 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Poole AC incepted its junior section in 1985, under the stewardship of head coach and Deputy Divisional Fire Officer Paul Whent. He was supported by 2 club stalwarts of the time Colin Smith and Mike Taylor, (whose son Richard became was also encouraged to come along and join as a junior). Possibly our first junior member was Darren Moore who has stayed with us ever since, competing on road, track and triathlon, as well as holding a Level 3 coaching qualification, which he uses to good effect to develop our prospective middle distance stars of tomorrow. Darren’s recollection of his first session in September 1985 was travelling down to The Viking Club on Poole Quay on his bike only to discover at the end of his inaugural session that the said bike had been stolen. (Not a Poole AC initiation ploy I assure you)! This fortunately did not put Darren off! As well as using road sessions in Poole and Hamworthy in the early days, the juniors undertook early track sessions on the relatively flat grass track at Poole High School in the summer months when the rain had not washed the lines away. This migrated to St Edward’s school field and later the Ashdown field when the Ashdown Leisure centre opened in the early 1990’s. At this point Mark Pauley, Simon Speed and Phil Croad added their coaching knowledge to the team running our juniors. Our early exploits with track & field were initially in Division 3 of the South West League, where for a long time we battled to hold our own. Our squad was more of a family affair with senior athletes such as Phil Croad, Jack Fido, Ron Taylor and Mike Taylor, supplemented by their offspring and friends, along with a few willing senior colleagues such as Simon Speed, Malcolm Maidment, Nigel Harding, Mark Pauley, Dale Paget and Clive Pearcy. Not even during periods of wild optimism did we ever dream of winning Division 1 five years in succession, as was the case between 2002 & 2006. Due to a real team ethos we have certainly come far in short period of time. Our more recent membership of the Wessex Young Athletes League has also proven an enjoyable experience and a fantastic opportunity for our younger members. We have also experienced a number of successes, along with some memorable home and away fixtures, including wins for our Under 13 boys and Under 17 women in their overall section in 2005 and a joint win for our Under 15 boys in their age category in 2007. As a provincial club Poole AC have always recognised the need to collaborate with other local clubs to facilitate the best competitive opportunities for local athletes. This started with our allegiance with Poole Runners in the 1990’s in the South West League and more recently in co-operation with Wimborne AC to ensure a Southern Men’s and Women’s team can represent those using the Ashdown facilities. In 2007 Poole, Wimborne and Dorchester AC came together to form ‘Team Dorset’, which convincingly resulted in the composite club winning Division 2 West of the National Young Athletes League. Hopefully this will become the springboard to bigger things in years to come. Our juniors have also developed a growing reputation of success within Cross Country running in the region and further a field. A number of individual and team awards have come our way over recent seasons within the Wessex League as well as within the highly competitive Hampshire League. We have also been proud to see many of our runners representing Dorset most capably in national events for both school and county. Our talented juniors have not been without their successes at national
events, from Charleen Payne and Alex Lee medalling at The National
Sportshall finals, to England honours at U23 level for Alison Croad
and Richard Reeks in the triple jumps and combined events respectively.
Melissa Courtney also competed for England Schools Cross Country
team in a Home International in Dublin in 2007. We hope this list
will grow in years to come. The building of links with local schools through our teaming up
with Active Dorset has proved hugely successful in marketing the
profile and benefits of athletics locally, an area our dedicated
team of coaches and officials are keen to expand in future years. |