Centre for Coaching Excellence unveiled at Leeds Met
The Minister for Sport, Gerry Sutcliffe, has announced that the UK Centre for Coaching Excellence in sport and disability sport will be based at Leeds Metropolitan University. The new centre will help coaches to develop the sporting stars of the future and will propel the UK into becoming the leading coaching nation in the world by 2016.
The Centre, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, will benefit sports coaches in a wide range of sports to help them reach the top and help drive a legacy of sporting success for British athletes in major events. Start-up funding of £600,000 has been provided by UK Sport and Sport England. The Centre is also being backed by sportscotland, Sports Council for Wales and Sport Northern Ireland.
As well as benefiting sports coaches the Centre will also offer training to community coaches to improve the quality of the sport experience for all, and help identify potential British sports stars of the future. The UK Coaching Centre for Excellence will focus on four areas:
- High Performance – for coaches of athletes capable of achieving success at international level
- Performer Development – for coaches that will focus on talent identification and development of young athletes
- Participation – for coaches working in community sport, helping to increase sport participation
- Children’s coaches – for coaches that will work specifically with young people at each stage of their early development in sport.
The Minister for Sport 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.’
Leeds Met Chancellor, Brendan Foster, said: ‘We are delighted that Leeds Met has been selected to host the UK Centre for Coaching Excellence and that, finally, an organisation is being set up that proudly and firmly places coaching in its rightful place at the centre of British sport.’
