Great opportunity for Run England group leaders and coaches

England Athletics is delighted to announce its three Coaching Conferences for 2012. For the first time the events will incorporate bespoke workshops for running group leaders, particularly those with the Leadership in Running Fitness qualification, to provide development opportunities and valuable links to the coaching community. Following on from the excitement of London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the theme of the Conferences will be “Where next for coaching?” They will also be used as the launch events for this winter’s Local Coach Development Programme.

The events which have always been enthusiastically received by attendees will be held as follows:

• North: Leeds Metropolitan University on 29th September
• Midlands and South West: Birmingham High Performance Centre on 30th September
• South: Lee Valley Athletics Centre on 29th September

Each conference will allow attendees to get up to date with recent developments in coach education. The Coach in Running Fitness Qualification has already proven to be popular since it was introduced to the coaching pathway, and the conferences will help to outline how a group leader can progress to this award and begin to examine the key differences between leading and coaching. Individuals will have the opportunity to share best practice and ideas around the practical aspects of running a group e.g. promotion, links to clubs whilst also gaining advice from experienced coaches that will help them to shape high quality sessions. Coaches from the National Coach Development Programme will be on hand in each workshop to share their experiences and our Coaching Marketplace will have information and demonstrations from a variety of organisations who may be able to support and inform your coaching. These range from Lucozade Sports Science, to Fit Kit Pro suspension training and the Run England team.

With almost 6000 individuals qualified as running group leaders through the LiRF award and doing a fantastic job of getting the nation running, places on the workshops are expected to fill up very quickly!

The conferences will help to highlight how England Athletics plans to continue to support coaches moving forwards and that coach development continues to be at the forefront of the athletics landscape. Building on the success of the 2011 conferences, which were attended by approximately 350 coaches these events will again be aimed at meeting the needs of  coaches who are part of the Local Coach Development Programme – that means they will also fit the bill for many other coaches working in clubs and communities across England. Our Club and Coach Support Officers have been working with a number of local coaches to identify priority areas for development and the content of the events will reflect this and vary in each area to meet local needs. In addition to this our Run England Area Coordinators have helped to shape workshops to appeal to group leaders.

Run England Area Coordinator for the Midland and South West Charlotte Fisher, highlighted that, "Whether you are a Run England group leader or a leader in a club this year’s coaching conference will be a great opportunity to find out more about how you can attract new runners, increase participation and progress runners from group to club by developing your skills as a leader. We hope to see you there."

England Athletics' Coach Development Manager, Leonie Lightfoot said, “With more opportunities available for coaches to support their development than ever before it is important that our coaching conferences continue to improve and evolve. We are very excited to welcome group leaders to this year’s events and hope that they will benefit from the sense of community that has been developed amongst our coaches over the past few years. Our coaching conferences are flagship events for the Local Coach Development Programme, kick-starting the winter programme of coach development and ensuring that coaches can be up to date with the latest developments relating to coaching. Events such as these conferences allow coaches and leaders to expand their networks beyond those who they regularly interact with at their club or more local level events.”

You can download more information here:

• Run England sessions at National Coaching Conferences

What they said
Comments from coaches in their feedback on last year’s events included:
“I have already improved the content of my warm up and drills inventory following the knowledge I gained. I feel much more confident in helping young athletes work on the technical elements of their sprint technique.”
“I gained new ideas to keep me fresh and confirmation of the ideas and philosophy I currently use.
"I could not wait to return to my coaching groups with a raft of new ideas and approaches. Cannot wait for next year’s PBs for my athletes. Many thanks! “
“Re-affirmed my beliefs in the importance of coaching and was useful in getting together with other coaches to help re-charge the batteries “
“Excellent and inspirational “

More information and how to book
More information and links to online booking can be found at www.englandathletics.org/coaching-conferences. Further details of workshops and speakers will appear on that page over the next couple of weeks.