UK Sport

UK Sport hosts inaugural International Exchange Seminar

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Natalie Broadbent 21 May 2010

When twenty-five sport and development professionals working across thirty-three countries converge there are sure to be differences in language, culture, even weather preferences and not the least approaches to sport and development. However for the same number of delegates who attended the inaugural International community Coach Education Systems (ICES) Exchange Seminar, hosted by UK Sport recently, a common link was found in a commitment to improving the experience for participants in community sport and development programmes by supporting improved education programmes in this area.

Delegates at the seminar

The seminar delegates, brought together as part of the ICES initiative, came from across the sport, sport for development and community sport sectors with home bases stretching from as far as Cape Town, the Fijian capital Suva at the cross roads of the Pacific and Gwalior, located in Madhya Pradesh the state known as the ‘heart of India’.

Brian Minikin the Development Manager of the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) highlighted how useful the connection between such a diverse range of professionals was:

“There is a need to work together more in this field and I very much enjoyed the approach and emphasis on knowledge sharing fundamental to the seminar.”

The seminar was organised around the structure and approach of the ICES project with the purpose being for delegates to exchange philosophies, compare programmes, network and strengthen links while learning from each other’s approaches.

Debbie Lye, UK Sport’s Head of International Development applauded the success of the seminar.

"It was terrific to see sport development practitioners from five continents coming together in London to focus on the importance of the community coach to young people's experience of sport.”

The diversity of experience shared by those in attendance was broad. As an example attendees had the opportunity to engage with the Supreme Council of Sport in Africa Zone VI’s innovative work developing a sport education and accreditation system, as well as the modular, competency based Oceania Sport Education Programme designed to support training and development of a sports workforce across fifteen countries. The link between Skills Active, the sector skills council in the United Kingdom, and the UK Coaching Framework, lead by sportscoachUK, provided an additional parallel example operating across the four home nations.

The recognition of the unique challenges and key contextual differences across the network of attendees was a key message throughout the seminar. This was evident when Special Olympics Bharat’s approach to the training and development of 53,000 coach trainers and coaches across India was followed by Coaching for Hope outlining a strategy to provide in depth mentoring and support for 180 coaches working in their partner organisations in South Africa. Other examples included the International Federation of Netball Associations, with over 60 member nations, focusing on grass roots through to elite sport sharing ideas alongside the Homeless World Cup Foundation utilising football as a tool to empower disenfranchised and homeless communities.

“There can be no better teacher than the experience of people and agencies who have performed systematic work,” said Dr. A.K. Datta, Dean of India’s Lakshmibai National University of Physical Education. “But (each country) has specific issues that must be considered for (this experience) to make positive contributions.”

The diversity and innovation on display resulted in a strong endorsement from delegates of the value of continuing a network and community of practice in this area. This network would exist to share common principles, explore challenges and support strategies for improvement.

Lye added, “For too long community coach education has been a neglected specialism so I am delighted that UK Sport is facilitating this network that can play a leading role in helping to create high quality, protective environments for children in sport.”

More Information

The International community Coach Education Systems (ICES) project is an initiative of UK Sport. It aims to contribute to improving the sport and physical activity experience for children and young people by focusing on the quality education of community sport practitioners.

The project aims to achieve this by providing an international platform for:

  i. Advocacy, networking & recognition,
  ii. Developing common principles and reference points,
  iii. Supporting quality assurance and
  iv. System development of community sport practitioner education.

The project is lead by UK Sport and involves collaboration with a range of international agencies engaged in supporting the education of community sport practitioners.

A quarterly eNewsletter in produced to communicate across the linked network of agencies and professionals.