England Athletics In the East Midlands
August 2006
Welcome to the first edition of the East Midlands newsletter since
England Athletics took over governance of the sport in England on 1st
April 2006.
Objectives of England Athletics
Our work in the regions will be to increase the capacity of the sport
and improve performance in every event, at every age group in every region.
In the East Midlands we can only do this by working with you to identify
the support needed locally to achieve these objectives. We will aim to produce a bi-monthly
newsletter and a website to keep you informed of what is going on, but if you
have any queries please do not hesitate to call us.
East Midlands Regional Council
The East Midlands Council is now in place and held its first meeting on
31st July. They would like to thank you for your support in the
recent elections. The elected members
are:
Cy Knibb – Chairman
Ted Butcher
Richard Float
John Knight
Barry Parker
John Skevington
The council is elected to `guide, support and monitor the regional
delivery of the strategy for athletics in England. The Regional Council will work with the Regional Manager and
their team to develop regional priorities, shaping the allocation of the
regional budget that is devolved to the Region’ by England Athletics.
In addition to the elected members the Regional Council can also co-opt
members to cover skill areas that are not covered by the elected members.
The current council does not have
any members with specific expertise in equality work, marketing and sponsorship,
Fundraising, PR, and Facilities. If you
have expertise in any of these areas and are interested in helping develop
athletics in the East Midlands please call Cy Knibb on 01536 764720 or e-mail cknibb@ukonline.co.uk
Regional Plan
A one year regional plan has been put in place to prioritise the work in
the region. A copy of the plan will be posted in the East Midlands website, as
soon as it is set up (we anticipate that this will be in October), however, a
paper or email copy can be obtained by calling the regional office on 01509
228675. Initially the region will be concentrating on setting up structures and
identifying key contacts with the aim to `increase the capacity of
the sport and improve performance in every event and age group’.
The first sub-groups to drive forward specific areas of work will be
focus on:
Coaching, officiating, endurance running and disability athletics.
Coaching
The first meeting of coaches in the region took place on 10th
July at Loughborough University. The
group looked at the role of the coaching forum and how this would work to
develop coaching in the region. The
second meeting with be on 4th September. For more details contact arichardson@englandathletics.org
Regional
Squads
The regional squad sessions are currently in the developmental stage and
more information on structure, athlete selection and coach involvement will be
available at the regional coaching forum on 4th September. The dates
of the squads are as follows 12th November, 10th
December, 7th January, 28th January, 4th March
and 25th March.
Event
Development
At the first meeting of the EM Council it was agreed that £250 should be
granted to Corby AC to support the promotion of its Combined Events Festival on
August 26/27th. The Council will support other projects which
develop the capacity of our sport in the region.
Officiating
The first regional meeting of the East Midlands Officials Secretaries
will take place on 31st August at the High Performance Centre in
Loughborough University.
Disability
Athletics
The Disability Athletics Forum met on the 5th June. The group will be working to help coaches to
develop an understanding of disability athletics and to provide a pathway
within the region for athletes to progress to regional, national and world
class events. If you would like a copy
of the minutes of the last meeting or would like to be involved with the
development of this area of athletics please email awyeth@englandathletics.org
Endurance Running
George Bunner and John Driscoll will present the
National Handicap scheme for endurance running on 14th September
from 7-9pm in the Beckwith Seminar room at Loughborough University. The meeting is open to all and will used as
a catalyst to set up a regional endurance running group to drive forward the
development of all endurance events in the region. If you would like to book on to the evening contact Chris
Mallender on 01509 228 765 / 07815 801 988 or e-mail cmallender@englandathletics.org
In addition to the above evening Ted Grey, Mike Cooke
and John Cooper will be running a Steeplechase
and Hurdles Development Day for coaches and athletes on 23rd
September at Berry Hill, Mansfield from 10am-12 noon. To book on to this course Ted Grey on 01623 861027/ email ted@yet2.demon.co.uk
or Alan Richardson at arichardson@englandathletics.org
Introducing the new regional team
England Athletics in the East Midlands has a new regional team following
the establishment of the new governing body, but firstly we would like to
congratulate Helen Pearce on the birth of baby Oliver on 5th July.
Mum and baby are doing well and we look forward to Helen rejoining us as part
of the regional team in February 2007.
Alison Wyeth has been appointed as Regional Manager and it is her responsibility to
ensure that the regional office is supporting the clubs, coaches, athletes,
officials and volunteers in the drive to raise standards throughout the
sport. Alison was a former
international athlete but over the past six years has worked as Regional
Development Coordinator in the North West and more recently as Head of
Development for AAA of England
Chris Mallender was appointed as Regional Performance & Development Co-ordinator on 31
May to support
& liaise with local clubs, sporting bodies & education establishments
to develop & deliver strategic athletics programmes & initiatives
throughout the region. Chris has joined the regional team from Nottinghamshire
County Council where he worked as a full-time County Athletics Development
Officer for the last 2 years.
Alan Richardson has joined England Athletics as
Coach Development and Education Officer. The role is to help to improve coaching in the region both by providing the
opportunity to be introduced to coaching and by supporting coaches to develop
their skills in order to raise the quality of coaching in the region. Alan has
and continues to compete at a national level in the pole vault while also
coaching international junior athletes, while having come from a background of
employment in the education system.
Northamptonshire
County Coaches Forum - Wednesday 20th
September, 7pm at Kettering Town Harriers Clubhouse, Thurston Drive.
Level
1 Officials Course - 1st October 06 at Corby
Level 2 Officials Course (Track & Field)-
30th September 06 at Kettering
To book a place or for further
information please contact Jade Gresham - 01604 236 170 or jgresham@northamptonshire.gov.uk
Level
1 Coaching Course - 8th October 06 at Corby
Level 1 Coaching Course - 20th January 07 at
Northampton University
Level
2 Coaching Course - 21st & 22nd April 07 at
Kettering
Other Coach Education Courses around
the Region:
Level 1’s: 9 Sept 06 Yarborough / 30
Sept 06 Wirksworth / 11 Nov 06 Ashfield School, Notts / 25 Nov 06 L’boro
University
Level 2’s: 9/10 Sept Loscoe,
Derbyshire / 16 / 17 Sept Ashfield School, Notts
A subsidy of 50% towards the cost of
all the above courses is available for all new and existing club coaches. For
more information on how to access this contact your County Development Officers
or Alan Richardson.
To book a place on any of the
courses contact Alan Richardson, Coach Development Officer, England Athletics,
Sports Development Centre, Loughborough University, LE11 3TU. arichardson@englandathletics.org
tel. 07824 302921
Midlands Coaching Conference takes place at the High Performance Center, Loughborough University
on the 14th & 15th October 2006. Guest speakers include: Former
internationals – John Nuttall, Fayyez Ahmed & Judy Vernon, plus Graham Knight,
Chris Brackstone, Carolyn Franks and Katherine Taylor.
Workshops
for the Saturday include: Testing & Monitoring of Athletes, Development of ‘fast’ power using Plyometrics & Long Term
Development of Jumpers. Workshops for
the Sunday include: Biomechanics, A
look at the Finnish perspective in coaching
Javelin & Conditioning of Athletes.
Both days will conclude with the
speakers of the day sitting as a panel, for a 30 minute Question & Answer session.
£10 for 1
day / £15 for both days – contact any of the regional team for an application form