Name – Dan Heley
Occupation – Marketing Assistant at Intersport Tony Pryce
Sport – Dance
Dancing shoes – Bloch Dance Shoes
So it looks like it’s my turn to write the next blog so here goes. I’m the Marketing Assistant here at Tony Pryce, but what you may not believe is that I have spent most of my life dancing. I know what you’re thinking, dancing is for girls but it has helped me in every single sport that I have taken up.
In fact, dance has been used by professional athletes in their training for a while now and many people recognise ballet dancers to be some of the greatest athletes around. Now, you have the obvious sports that benefit from a bit of ballet like figure skating, gymnastics and even diving but I bet you didn’t know that ballet has been used in American football training since 1970. 2001 Hall of Fame American footballer Lynn Swann credits ballet training as a means to developing body control, balance, rhythm and timing. In New Zealand it has been reported that top ballet dancers have been training with The Crusaders rugby team, with even Dan Carter getting tips for stretching.
But what about here in the UK? Well programmes for rugby players are now being developed which incorporate ballet into their training sessions. These programmes set out to improve agility, co-ordination, flexibility and stamina to name but a few.
One of the reasons I like to dance though is because it’s fun. As well as doing ballet for conditioning, rugby teams have been known to do a spot of Zumba in their training sessions just to mix it up a bit. Sport should be fun and you should enjoy it. If that means shaking your booty a bit then I say go for it!
Leotards and tights are optional.