Conferences

IFAC 2011

The International Festival of Athletics Coaching, supported by the European Athletics Coaches Association (EACA) will be held 28 - 30 October 2011, Marriott Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland.

Speakers

Confirmed speakers for the event include:

Dr. Wolfgang Ritzdorf

Dr. Wolfgang Ritzdorf is a coach who's reputation speaks for itself. He has been the personal coach to six female athletes who have personal bests of over 1.90m as well as the jumps coach to three decathletes with bests of more than 8000 points. As a former National Coach of Female High Jump in Germany Wolfgang spent several years working with Olympic Games gold medallists Ulrike Meyfath (Los Angeles, 1984) and Heike Henkel (Barcelona, 1992). Currently Wolfgang is a senior lecturer for athletics at the German Sport University Cologne and Director of the IAAF World High Jump Centre, where World Championship (Berlin, 2009) high jump finalists Kabelo Kgosiemang (Botswana) and Eike Onnen (Germany) are based.

Vern Gambatta

Vern Gambetta's 40 years of coaching experience encompasses a variety of sports at all levels of competition. His one true passion however remains Athletics and he is widely considered as the founding father of Functional Sports Training.Regard for his highly valued knowledge of athletics is reflected in Gambetta's involvement in some unique projects such as the Nike Oregon Project. He has coached from grass-roots to world-class level and has held prominent roles such as Head Coach for the Women's Cross Country and Track & Field team at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Penny Werthner

Dr. Penny Werthner is no stranger to the Athletics. In addition to being a renowned sports physiologist she is also a former Canadian Olympian and Commonwealth Bronze Medallist over 1500m. Based at the University of Ottawa her work as a sports psychologist has seen her helping Team Canada to medal success over the last ten summer and winter Olympic Games. Ahead of London 2012 and Glasgow 2014 delegates at IFAC 2011 will find Dr. Werthner's work on the psychological preparation within the environment of World Championships and Olympic Games of particular interest.