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UK Sport's World Class Performance Conference 2009: Teamship

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Jessica Whitehorn 05 November 2009

UK Sport’s annual World Class Performance Conference will begin on Monday at The Belfry in Warwickshire, providing an opportunity for performance directors, coaches and practitioners who work with Britain’s elite Olympic and Paralympic athletes to share best practise and learn from other high performance experts. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Teamship’.

Over 300 delegates from summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic sports will attend the three day conference, and in the spirit of ‘teamship’ the conference from this year forward will allows delegates to attend the conference together rather than split between two groups. The aim of the event is to reflect on and learn from collective experiences across different sports and environments in order prepare for the challenges that lie ahead.

Peter Keen, UK Sport’s Director of Performance, said: “The critical relationship between team culture and performance is the underlying theme of this conference. Teams manifest themselves in sport in many different ways; from the athletes themselves, to the coaching and support team and finally the high performance community as a whole, in which we all play a role.

“As we look to our shared vision of success at London 2012, and the creation of a sustainable, successful sporting system in the UK beyond that point, there is no better time for us to explore ‘teamship’. It is essential that we get the best out of every member of our respective teams and work together to achieve our goals.”

There will be opportunities to attend workshops hosted by those working with high performance teams in sport as well as business, the arts, the military and broadcasting. The focus throughout will be on the key factors that create and maintain a winning team, while encouraging the individual within it to reach their full potential.

Conference delegate Jurg Gotz, Head Coach for British Canoe Slalom, said: “The highest quality ‘teamship’ possible is an absolute must to win gold in London. I’m confident, that this year’s World Class Performance Conference will, once again, provide me with the key messages, allowing us in Canoeing to deliver the ultimate prize in 2012!”

The proceedings will be overseen by BBC Sport’s Hazel Irvine and will include keynote speeches from adventurer Monty Halls and the RFU’s Elite Coaching Manger Nigel Redman. The Conference will also host two graduations; UK Sport’s third cohort of Elite Coach participants and the first group to complete the Women in Leadership Development Programme.

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