adminCollin Matiza Sports Editor
ONE of Zimbabwe’s top track and field coaches, Stanley “Fresh” Madiri is now a revered coach in England where he has been invited to speak at two major athletics conferences this weekend.
Madiri will be one of the keynote speakers at the 2014 Northern Coaching Conference in Manchester and Birmingham today and tomorrow at the invitation of England Athletics.
This follows silver and gold performances at major international track and field competitions by the British athletes he works with.
The gold-winning Great Britain women’s relay team at this year’s European Athletics Championships had three athletes who passed through his stable at Speed Dynamiks – Asha Phillip, Jodie Williams and Desiree Henry.
During today and tomorrow’s Northern Coaching Conference, where he will be joined by a host of top British athletics coaches, Madiri will speak about speed under the theme:“Running Fast and Efficient”.
Speaking from his base in London yesterday, Madiri said this workshop will look at the most recent developments in running mechanics.
“It will establish the key principles for running fast essentially for max velocity mechanics but some consideration to the acceleration phase of running will be considered too. It will cover sprint drills and make them relevant to quick running.
“The practical will look at the more common issues athletes have and will offer coaching cues to fix them.”
Madiri is now rated as one of the best coaches in England after having helped a number of British athletes to scale greater heights on the track under his consultancy at Speed Dynamiks, an athletics club based at the High Performance Centre called Lee Valley in North London.
The 48-year-old Zimbabwean coach has been coaching in England for the past 12 years and Williams, a European silver medallist in 200m and won gold with the relay team at the European Athletics Championships this year, recently described Madiri as one of the best coaches she has ever worked with.
The former world junior double gold 100 and 200m said Madiri has a unique approach to his coaching skills.
“Stan has a rather unique approach to sprinting compared to other coaches in England and the UK. I have him to thank for my efficient running style and most of my achievements in my career so far!
“From a very young age he instilled in me the importance of muscle memory and technique efficiency, unlike other coaches who had their young athletes running long runs and high volume reps Stan had me focus almost solely on my drills.
“Thanks to this I now have a very efficient technique which saves me a lot of energy towards the end of my runs which is why you will see me power through the field towards the end of a race, many people think this is due to my strength, however, a lot of the reason is because I hold my form better than the other athletes.
“This is something we worked on massively.”
Williams said Madiri used to get her body into a state of fatigue through drills then make her focus on holding onto correct technique whilst in this state.
“He always helped me understand the reasoning behind everything he did and this gave me a much better view on what I was doing and enabled me to input directly into my own training.”
Williams came under Madiri’s wings when she was struggling for form and speed.
After a difficult beginning to her senior career following injuries, this season Williams won her first senior medals, representing England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games; won a bronze in the 4×100 metres relay, and a silver in the 200 metres.
Weeks later she repeated the silver medal for 200 metres at the 2014 European Athletics Championships, before winning her first senior gold medal as part of the Great Britain relay team that broke the British record in the 4×100 metres relay, thanks to her Zimbabwean coach Madiri.
Online Reporter