FORMER Olympic gold medallist Darren Campbell will be hoping to give Wasps a sting in the right direction after being confirmed as the club’s new sprint coach for the 2015/16 season.
As part of a new consultancy role, Campbell will be on-hand to help and adive players on their running technique to enable them to increase their pace having previously worked with the likes of Chelsea and Everton.
A European record holder for the 4x100m relay, Campbell enjoyed an illustrious sprinting career, which included winning the 4x100m Gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics and Silver in the 200m at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
“I worked with Trystan Bevan (Wasps performance co-ordinator) when he was at Cardiff Blues and he helped organise the first session with Wasps when he joined the club this season,” said Campbell.
“I’m delighted things have progressed from there and that I can now help Wasps players on a more formal basis, through this consultancy role.
“Apart from Christian Wade, who has benefited from coaching in his younger years from Julian Golding, many players haven’t actually been taught how to run.
“When you’re back in school you just run, but when you get to higher levels there’s a lot more detail in how you run, so that’s what I try to pass on to these guys.
“Once you understand speed and once you understand the movements involved, it helps both agility and speed.
“I’ve worked with Saracens and the likes of Jonah Lomu, Mark Cueto, Lewis Moody, Mathew Tait and Richard Wigglesworth and a lot of different rugby clubs and I really enjoy consulting.
“My job is to come in and make it second nature, because then it’s one less thing that they’ve got to think about.”
