World Triathlon

Belize became the latest country to host an International Triathlon Union Level 1 Coaching Course when participants from four different countries came to Belize City last week to take part.

The Belize National Triathlon Association hosted the course, with support coming from the Pan American Triathlon Confederation (PATCO) and the ITU.

Giovanni Alamilla, President of the Belize National Triathlon Association, arranged for the course to be held at the Radisson Fort George Hotel and Marina. The comfortable environment made learning easier, with a pool, ocean and park readily available for practical sessions.

Participants learned about triathlon history, basic physiology, coaching and communication techniques, nutrition, sports psychology, training program planning, coaching ethics, swimming, transition, cycling and running theory all with practical application sessions to create an active learning environment.

The course is designed to help participants learn new information and the techniques to teach triathlon sport information to others, with a heavy emphasis on learning retention.

Participants from Belize included Aesha Garel, Giovanni Alamilla, Jamie Usher and Peter Castillo. Maria Shakira Gooding and Quanah Patino traveled from Trinidad. Felix Molina came from Mexico and Brett Petersen traveled from the USA. Course facilitators were Rodrigo Milazzo from Brazil and Gale Bernhardt from the USA.

The participants also had a first hand look at local culture when a friend of Allamilla’s, Victor Foreman, invited the group to his private island for the swim practical session. Foreman’s family are lobster fisherman by trade and the island has been in his family for 50 years. He shared his perspective on life in Belize, including how his family survived 1992’s Hurricane Andrew and still continues to work in the lobster fishing industry.

Now with with organisation, cooperation and eager participants, the sport of triathlon can now be extended to more young people and adults in the PATCO region.