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World Class Coaching Conference 2008: Winning Margins

Jessica Whitehorn - 10/11/2008

Webb (centre) will address delegates during a celebration of success in Beijing
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UK Sport’s annual World Class Coaching Conference will commence today at The Belfry in Warwickshire, providing the first opportunity for the high performance sporting community to congregate since returning from the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Winning Margins’.

Over 400 delegates, including coaches, performance directors and other members of world class support teams from summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic as well as some professional sports, will attend the four day conference. The aim of the event is to reflect on and learn from collective experiences of the sporting year across different sports and environments, in order to prepare for the challenges ahead.

There will be opportunities to attend workshops and presentations from world-leading coaches and practitioners, all based upon striving for the next winning margin, as many sports now turn their attention to London 2012. Topics covered will include mental preparation, talent transfer, innovation and performance analysis, as well as more specific insights into the winning formulas of some of our most successful Olympic sports.

The proceedings will begin with a celebration of the successes in Beijing, overseen by BBC sports presenter Hazel Irvine and will include a thank you to the coaching community on behalf of all the athletes from Olympic Yngling Champion, Sarah Webb.

Day two will include a keynote presentation from BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardener, who almost lost his life in 2004 when he was attacked by Islamist gunmen while reporting on Al-Qaeda from Riyadh. Tuesday will also see the graduation of the second intake of coaches on UK Sport’s Elite Coach programme.

The second keynote will take place on Wednesday, where delegates will hear from ultra-endurance athlete Mark Beaumont, who earlier this year smashed 81 days off the previous world record for cycling around the world.

The conference will conclude on Thursday with further workshops and a closing presentation from Peter Keen, UK Sport’s Head of Performance.

Olympic Manager for the Royal Yachting Association, Stephen Park, said: “It’s been a landmark year, both for Skandia Team GBR and for the whole of British sport, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to share ideas and best practice across sports that the World Class Coaching Conference always brings about.

“At the RYA we’re constantly searching for ways in which we can refine and enhance our sailing programmes to gain that vital performance edge. Coach development and education remains a vital part of that process, especially now as we build towards a home Olympic and Paralympic Games in four years’ time.”

Liz Nicholl, UK Sport’s Director of Elite Sport, said: “This will be the eighth year we have held the World Class Coaching Conference, an event we at UK Sport are proud to say is a must for high performance coaches as well as other practitioners working within elite sport.

“We, of course, have much to celebrate this year after the success of our Olympic and Paralympic athletes in Beijing, but we must not become complacent; there are many areas in which we can improve and the conference will facilitate this via the sharing of knowledge and experience throughout the high performance system.

“I would like to welcome and thank the fantastic speakers and facilitators who will be with us over the next four days, helping us to do just that.”