This February half term played host to the UK’s largest coaching event: Herts Sports Partnership’s Coach Education Week and Coaching Conference. Coaches flocked to the week-long programme of courses, practical workshops and lectures to further their knowledge and skills. One key theme of this year’s Coach Education Week was disability sport.
With the support of Herts County Council's Aiming High for Disabled Children fund, Amwell View School and St Albans City Youth FC, the recent Herts Coach Education Week included an ambitious and highly popular disability sports programme:
• 17 disability sports courses/workshops delivered throughout the week, as part of the biggest event of its kind in the UK
• 349 participants attended disability workshops/courses (23% of total attendees)
• 3 courses tutored by people who themselves had a disability - including world champion wheelchair badminton player Gobi Ranganathan
Alongside the disability theme, there were programmes for teachers and young leaders interested in furthering their knowledge of sport and coaching, with courses specifically designed to offer these two key groups a chance to get more of an insight in to coaching young people.
Almost 1400 participants (an increase of 26% on the previous year) attended over 90 different workshops, lectures, and formal coaching courses, making the event the biggest of its kind in the UK.
The week culminated with in the 4th Annual Coaching Conference, the highlight of which was the keynote address from NBA basketball legend, sports pundit and best-selling author John Amaechi. He captivated the audience with a lively presentation, drawing on his experiences from his playing days and his life in general. The impact of coaches on the lives our young people, he said, was ”...like leaving footprints in wet cement”, and it is imperative that coaching attracts those individuals that are capable of helping to prepare our young people as 21st Century citizens.
As well as John Amaechi, Herts Sports Partnership welcomed a number of speakers from the sector to provide an insight to their particular area of expertise. Ian Bell, a former player for London Wasps RFC, joined us on behalf of the team at Ashridge Business College to deliver a session around the changing role of the coach, and Elena Dundjerovic of Jumps Education drew upon her experiences from her senior position in PE in a high performing Herts secondary school to enlighten delegates as to good practice for coaching in a school environment.
Callum Irving, who at one time was the youngest Rugby Football League head coach in the professional game delivered a session on behalf of sportscoachUK on coach management, and David Turner, Principal Lecturer in Sports Coaching at the University of Hertfordshire added an educational perspective on the role of the sports coach as a mentor. In an entertaining finale Mike Lynch, Chief Executive of GBSports advised delegates how to keep safe from the tax man if you’re a self-employed sports coach.
For those of you who did attend, the material from the coaching courses will be uploaded onto this page for future reference and also for anyone who may be interested in going next year may look at the documents to give you an idea of what the courses can provide.