Australian Institute of Sport - Young Drivers' Training Camp

As you may have read on this website previously, I was lucky enough to be invited to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, to attend a Young Drivers Camp over a period of 3 days.

After leaving Adelaide in the early hours of the morning, my flight arrived in Canberra at around 8:30am, where the Captain of the plane greeted us with “Welcome to sunny Canberra, where the weather is currently fine with a current temperature of 2 degrees.” 

After meeting with the other driver’s chosen from around the country, we began a tour of the AIS complex. Many of the facilities, we would be using later on during the training program.

The first session was extremely important to me. It was a psychology session that dealt with relaxation techniques and negative thought stopping. I feel a race car driver is quite unique compared to many other athletes, because of the environment we compete in. When something goes wrong in a race car, such as an accident, it usually hurts, the damage can be very expensive and this can leave a driver with a severe lack of confidence. It can be difficult to get straight back into a race car and do it all over again! The training session showed me methods of rebuilding confidence and stopping negative thoughts from affecting my performance. I also learnt methods of relaxing myself before a race - a time when nerves are at the highest.

The following day we began the day with a shuttle run (the famous "beep test"), to test our aerobic fitness. This session also included a skin fold test, which measures body fat in comparison to a person's height and weight.

Following this was another important test - the Reaction Test. When driving, reactions are critical. It can mean the difference between a quick lap and a slow lap, as well as surviving a race when so many cars are on the track. The ability to quickly correct the car through a corner or to quickly manoeuvre the car to avoid an accident, are critical to a race car driver.

It was then on to Media Training, a 1.5 hour session which taught methods to help me communicate well in an interview situation, whether it be for television, radio or print.

Next was Nutrition and was designed to help me design an overall diet. I particularly found the Race Day Diet very interesting. I sometimes get very nervous on the morning of race-day and struggle to stomach any kind of food. It is very important in a sport as physically demanding as ours, to keep the energy high before a race so we are at our best throughout the event.

Other sessions included muscle strengthening and stretching, massage and hydrotherapy. This is a technique to relieve muscle soreness after competing, which involves sitting in a nice hot spa for 3 minutes and then standing in a pool of cold water (at only 7 degrees) for 30seconds. Trust me 7 degrees is bloody cold!!!

We finished with an in depth psychological test to help us learn more about ourselves as race car drivers and as people. It taught me how well I react to all types of situations that a race car driver can be involved with and gave me a starting point for improvement.

I was extremely grateful to be one of only several drivers selected out of the hundreds of drivers from around Australia. It gave me the opportunity to learn from elite specialists in the sporting field, who have also helped many of Australia's Olympians and other athletes succeed on an International level. It was also great to share ideas with other dedicated young drivers from around the country.

Look out for me at the next event at Wakefield Park, NSW!