A coach for elite junior triathletes spent a week in Bermuda conducting a training camp for three of the Island’s top young triathletes, Tyler Smith, Erica Hawley and Alex Pilgrim, along with Canadian Tim McCleod who travelled to the Island.

Matt Valyo, from USA Triathlon, who lives in Sterling, Massachusetts, delivered some important lessons for the youngsters ahead of the Youth Olympics qualifiers in Monterray, Mexico, in May.

“It has been an absolute pleasure working with the kids. They gave up their [school] vacation to train for a goal that most kids and most adults will not have the opportunity to go for,” Valyo said on Tuesday, the day before leaving Bermuda.

Valyo is the athlete development coordinator for the northeast region, which covers New York and all the New England states and over to Maine.

“There are nine other people who hold that title in the various regions for USA Triathlon and our job is to identify talent to put in the Olympic pipeline and help that talent go to the proper races,” Valyo added. “Six of us run weeklong development camps in the States and that’s where I met Tyler, Erica and Tim who came last year.

“These three [Smith, Hawley and McCleod] are hoping to accomplish getting to Monterray which is the qualifier for the Youth Olympic Games. Our zone has eight spots and each country gets just one spot.”

Valyo made sure to make the sessions, which included swimming early mornings in the pool and afternoon sessions at the track and at Clearwater Beach for the bike ride, were fun for the youngsters. Hawley is in boarding school in southwest England and returned to participate.

“What USA Triathlon is very big on is we certify coaches as youth and junior coaches and we make sure the kids are enjoying themselves,” said Valyo.

“If they are not having fun and are not going to enjoy themselves then it is no point.

“After an hour and a half pool session, we took a break and went up to the track and did some run work, then did lunch and came down here [Clearwater Beach] to do open water swimming and practised transitions, which is part of the sport and, of course, cycling skills and drills.”

On Tuesday, Valyo had 15-year-olds Smith, Hawley and McCleod with him at Clearwater, a quiet setting with few people and little traffic. “I kind of wish I had this kind of place back home in Massachusetts,” said the coach, a former triathlete himself.

“They have been a very coachable group, all have great strengths, but are not afraid to improve upon those strengths. There is no perfect triathlete out there who can swim the fastest, ride the fastest and run the fastest. “The Bermuda Triathlon Association has been extremely helpful in getting us the facilities that we needed to use. This is my first time to Bermuda and I’m thinking next year we’ll probably bring my whole race team down.”

The youngsters all enjoyed the time spent with Valyo and said they learned a lot from the sessions.

“It’s been great and I enjoyed it so much,” said Hawley who, like Smith, is following in her mother’s footsteps as a triathlete. Julia Hawley and Karen Smith are two of the Island’s senior triathletes. “We did his camp last summer and I learned so much there as well and having him come here is great. My goal for this season is to get to the Youth Olympics and every step counts. In the far future I want to do it professionally with Ironmans, depending how things pan out.”

Julia Hawley was careful not to push her daughter too hard into triathlons, but the interest is clearly there.

“Erica has been coming to almost all my Ironman races and I think she was very inspired,” she said. “[The family] were in the UK during the London Olympics and we watched the triathlon — the Smiths were there as well — and in the end it is about the lifestyle that we’ve had in our families and the kids have gravitated to it and are really enjoying it. At the same time they are competitive and want to race and do well and learn as much as they can.

“Being away at boarding school, your child is really choosing if they want to do something.

“She has to be completely self motivated to get up in the morning and swim and cycle at night. Anybody’s children at 15, 16 are going to say ‘I don’t want to do it’ or ‘I do want to do it’.”

Both Erica and Smith started as swimmers before taking on the other disciplines.

“Swimming was my first sport and then I got into triathlon,” said Smith.

“In Bermuda we have great swimming coaching, great cycling coaches and great running coaches but not a coach [for triathlon] like what Matt is doing with us.

“He’s teaching us the things that are going to be critical for when we go away and do some draft legal racing which is the style of racing they don’t do in Bermuda. He’s teaching us different strategies and different ways to approach the races.”

For McCleod, a break from the harsh weather in Montreal was welcome.

“I can’t get outside on the bike and running is also very hard, so it is kind of good to be on the road before I go to Florida in two weeks time. I will be racing with Tyler in Sarasota.

“I did a few races as a kid but then stopped and focused on swimming. I started back when I was about 11. I used to be a swimmer but now I’m a triathlete first.”