GILLINGS STARTING OUT ON OLYMPIC TRAIL

by James Skitt - 27.10.08

As the nation cheered Britain’s outstanding achievements in Beijing this summer, Zoe Gillings, the country’s number one snowboarder, was stepping up her bid for Winter Olympic Gold with a summer of intense training at the English Institute of Sport (EIS) in Bath.

Gold in 2010 would make Gillings, currently ranked 4th in the world, the first British Olympic Gold medallist in over a quarter of a century at the Winter Games, and with the 2008/09 season an Olympic qualifying year, preparation is already well under way for Vancouver in 16 months time.

The 23 year-old from the Isle of Man, whose British training base is at the south west venue, spent the summer working on an elite training programme with the new British Snowboardcross coach Markus Trickl and the support of the EIS.

As well as utilising physiotherapy -for injury prevention -, psychology and nutrition services, she also placed a large focus on improving her start gate times with the help of EIS strength and conditioning coach Liz Sinton.

“Zoe’s S&C programme has predominantly focussed on improving physical qualities related to start performance. Reaction time, strength and power specific to the start gate are the areas providing most benefit in supporting performance.” she says.

Crucial in any race, Gillings wanted to improve her starts and, thanks to Manx Sports Aid funding and her father Robert’s building skills, a start gate was erected at the Sports Training Village in Bath to help her do just that.

 “Our aim was not only to improve on her previous best times but to add consistency to her performance” explained Sinton.

“We set targets for each session, both personal bests and a target average for a set number of runs, looking specifically at her consistency.”

As well as working closely alongside her coach to monitor training volumes and intensity, Sinton also collaborated with EIS Psychologist Deirdre Angella to aid in preparing Gillings for the start gate dropping.

“Zoe works with Deirdre Angella focussing on many aspects of her performance; one cue that immediately improved performance was to ensure she added pre activation into her start routine. This then meant her muscles were recruited and ready to go when the gate drops” Sinton explained. “We then focused on her reaction time and power through the gate, setting up timing gates so that we could monitor her overall performance”

And Sinton, who sees Gillings on a daily basis during her stints in Bath, has been hugely impressed by the gains in start performance she has made.

“I was very impressed with her improvement and it was extremely useful to have her coach there to pick up on any technical aspects and educate me on what areas technically Zoe needs to develop” she says.

As for Gillings, she is in no doubt that the hard work has been beneficial. “The training on the gate in Bath over the summer has done wonders for my starts,” she told eis2win.co.uk

“They are way faster and more consistent now than they were 5 months ago.”

Gillings started the new season impressively finishing 4th at a World Cup event in Argentina last month.

“The start gate training really paid off at the world cup in Argentina where my starts were better than they have ever been in a world cup before. I am very grateful to everyone at the EIS for helping with this” she said.

And although she will now be travelling all over the world throughout the season, the support from the EIS doesn’t stop.

“Throughout the season I will be working with her coach to monitor her training volume and ensure that her sessions are scheduled in correctly around her boarding” says Sinton.

“I’ll also be liaising with Zoe and Markus regularly to determine where her fitness levels lie and help them to maintain them as best as possible. Monitoring her progress this way will aid me in determining her training programme for next summer and beyond towards Vancouver” she says.

Photography © Getty Images