AoC Sport is launching a new pre-season programme for students this month. Be Your Best is a six-week pre-season programme taking place between 21 September and 2 November. The programme aims to support college students who play competitive sport to ensure they are competition-ready in time for the AoC Sport leagues starting on Wednesday 4 November.
The programme is open to all AoC Sport members and Natspec member colleges and they can be involved in as many or as few of the activities on offer.
Fitness Programme
The fitness programme is designed to support athletes in their preparation for competitive sport. The weekly programmes are focused on speed, strength, power and endurance with guides and video demonstrations included throughout. Participants are encouraged to submit pre and post fitness tests to monitor their progression.
We have worked with Ben Andrews to create adjusted exercises in the workouts, so it is inclusive for students with a disability. The adapted exercises work the same muscle groups and are there to offer people choice dependent on preference and need.
Ben is a qualified personal trainer and has many years’ experience working with disabled people to ensure they have opportunities to live an active lifestyle whilst working to break down barriers they face to being active.
Strava Challenge
For those who want to compete as a team, we are organising a Strava running challenge for sports teams within colleges to compete inter-college and against other teams nationally. The average team distance per week will go onto a leaderboard page with a prize for the top college each week starting from 21 September.
Q&AS With Experts
We will also have a series of experts from the sport and fitness sector answering questions via a video hosted on the AoC Sport Instagram page to help improve students’ performance. The Q&A series will include topics such as nutrition, sports psychology and strength and conditioning. Staff and students will be actively encouraged to submit their questions via social media and email for our panel of experts to answer.
Dean Hardman, Director of Sport and Student Experience at AoC said: “With a return to competitive sport just weeks away, we want to help college students prepare for the season ahead, whatever their sport and whatever level they play at.
"Our inclusive programme features some great opportunities for students to improve their fitness and their whole approach to sport, with some great content from experts in areas such as nutrition, conditioning and psychology.
"We’re really looking forward to our AoC Sport competitions and students from across our members colleges being their best.”
For more detailed information about the programme and how to get involved visit the Be Your Best page.
