The British Junior Championships were held on Saturday, 25th April 2009 at Atlas Warehouse, Alfreton. Enormous work was carried out by Dave Sawyer and the Atlas Club to prepare the venue for the Championships (it not easy moving the gym fixed apparatus) for what was great day of lifting. Best lifters were Ben Watson and Zoe Smith who along with Hanna Powell, Nikki Hamilton, Chris Freebury, Josh Fargarly broke British records. However many of the other lifters set new personal bests.
My thanks to Dave Sawyer and the Atlas Warehouse for hosting the events; and to the technical officials and volunteers (including loaders who helped out.
Chief Executive’s Activities
This week I have been busy attending meetings on important matters such as Child Protection, Equality, London 2012, Weightlifting and continuing work on the BWLA website.
On the matter of Child Protection and Equality, I understand there is some resistance regarding the expectations of the BWLA from Coaches and Officials. However these expectations are required to ensure that BWLA and its Officials are meeting its obligation to duty of care. It is then behaving as a responsible organisation with low risk which will attract funding from the Government agencies and minimise costs such as insurance.
A meeting of weightlifting officials was held to discuss the redevelopment of the Weightlifting Committee. It was agreed that the new look Weightlifting Committee would consist of four sub group looking after Championships/Technical, Coaching, Schools and Masters. Each committee would consists of representation from each of the English Regions and we would be looking for representation from the three Home Countries. More information will be posted on the website when full details are available.
Forthcoming events:
British Youth Championships;
These Championships will be held on Saturday, 9th May at Crystal Palace Sports Centre, London. Deadline for entries will be 25th April. Full Championships Programme and entries will be posted on the website under competitions.
Northern U11 and U13 Development Cup:
This Development Cup will be held on Sunday, 10th May at Wright Robinson Sports College. Deadline for entries will be 4th May. Full Championships Programme and entries will be posted on the website under competitions.
Safeguarding and Protecting Children; sport coach UK course to be held at Oldbury College of Sport, Pound Road, Oldbury, West Midlands on Saturday, 16th May 2009.
Who should attend?
All coaches, referees and club officials. BWLA will be introducing shortly a Coach / Officials License Scheme and all such holders will be required to attend the Safeguarding and Protecting Children course. If you do not have a Coach / Officials License, then you will be unable to work in the competition field of play or coach in the clubs. So hope you can understand why it is important to attend and meet this new Government legislation.
For details; contact Lynn Amos at
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or telephone 01173 305301.
British U11 and U13 Development Cup:
This Development Cup will be held on Saturday, 27th June at the Empire Sports Club, Bristol. Deadline for entries will be 13th June. Entry forms can be found in the website section competitions.
British Senior Championships:
The British Senior Championships will be held at Lilleshall NSC on 11th July 2009. All invitations will be sent to Club Secretaries (by email) towards the end of the week. We are looking at between 30 – 40 competitors and therefore the first weigh in will be at 9am with a 11 am start.
