COACHING CONFERENCE FOCUSES ON WINNING MARGINS

by James Skitt - 14.11.08

English Institute of Sport (EIS) practitioners were among over 400 delegates including coaches, performance directors and other members of world class support teams to attend UK Sport’s eighth annual World Class Coaching Conference, held at the Belfry this week.

The four day event, which concluded yesterday, reflected on the collective experiences of the past sporting year, including Britain’s historic successes in Beijing, whilst also looking forwards towards 2012 with the weeks main focus on striving for ‘Winning Margins’.

A packed programme started on Monday evening with a celebration of British Olympic and Paralympic achievements, with Olympic Yngling Champion, Sarah Webb, attending to say a personal thank you to the coaching community on behalf of all British athletes.

Alongside workshops and presentations, there were keynote speeches on days two and three from BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner and round the world cycling record holder Mark Beaumont respectively.

Gardner, who was shot six times, four of them at point blank range, whilst reporting on an Al-Qaeda related story in Riyadh in June 2004, spoke modestly and inspiringly about his miraculous recovery against the odds, speaking of the positive mental attitude which he believed brought him through his ordeal. Whilst Beaumont, who last year smashed the round the world cycling record by an astonishing 81 days, spoke of the mindset he developed to get through the trials and tribulations of a gruelling 18,000 miles in just 194 days and 17 hours.

In addition to the keynote speeches, a variety of lessons from the Beijing cycle were aired as individuals shared their pre-games and games experiences, critically reflecting on the good and bad across a range of workshops and presentations. From Chris Boardman’s ‘Secret Squirrel Club’, which produced dramatic results in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, to swimming’s Performance Director, Michael Scott, sharing the path his performance team trod in the weeks leading up to the games.

Also on the agenda were workshops including a ‘Holistic approach to F1 driver training’ from McLaren Team Physician Dr Aki Hinsta, guidance on ‘Improving coach feedback through performance analysis’ from Kenny More, Director of Elite Sport Analysis Ltd and Rhona Martin, a GB Women’s Olympic Curling team gold medallist in 2002 and now a UK Sport Elite Coach, whilst Peter Keen, Head of Performance at UK Sport, gave an insight into his philosophy as a winning coach.

Photography © Getty Images