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In view of growing concern on various development issues of young athletes induced by the fact that more and more young athletes are achieving outstanding results at major international sports competitions, the theme of "Young Elite Athletes Development" was chosen for this year’s 20^th Hongkong Bank Foundation Elite Coaches Seminar.   The seminar, coordinated by the Wuhan Sports University this year, was held on 27 and 28 October in Wuhan, China and has successfully attracted around 100 coaches from Hong Kong, China and overseas to attend.

A total of six speakers of sports medicine and science, management experts, coaches and sports related professionals from mainland China, Hong Kong, the USA and UK and gave their presentations on topics in relations to "Young Elite Athletes Development" during the two-day Seminar.  The opening ceremony was officiated by Professor Frank Fu MH JP, Chairman of the Hong Kong Coaching Committee and Ms Yin Feifei, Deputy Director General of All-China Sports Federation Science and Education Department.

Professor Fu expressed at the opening ceremony, “I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the All-China Sports Federation for their long-term and full support which enables us to organise the Seminar in Wuhan and it provides an invaluable chance to strengthen the exchange of idea and experience between coaches in Hong Kong and mainland China.   I am sure coaches will benefit a lot from the sharing and discussion of the two-day Seminar.”

Ms Yin Feifei highly praised the annual Elite Coaches Seminar and said, “The Seminar provides a good platform for exchanges and cooperation in training between coaches from Hong Kong and mainland China.   The topics and contents discussed at the Seminar are useful and practical, which fit in well with the needs of coaches.  I believe that the coaches can be benefited and thus help improve their coaching standard.”

Professor Feng Meiyun, Former Deputy Director, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports and Former Head, Beijing Institute of Sports Science, spoke on the topic “Nutrition from Elite Young Athletes in China”.  She shared with the audience the physical and psychological challenges that young athletes would encounter during trainings and competitions, which would likely exhaust them to their physiological limit.  A good monitoring on athletes’ diet and nutrition intake could help improve the situation.  In fact, the stipulation of an individualised nutrition plan for athletes is one of the best ways to ensure effective training and sporting results at competitions.

Dr Patrick Yung, Honorary Secretary, Asia-Pacific Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine and Past President, Hong Kong Orthopaedic Association - Sports Medicine Chapter, is well experienced in the handling of musculoskeletal injuries.  He spoke at the Seminar on the topic of “Musculoskeletal Injuries of Young Athletes” and athlete performance.

Being the Sports Psychologist at the Hong Kong Sports Institute, Dr Si Gangyan has been supporting Hong Kong elite athletes for more than 10 years.   He is the Secretary General of International Society of Sport Psychology and also the expert for previous several Olympic Games appointed by the General Administration of Sport of China.  Based on the topic of “Psychological Characteristics of Young Elite Athletes and Implications”, he indicated that the characteristic of sports trainings and competitions is all about adaptation which is to change oneself according to surrounding environment in order to be able to develop and live better.   He explained how to build up sports-specific adaptation and social adaptation to achieve excellent performance in a sustainable way.

With the topic of “Youth Talent Identification of the US Track & Field Athletes”, Dr Matt Lydum, USA Track & Field National Youth Teams Coach and Youth Talent Identification Specialist, reviewed on the research of talent identification, explained the role of the US national coaching education programmes in the process of identification and preparation of elite athletes and national team selection procedures.  The presentation was concluded with a discussion on implications for nurturing talent with methods that are developmentally appropriate from physical, psychological and social perspectives.

In the presentation of “Child Protection in Elite Athletes Training” by Mr Nick Slinn, Senior Consultant, Child Protection in Sport Unit, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children of England, he shared the experience of development and implementation of a protective culture for young athlete in England as well as how to develop the system for child protection internationally.

The last presenter at the Seminar was Mr Lu Shanzhen, Head Coach, Chinese National Gymnastics Women’s Team, China.   He had trained up a number of world championship winners and Olympic gold medallists such as Liu Xuan, Cheng Fei, Kui Yuanyuan and Zhang Nan.   He shared his experience and the challenges in training the young athletes in China.

Besides attending the Seminar, Hong Kong coaches also paid visits to Gymnastics Pavilion, Swimming Pavilion, Diving Pavilion and the Indoor Athletic Field of the Hubei Olympic Sports Centre in addition to some local tour spots.

The Elite Coaches Seminar is part of the Hong Kong Coach Education Programme (HKCEP).   It is jointly organised by the HKCC and the All-China Sports Federation with the funding from the Hongkong Bank Foundation.   The annual Seminar aims to provide a platform for overseas and mainland China experts as well as local coaching professionals to exchange ideas in sports coaching.   HKCEP has been funded by the HBF with a total commitment of more than HK$26 million since 1992.  Throughout the years, over 80,000 coaches have benefited from the training and recognition programmes of the HKCEP.