FAQs

How and where is training conducted?

Training will be undertaken on a one-on-one basis or in a group dependant on program and sport. Exceptional facilities and enthusiastic staff help to develop a sense of healthy competition and personal achievement in well-rounded individuals throughout the company Access to a 50-acre site includes sports hall, gym, swimming pool, floodlit artificial pitch and a modern sports pavilion.

What is being done to nurture talent?

The strategy provides support for gifted and talented young athletes. A talent-development pathway that identifies and supports talented sportspeople from playground to podium is being put into place. This pathway includes exciting new initiatives like the Sports conditioning and Athlete development programs.

Why is competition in decline in schools?

It isn't. Competitive sport is an essential part of a balanced programme of PE and school sport. The National Curriculum for PE requires that pupils be taught competitive games throughout the whole of their compulsory schooling. A key part of the work of school sport partnerships is about organising competitive matches within and between schools for pupils of all ages and abilities. The PE and school sport survey showed that 97 per cent of partnership schools hold a sports day and that 37 per cent of pupils in partnership schools are involved in inter-school competition.

What about introducing coaches into schools?

Through the coaches, the aim is to establish paid, qualified community sports coaches working at a local level to increase the number and range of coaching opportunities, according to local need, by 2006. It is intended that the scheme will result in:

• a step change in developing a career structure for coaching
• an increase in the number of qualified coaches employed at a local level
• quality standards for the recruitment, employment, management and development of coaches
• managed, quality continuous professional development support for employed coaches
• High-quality coaching with a focus on young people.

The development of a pool of high-quality community sports coaches will not only contribute to enhancing the quality of existing activity, but also provide the opportunity to generate substantial new activity over time. The pool of community sports coaches will be employed in a geographical area and will work as a team across a range of clubs, schools and local authorities, based on identified need and deployed in such a way as to ensure that the maximum number of young people benefit.

What about training?

Coaches and others require the right expertise and tools to deliver quality and excellence. That is why, as part of the overall company plan, additional professional development is being provided for teachers and others.