In mid-July, from the 11th to the 17th to be exact, 5 pilots from the CNF (Collectif National Féminin de la FFVL) took part in the Belgian Paragliding Open in Ager, Spain: Sandra Antony, Anne-Laure Broise, Sarah Castellarnau, Chloé Demailly, Giulia Goeller. Up-and-coming youngster Jérémy Burnier, from the Rhône-Alpes Auvergne league team, joined the group on site. The head of the CNF had contacted Aquilae – Performance Paragliding Academy to provide coaching for the competition.
Methods
The Academy’s coaching program worked perfectly for this female audience, based on the principle that a pilot is a pilot. On the menu: general launch briefing, daily follow-up with pre-briefing and briefing on take-off, then debriefing in the room, and finally individual interviews on request. In the run-up to the competition, the preparation and debriefing phases were carried out via individual or group videoconferencing.
Adaption
We met on the eve of the first day to launch the week and set the framework for living together. As the first day was not flyable, we took the opportunity to go for a run in the morning, relax in the pool afterwards and reflect together in the afternoon on performance-related themes: goal-setting, then stress and anxiety. Favourable weather conditions for the rest of the week left us no time to develop questions around decision-making and flight regimes. Until next time?
Results
Aquilae – Performance Paragliding Academy acted as a regulator of group life, endeavoring to provide the relevant individual advice according to the context of the competition and the objectives pursued. It would appear that the Academy’s approach paid off when we look at the results at the end of the week:
General
- 1 training flight
- 5 tasks flown out of 6 possibles
Competition
- 1st, 2nd and 3rd spots on women’s classification
- 3rd place in team classification
- 3rd place in Serial classification (EN-D)
Tasks
- All tasks’ wins for women category
- 1 task win (overall, with an EN-D wing)
To conclude, a few key words to sum up the coach’s week: listening, benevolence, openness, mutual respect, confidentiality, perfect atmosphere. And a few more for the drivers: switch, lines, start, full speed, patience, mobilization!