Martin Brockman Profile
Fresh from his success at the English Decathlon Championships, mandmac.org spoke to the club's up and coming decathlete about his events and discovered more about just how involved in the sport Martin is!
Posted 17th June 2008
Name: Martin Brockman
Age: 20
Main Event(s): Decathlon
Your Favourite PB’s: High jump 2.06, Pole vault 4.25 |  |
Have you won any titles or been selected for county teams or major events?
Selected for Kent senior high jump whilst first year U20 in 2005, U20 Kent decathlon champion 2006, senior southern decathlon silver medallist 2007, hopefully selected for GB team for multievents championships this year.
How did you get into the sport?
Whilst at school my PE teacher suggested to me and a couple of others in my class that we should try out at an athletics club. I was the only person who went to a club, thinking I was going to be an 800m runner, which I soon found out wasn’t the case.
Who is your coach?
Chris Bowman
How often do you train?
I train at least 2 hours a day and I try to have one day off every 2 weeks.
What is your favourite training session?
I like practicing pole vault but I think my favourite session is when you run a hard and fast track session because there is no better feeling than coming off the track knowing you have given it your all, usually thinking you’re going to be sick.
What is your proudest moment or biggest achievement in the sport?
My proudest moment is when I cleared 2m in the high jump for the first time. 2m is a great barrier for all high jumpers so after 2 years trying to clear it it was a great feeling to finally do it, and what’s more my dad was there to see it who had been wanting it as much as I did (if not more)
What are your current aims and targets?
My main aim for this year is to score 7000pts in a decathlon, in my first decathlon of the year I was only 55pts away which is a good start. I am hoping that this will be good enough to gain me a GB vest in an international combined events competition where I can go and break the 7000pts barrier.
What are your long term aims and targets?
I am aiming to qualify for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, this is only 2 years away but over the last 2 years I have been hitting my target which means I am currently on track to achieve it. After this I am obviously, like everyone else, aiming for the 2012 Olympics in London. The qualifying for the Olympics is 7700pts which I believe, with a lot of hard work, I can achieve.
Who is your athletics hero?
As a decathlete the only person I can aspire to be is Daley Thompson. Thompson is the greatest decathlete ever produced by Britain and brought the decathlon to the attention of the public where it was not well known. The main reason I like Daley Thompson is not for him being a great athlete, I aspire to be like Thompson because he was a ‘nice bloke’ and although he was always in the spotlight he didn’t let it affect him and he remained, and still does, a ‘nice bloke’. I have never seen another athlete with his fun loving attitude and love for the sport.
What do you enjoy doing away from athletics?
With training and coaching I don’t get a lot of time away from athletics so I tend to spend most of my time with my girlfriend, we like to go out for a meal when we can.
What is your job or what are you studying?
After finishing school in 2006 I took up training full time and am now working several part time jobs around my training sessions.
Do any of your family compete in the sport?
No one in my family currently competes in sport although my sister used to do gymnastics and is now a gymnastics coach.
Who is your best friend in the sport?
My coach Chris is obviously my best friend in athletics. I spend approximately 300 days a year with Chris and I think we laugh on 299 of them. It’s important to have a good coach-athlete relationship and I think he’d agree we have a good one.
Any advice for other athletes?
If you want to be a good athlete take it seriously, talent will only get you so far so at some point you need to train hard to make improvements. But the most important thing is enjoy doing athletics, whatever stage you’re at remember that you started athletics because you enjoyed it so make sure you still do.