New Centre for Coaching Excellence
18 July 2008
A new centre designed to enhance coaching excellence has been opened at Leeds Metropolitan University. The coaching centre is the first of its kind in the UK and is designed to train professional coaches. The centre will be run by a world-class Coaching Faculty who will look to pass on their expertise to the future generation of coaches.
The centre will focus on developing four areas of coaching; these include high performance coaches (to work with elite athletes), performer development coaches (to identify talent), participation coaches (who will primarily work in the community) and children’s coaches.
Commenting on the new centre, the Minister for Sport, Gerry Sutcliffe MP said:
“Behind every great athlete is a great coach and we want to ensure that we have the best sports coaches and coaching system in the world both at the elite end and grass roots. The UK Centre for Coaching Excellence will be vital in helping us realise that ambition. We want to develop a more professional approach to coaching in the UK with it becoming a real career option for people like it is in the United States.”
The SkillsActive Chief Executive, Stephen Studd, added:
“Coaching plays an increasingly crucial role in growing and sustaining participation and developing talent. SkillsActive is delighted about the announcement and are looking forward to working with Leeds Met to develop the National Skills Academy for Sport and Active Leisure and ensure there is strong leadership and support through the Academy for improving the quality of coaching in line with the UK Coaching Framework and rolling out the UK Coaching Certificate.”