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Friday, March 29, 2024

World-class coach prepares track team

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WORLD-class athletics coach Dan Pfaff believes that he will be able “to plant the seeds” that will be useful in preparing the Philippine athletics team in forthcoming international tournaments, including the Asian Games in Indonesia this August.

Pfaff, a former professor and coach at the World Athletics Center in Arizona USA, is on his third day of the two-week training with 50 national coaches and athletes at the Philsports Complex in Pasig City under the Ayala-Dan Pfaff Advance Coaching Course.

Organized by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association, with the support of the Ayala Corporation, the seminar puts emphasis on scientific studies including psychology, nutrition and biomechanics, moral behavior and sports medicine.

“The goal is to give the coaches and athletes usable information that they can apply right away,” said the 64-year-old Pfaff who has trained 50 Olympians, including British athlete Greg Rutherford, the 2012 London Olympics long jump gold medalist. “We’re planting the seeds to grow crops to continue to be the resource [of future elite athletes].”

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World-class coach Dan Plaff ( third from left ) gives his evaluation of the national coaches that train under the Ayala-Plaff Advance Coaching Course at the Philsports Complex in Pasig City. With him are, from left: Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association secretary-general Reynato Unso, president Dr. Philip Ella Juico and consultant Roshann Griffin.

Pfaff, an expert in sports science, said the mindset should be “how passionate are you, how committed are you to the task. Today the youth has many distractions. So one of the goals here is to change the culture somewhat where track and field becomes an exciting sport and we want students and athletes to get involved in that sport.”

One of his teaching modes is making an audit of the current knowledge of the coaches and he found out that some of the athletes are not even aware of their opponents. 

“Athletes need to know what the best in the world are doing in training. But first, they need to know who they are dealing with, who is the top player in their events,” said Pfaff.

Patafa president Dr. Philip Ella Juico said Pfaff is a perfect choice to impart to the coaches and athletes the “culture of excellence and in building a core of thinking athletes.”

“His (Pfaff) reputation precedes him. We believe he’s most appropriate to prepare us for 2018 Asian Games and we’re looking beyond immediate terms and beyond the Asian Games.”

Juico said the PATAFA is getting its athletes ready for the Asian Juniors Championships, World Championships as well as the Philippine National Games prior to the Asian Games.

“We have our list of athletes for the Asian Games but there are a lot of filtering points before the Asian Games. Our athletes have started training since October and they should maintain their good performance to retain their slot in the team.”

PATAFA secretary-general Reynato Unso commended Pfaff’s seminar that focuses more on scientific studies.  “Dan was able to correct the mistakes and make an improvement.”

Unso said they have already submitted to the Philippine Sports Commission the number of events in the Asian Games and topping the list of candidates to the Asiad team are the medalists in last year’s Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian Games.

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