Farewell Ruth

We’re sad to say that after 6 years of coaching the BRAT throwers, Ruth Briggs is moving on.  She is relocating to pastures new in Somerset, and we wish her all the best in her new venture.  BRAT are extremely grateful to Ruth for everything she has contributed to the club – not only has she coached discus, shot and hammer, she has also officiated as a Level 2 Field Official at numerous events and been instrumental in organising the AAA Awards for the athletes.

Ruth started coaching BRATs in 2015 on Friday nights at the High Performance Centre. Her son Jonathan was being coached by Paul Chapman and he had also been training Ruth in throwing techniques for as long as Jonathan had been with him.  It was his firm belief that parents could and should be enabled to help athletes in competition contexts if no coach could be there. Whenever Jonathan or his training partners were throwing, Paul would explain what he was looking at, what he was instructing them to do and, more importantly, why – i.e. what the mechanics of throwing were and why one movement was good and another storing up trouble. Paul would make up unconventional exercises to try and sort out issues specific to an individual’s bad habits and this was something Ruth quickly learned to do herself. 

Ruth found that getting started coaching other people’s children was daunting at first, particularly when they had to share the circle with another coaching group from outside of BRAT, but she quickly came to enjoy the challenge of working with the individuality of each athlete, watching what they were doing, comparing that with what she had been taught and working with them towards a solid technique. 

Ruth has said that along the way it was good having a range of ages, both adult and junior, and it has been lovely watching how the adults provided excellent role models for the juniors, each in their own way. She is very thankful to BRAT for all that they have done for her son, Jonathan, and is glad that she has been able to put something back in some measure. She will be back to visit but in the meantime wishes all members happy and successful training.

On Thursday night, at the end of her last coaching session, Ruth was presented with a Gardening Voucher, a bottle of red wine and a BRAT hoodie so she never forgets us!!  She has done well to escape photos over the years as we could only find one of her officiating!

Thank you again Ruth, and all the best for the future.  You’re always welcome back and maybe we’ll meet with you halfway at an event in Gloucester 😀