar roles in professional football at Aston Villa & Norwich City. His role consists of using various methods to optimise performance and reduce injury risk for the professional playing staff at NCCC. This includes making sure the athletes are prepared and at their peak for competition at various stages of the season. He is accredited through the UK Strength & Conditioning Association as well with the National Strength and Conditioning Association from the United States.
Chris will be presenting on simple yet effective ways of managing workload to optimise performance and reduce injury risk. Showing how he manages the workload of his athletes to prepare them for competition so that they are in peak physical condition at the right time. He will provide practical examples and take home messages for attendees to implement in their own coaching.

Daniel Waddingham
Athletic Development Lead (Swimming), Millfield School
Daniel has worked as a professional Strength and Conditioning Coach working in multi-disciplinary high performance teams for a variety of sports and athletes competing at European and World level. Currently the Athletic Development Lead for Swimming at Millfield School, his experience includes working in a consultancy role with Swim England on a number of international competitions, four years at Plymouth College working with international swimmers, fencers and modern pentathletes and Head of Strength and Conditioning for Basketball Wales. Recently graduated from St Mary’s University, Twickenham his current research into post activation potentiation has provided athletes and coaches with practical recommendations to implement during race day timelines. He is passionate about the implementation of pre-conditioning strategies to enhance performance on competition days.
Daniel will be presenting on practical solutions to optimise performance by maintaining muscle temperature and increasing muscle activation in the final 20 minutes of preparation before competition. Commonly used for international athletes, the strategy can be adapted for the wider population of competitive athletes. Known as ‘Post Activation Potentiation’ this method addresses the challenges arising from long recovery periods between warm up and competition.

Connor Ratcliffe
Graduate Podiatrist, Clinical Educator & Associate Lecturer, University of Northampton; Owner, The Running Shop Northampton
Connor graduated in Podiatry from the University of Northampton in 2012. His specialist interest is in sports podiatry and biomechanics. Since graduating he has worked for the University of Northampton as a graduate podiatrist, a clinical educator and associate lecturer. He has also been involved with various privately funded research projects, one of which has been published. Alongside this work, he practises privately from the Back and Body Clinic, and is also the owner of the Running Shop Northampton since 2015. His interest in podiatry and biomechanics began in his teens when he competed at a county and national level on the track and for cross country.
The talk will provide an overview of different footwear types from various sports, the different characteristics required for different activities, fit considerations in different footwear, pros and cons of different footwear construction, and the potential implications for performance gains and injury.
Places are limited due to the size of the venue, so we are expecting to sell out quickly and advise you to book up as soon as possible. Tickets are provided by One Stage Productions Ltd Box Office. There is no booking fee.
Standard tickets £65