UK Sport

Fourth ILP intake graduate with flying colours

Participants from the fourth ILP intake

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UK Sport 09 June 2011

Participants on UK Sport’s fourth International Leadership Programme (ILP) met for the final time this week in the prestigious headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat at Marlborough House, London. The closing module of the programme provided an opportunity to reflect on the key learnings from the previous modules of the programme and forward plan both individually and collectively for the future. UK Sport wishes to congratulate this year’s participants on their commitment and efforts over the past 12 months.

Participants were joined at the former Royal Palace by Sir Keith Mills who was able to share with the group his extensive international leadership experience through his various positions in sport as well as wider industry. Amanda MacLean, Senior Partner of the Development Partnership, guided participants in developing their key actions for the future and a personal stakeholder mapping exercise while Craig Hunter, former ILP graduate and member of the LEN (European Governing Body for swimming) technical committee, presented valuable insights from his international swimming and multi-sport experiences. This year’s programme was formally brought to a close by UK Sport Chair, Baroness Sue Campbell who spoke of the value of both the programme and the alumni network to British sport.

Working with National Governing Bodies (NGBs) and high performance landscape partners, UK Sport seeks to ensure that the UK is able to contribute to the development and governance of international sport via the building of relationships with International Federations and other key international sporting organisations. The ILP, launched in 2006, forms part of this remit and is designed to equip participants with the skills they need to become effective cross-cultural communicators able to operate successfully on the international stage. Session topics included ‘the operating environment of international sport’, ‘multi-cultural working’ and ‘negotiating and influencing’ over the 12-month programme and featured many guest speakers from the international sporting landscape.

Tanya Crook, the BOA’s Head of Summer Sport Engagement, said of her time on the ILP: “The quality of the content and delivery of the ILP has helped develop my influencing and negotiating skills over the past year.
"The opportunity to meet a network of individuals who work both nationally and internationally in the sport sphere has been invaluable in these learnings and I look forward to continuing to develop both the skills and relationships as part of the alumni.”

The fourth intake of ILP graduates will officially join the now firmly established ILP alumni network which ensures that past participants are able to further develop both domestic and international relationships and continue to share international best practice. Several ILP alumni members were able to attend the group’s graduation dinner at the Royal Overseas League in St James, London the same evening.

A recruitment process for a fifth intake of the ILP was commenced in May 2011. For more information on the ILP, please contact Sam Doney, International Relations Officer at UK Sport on samantha.doney@uksport.gov.uk.

ILP Year 4 Graduates: