We catch up with three of the coaches who have trained at the UCI World Cycling Centre and are now using their skills to raise the game of athletes in different Asian countries. All three accompanied their national teams to the Asian Cycling Championships in Tokyo in January.
2013 Women’s Coaching Course Assistant coach, Japanese Cycling Federation
Former Olympian Rie Odajima completed the UCI WCC’s first all-women coaching course in 2013. She was at the beginning of a scholarship awarded by the Japanese Olympic Committee which saw her spend two years in Europe to gain coaching experience. Competitor in the mountain bike at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games, the 35-year-old focuses mainly on track in her new role as coach.
On completion of the UCII WCC coaching course she moved further south to work as a volunteer assistant coach for the Monte Tamaro Velo Club in Ticino before moving back to Aigle to spend her last seven months in Europe as an intern with the UCI WCC coaching team.
“On the coaching course I met many coaches who work all over the world. The exchanges we had were valuable."
“During my time as an intern, I learned a lot from the WCC coaches,” she says. “And not just practical training but also the European mentality and philosophy. I think if I had known all that when I was an athlete, I would have done better.”
Back in Japan, Rie Odajima is assistant coach with the Japanese Cycling Federation and also relishes her role helping with communication: “I talk to the riders a lot and understand how I can help them.”
2015 Coaching Diploma course Head Coach, UCI WCC satellite centre, New Delhi
RK Sharma’s determination to see his country’s cyclists succeed saw him give up his job, take a pay cut and work for the national cycling team. Already an International Commissaire, he completed the UCI Coaching Diploma course in 2013.
“I was a cyclist for 10 years in India so I knew what our riders were up against. It was essential to do this course and move in the right direction. There is a lot of knowledge at the UCI and I learned training techniques that were totally different from what we were doing in India. I also got a lot of assistance from other coaches on the course.”
RK Sharma says he has had a great deal of support from the National Federation of India, and has set himself and his team challenging goals: “About 50% of my plans have come to fruition so far. I have a responsibility to my country and to the UCI WCC to live up to their coaching standards. My main target is the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”
The qualified coach is particularly proud of talented athlete Deborah, who at the beginning of March became the country’s first woman cyclist ever to qualify for and compete in the UCI Track Cycling World Championships. She is part of the team based at the newly-opened UCI WCC satellite centre in New Delhi.
“We are making progress and hopefully that will continue in the years to come,” says Sharma.
2015 Coaching Diploma course Head National Coach, Singapore
After completing a Level 1 coaching course in South Korea, Adrian Ng knew he wanted to develop his skills and knowledge further.
“I didn’t want to stop that feed of information. I was already working for the national team but I wanted to learn, take that experience further and see what the differences were with how we were doing things and how things were done at the UCI. We were challenged on the course and that was good. I learned to think more about the athletes’ environment rather than focus constantly only on KPIs.”
Now working with Singapore’s national track team, Adrian Ng is working to make them competitive on the international scene. At the recent Asian Continental Championships in Japan, he explained the difficulties of coaching in a country with no velodrome.
“We have to go to Thailand or elsewhere to train on a track. We have a good relationship with neighbouring countries. Our athletes have done their best (at the Asian Championships) but our big goal is the South East Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) next year.”
The UCI World Cycling Centre’s Coach Development Programme trains coaches in countries across the world. While Level 1 and 2 courses are held by expert coaches in many different countries, the UCI Coaching Diploma course is run exclusively at the UCI headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland. The Coach Development Programme enables coaches to help their national athletes realise their full potential and be competitive internationally.
In a later article we will catch up with some of our UCI WCC-trained coaches working in Africa.