As Head Coach of the Sunshine Coast Tri Academy / Hybrid Concepts Australia I deal with a lot of Athletes on a regular basis, predominately Junior athletes. The biggest problem I see is poor core and hip stability. Why is that?

One of the main reason is growth spurts especially with taller athletes that are yet to grow into their bodies and general tightness from growing to quick or not enough pre and post stretching and activations.

As for adult athletes it can be a number of factors from previous injuries from other sports, years of inactivity, occupation or just not been taught how to use the core and hip stabilisers.

Every week the SCTA athletes have the perfect environment at Intune Sports and Health where we have access to High Performance Facilities right here on the Sunshine Coast run by Brodie Gardner (An SCTA athlete and Pro Athlete himself). With the help of Brodie we have developed a program to help with strengthening the Core and Hip stabilisers, which in turn is making the athletes stronger and less prone to injuries.

Building a foundation for the future especially amongst junior athletes, is vital so we can over time increase the workload without injuries. At the recent Australian Junior Series race on the Gold Coast I saw junior athletes with moon boots, athletes on crutches. This shouldn't be happening to any junior athlete. The pressure of results over building a foundation. Always time for results but getting the skills, development and foundations right, is paramount and then the results will follow.

I know this all to well as I have had problems with a calf. Mostly it comes from standing on pool deck and sitting a chair while conducting my normal business as Head Coach at SCTA. After seeing Brodie we identified the problem and have been working on it for the past 6 months. For the first time in 4 years I have had no problem with my calf. The body is balancing itself out and the Gluets and hip stabilisers are working. See you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Make sure you add some core and hip stabilisers exercises into your weekly routine.

First Race of the 2016 saw Sunshine Coast triathlon Academy / Hybrid Concepts Australia Athletes in action at Australian Junior Series Race # 2 and Queensland Triathlon Series Race # 5 which incorporated the Australian Sprint Distance Championships all at Robina over the weekend.

With warm temperatures both days, racing was hard and fast. Firstly to Australian Juniors Series race # 2 on the Saturday. Under the ITU Draft legal format we saw the SCTA / HCAUS juniors, including the scholarship holders, compete on a very flat bike course with a U-Turn at each end. Junior Males topped the field at 72 athletes, Junior Female 45, Youth Male 30 and Youth Female, racing against the best Junior Athletes in Australia and New Zealand.

A lot of experience was taken out of this race for all the athletes, with most of them relatively new to the 16-19 ITU Age category. There were plenty of mistakes but there were plenty of positives to take out as well. Well done SCTA Juniors

On the same afternoon we had the SCTA Juniors race in the Kool Kids over the 100/2/500 format. Finn Barlow continued her dominance of the 7-9 Years female taking out another win, while Jemma Hynes took out 3rd place in same category. It was an awesome result for Jemma as she had spent the Friday arvo/ night throwing up so just getting got the start line was a massive achievement. The Nixon Brothers, Josh and Matt, continued their consistent racing with a 6th and 5th, while Paige Hynes rounded out the top 10 in the 7-9 years with a 10th place. Scott Marsh, Jake Hammond and Pipi Barlow all had improved races. Nice work SCTA Kool Kids

Sunday saw the National Sprint Distance Titles up for grabs in each category, except for 14-15 years and Athenas. Both Jake Hynes and Romy Wolstencroft took out the National Sprint Title in the 16-19 years Male and Female. It was a great result after backing up from the Saturday's racing. Jake was 5th overall and Romy was 6th Female overall. Angie Hammond had another great race to take out 2nd in the big girls category, The Athena's. Also doubling up from Saturdays racing was Taj Jones (14-15) and Savannah Wayner (16-19) who both took out 5th with Paris Shield (14-15) 6th and Lachlan Sinclair (14-15) rounding out 10th place. well done to all that raced

A massive thanks to Sue Fairweather-Brown for once again donating her time as a technical official over the 2 days of racing. Always enthusiastic and supportive to all of the athletes and more so with the SCTA crew. You are a legend Sue.

Queensland Triathlon Series Race # 5 - Doubling as National Sprint Championships - Robina - 10.01.15 - 750/20/5
Jake Hynes - 1st 16-19 Years Male - National Champion
Romy wolstencroft - 1st 16-19 Years Female - National Champion
Angie Hammond - 2nd Athenas
Taj Jones - 5th 16-19 Years Male
Savannah Wayner - 5th 16-19 Years Female
Paris Shield - 6th 14-15 Years Female
Lachlan Sinclair - 10th 14-15 Years Male
Claudio Cellie - 15th 14-15 Years Male
Zsolt Dallos - 17th 35-39 Years Male 
Drew Westbrook - 23rd 40-44 Years Male

Enticer - 300/10/2.5
Ryan Marsh - 25th U/14 Male

Kool Kids - 100/2/500
Finn Barlow - 1st 7-9 Years Female
Jemma Hynes - 3rd 7-9 Years Female
Matthew Nixon - 5th 7-9 Years Male
Joshua Nixon - 6th 10-11 Years Male
Paige Hynes - 10th 7-9 Years Female
Pipi Barlow - 13th 7-9 Years Female
Jake Hammond - 15th 7-9 Years Male
Scott Marsh - 20th 10-11 Years Male

Australian Junior Series Race # 2 - Robina - 09.01.15
ITU Junior Male - 750/18.1/5
Jake Hynes - 37th
Taj Jones - 48th
ITU Junior Female - 750/18.1/5
Romy Wolstencroft - 15th
Savannah Wayner - 31st
Jessica Corliss - 43rd
ITU Youth Male - 400/14.1/3.3
Charles Liebenberg - 17th
Ryan Marsh - 29th
ITU Youth Female - 400/14.1/3.3
Kaya Shults - 16th