A group of ITU coaches came together in Slovakia last weekend to take part in an ITU Level 1 Club & Community Coaching Course.

A total of 20 coaches from three different Europeans nations, Israel, Slovakia and Croatia, attended the course at the Hotel Dom Sportu in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. The Hotel is the former home of the Slovakian Olympic Committee and now hosts a number of Slovakian Sports Federations.

The course was organized by Zeljko Bijuk (CRO), ITU Development Coordinator for Europe and Jozef Jurasek (SVK), the secretary general of the Slovakian Triathlon Union.

The course included theoretical and practical sessions about Triathlon, based on the ITU's Level 1 club & community coaching manual, which includes information on everything from the swim, bike, run and transitions to the basic nutrition and coaches responsibility.

The participants of the course had a practical opportunity to put into practice their new found knowledge by taking part in an Aquathlon race during the lunch break under the supervision of ITU facilitators Tibor Lehmann and Zsolt Szakaly, both from Hungary, and Zeljko Bijuk.

ITU Development Co-ordinator Zeljko Bijuk said: 'The majority of the coaches were young and ambitious coaches, some of them still active triathletes who all share the same enthusiasm to help triathlon reach a higher level in their countries.

'All the coaches involved in the course were eager and keen to gain new knowledge and create networks between themselves which they can take forward. By the end of the course we had all made new friends and many have plans to visit each other for further training camps and races.'

Roman Svana of Slovakia said: 'The whole course was conducted at the highest level, everything was perfect. I am glad I could participate in the Level 1 Club & Community Coaching Course.'