Traighana Tries
It is such a shame that FITV didn’t think of the segment sooner. It has everything you need for good TV; an activity, an enthusiastic presenter, and an alliterative title. Unfortunately, the segment of ‘Traighana Tries…’ will be the last project that Traighana Smith works on as her time with FITV comes to an end in April.
It has been an exciting year for Traighana, but not as exciting as trying out all eight of the sports that the Falkland Islands will be taking part in at the Nat West Island Games in Gotland later in the year.
The Falkland Islands will be represented in archery, athletics, badminton, football, golf, pistol shooting, swimming, and for the first time, in cycling and a triathlon too.
The problem is, of course, that here in the southern hemisphere we are approaching winter which means that for the outdoor sports at least, it’s quite a challenge for training. Darker evenings and icy conditions can give some pretty hazardous conditions for some, so many of the athletes will include a healthy dose of indoor agility and fitness workouts to improve their skills.
So, in her last assignment for FITV, Traighana has visited each of the sports to find out what it takes to become an international athlete.
With some sports, for instance archery and pistol shooting, the training has very similar goals. Both disciplines involve the competitor to try and get groups on the target area, and then move that group towards the higher scores. Traighana visited the archery group on one of their club evenings and found that it wasn’t just a case of aiming the arrow at the target.
“It really does take a lot of concentration and good stance to get the arrows on the board in the target area,” Traighana said after managing to get an arrow to pierce the paper target. And it was a similar skill in the pistol shooting when Sarah Clarke showed Traighana around the pistol range. Once the grouping of hits start to come, you can then work on moving the group nearer the ten score. Posture and breathing also take a part in this. The pistol was heavier than Traighana thought which caused a slight shake when aiming, but she still managed to get 26 points out of a possible 100 over ten shots which Sarah assured her wasn’t bad for a first go.
These segments will be broadcast in the run up to the Island Games so that viewers can see how the competitors are preparing for the games.
The opening ceremony of the Island Games will be on Saturday 24th June and FITV will broadcast our first Island Games programme on the evening Sunday 25th June. As with previous years, Sure South Atlantic will put out the programmes via a link on their website which can then be viewed in the Falkland Islands without affecting your megabyte allowance.
