England Athletics Coach Development Autumn 2017

Martin Rush, Head of Coaching and Athlete Development at England Athletics, gives an update on our coach development activity as part of our commitment to supporting coaches:

England Athletics is committed to supporting coaches. Through the autumn and winter of 2017/2018 we will be rolling out a new structure of activities, workshops, resources and connections that aim to build on the work done over the last eight years through the successful National and Local Coach Development Programmes.

A key part of this work is to ensure the talent pathway is in place to enable young athletes to aspire to reach international representation and link in with the British Athletics Futures programme, work that is supported by Sport England. But England Athletics also recognises the responsibility to ensure that the support it gives coaches in all areas of the sport is of high quality, accessible and relevant to what they need, whether leading participation runners, coaching an Athletics 365 programme, a club pole vaulter or an aspiring England National Champion.

England Athletics coaching plans aim to provide a clear pathway of practice and learning for coaches.  Local and Regional activity (event group dependent due to numbers and facilities) will lead into National activity and the work around the shared Home Country and British Athletics Talent Programme. In addition, we will focus on certain event groups/events where we recognise particular challenges exist.

We will map a clear pathway of learning linking the UKA qualification coaching structure with the coach development work. We will deliver high quality, engaging coach support activity from practical workshops to major conferences incorporating athlete engagement in the learning process so coaches can contextualize their learning and practice. It is likely the programme of activities will evolve over time as we gather more feedback, work with local and national coaches, and identify any changes to the needs of coaches and their athletes.  Full details will be made available through the England Athletics website coaching pages and updated regularly, as more activities and programmes are developed, through the website and the ebulletin.

You can also ensure that you are receiving our regular coaching ebulletin by logging in at www.englandathletics.org/myprofile to ensure that your email address is correct and that you are opted in to receive mailings. (Note that you can use the forgotten log in/ password functionality if needed).

Our ebulletins will be an important way of you receiving regular updates on opportunities for coaches.

England Coach Development Plans 2017/18

Local and Regional Coach Development Activity

Targeted at coaches with or aspiring to an Athletics Coach qualification but suitable for coaches setting out on their coaching journey and for established coaches looking to be challenged.  Most sessions will involve practical activity using athletes to demonstrate key coaching points with clear take home and follow-up messages/work.

1 Event Specific coach activity – Coach and Athlete Training Days or Workshops

• Event specific activity across all event areas
• Day or evening, practical and theory based coach development sessions with athletes where indicated in advertising
• Delivered by Regional Coach Leads (three or four in each event group area across England)
• Each Regional Coach Leads will deliver a minimum of four coach and athlete training days.
• To best serve the needs of different events groups, there is variation between the event groups on content and structure, details of which will be available on the England Athletics website coaching pages. For example, throws activities will be combined with national level activity.
• This will give a total of around 60 event based, practical coach development workshops.

2 Formalised workshops

• Movement Skills 1 and Movement Skills 2
  Two workshops on how to develop the movement skills which will enable your athletes to move more quickly and efficiently, generate greater force and reduce the risks of injury. Click here to find out more about the Movement Skills workshop.
• Physical Preparation
  An extension to the Movement Skills workshops stepping into conditioning and application to event training. Click here for details of the Physical Preparation: mobility, movement and performance workshop.
• Athletics 365 development
  A workshop on setting up and delivering the Athletics 365 programme in a club or other setting. Click here to find out more about the Athletics 365 workshop
• From LiRF to CiRF – going from being a run leader to coaching your runners
  Taking the step from being a leader to a coach can be daunting.  This workshop clearly explains the different roles and what the step entails. Click here to find out more about the LiRF to CiRF workshop.
• Youth Endurance
  Specifics for endurance coaches working with young athletes. Click here to find out more about the Youth Endurance workshop.

Club Support Managers also have options to run event specific workshops for clubs in their areas.  They and details of England Athletics contacts in your area can be found here.

National Coach Development Activity

These activities will be targeted at coaches with an Athletics Coach qualification and above (or equivalent, Level 2 to 4) who have established groups and are looking to challenge their coaching process. Most sessions will involve practical activity using athletes to demonstrate key coaching points.  We will aim to use high quality deliverers with years of experience in athletics and other sports/services and will cascade down information from the British Athletics Futures and Performance programmes.  The national activities will be organised by the Coach and Athlete Development Managers and leading coaches.

1 National Coach and Athlete Training Days

• Practical activity with athletes to contextualize learning and development. Clearly mapped content will be detailed in the promotion of the events.
• Three or four days per year with invited coach and athlete pairs and open to all coaches
• Places will be limited
• Venues vary by event group although majority will be central England.

2 National Conferences

In 2017 we are running the National Endurance Conference and encouraging throws coaches to attend the European Athletics Throws Conference being hosted by Loughborough University.

• You can find out more about our National Endurance Conference “How to Win: The Development of Power and Speed for Endurance” here
• You can find out more about the European Throws conference here.

We will aim to run one or two national level conferences per winter.

3 Master Classes

Event specific activity delivered by UK and world leading practitioners. Details will be released as events are organised. You will be able to see England Athletics event listings for details.

4 Event Specific Developments

England will set up specific projects focusing on certain events. Two, first examples, are the Steeplechase activities and the Marathon programme. The England Athletics coaching pages on the website will have details of all specific projects.

National Talent Development Activity

England Athletics is working with British Athletics and the other home countries to create a pathway for talented young athletes. This will involve invited athletes and their coaches (athlete age range 17 to 23 years with flexibility but with very restricted numbers). This pathway will support both the identified athlete and their coach.  England Athletics will deliver a programme of activity at two National Talent Coach and Athlete days over the autumn/winter of 2017/18 with follow up support. The content will be based around coach and athlete learning and development, taking practical based information and supporting the coach to implement any identified and agreed measures.  Further details will be released in due course on the England Athletics coaching pages.

The coaching and athlete development team are working through the logistics of delivering the programmes detailed and more information will be released as it becomes finalised.

Martin Rush

Head of Coaching and Athlete Development

England Athletics