The latest group of coaches to be selected for UK Sport’s prestigious Elite Coaching Apprenticeship Programme (ECAP) met for their first workshop in Loughborough last week.
The 12 coaches on the 2013-15 cohort represent 11 different Olympic and Paralympic sports, including five sports with coaches on ECAP for the first time.
Para-triathlon and para-canoe, two sports which will make their debut at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, are represented by coaches Jonathon Riall and Colin Radmore respectively.
Another new sport to ECAP this year is syncronised swimming, with National Coach Lolli Montico joining the fifth intake to the programme.
Montico said: “The workshop was a wonderful way for me to further meet the coaches I’ll be working with, but also learn different ways of coaching and see how other sports work.
“I feel that being part of ECAP will give me a better all-round view on coaching and make me more efficient and successful as a coach to aid the British Synchronised Swimming team reach our goals.”
ECAP is targeted at emerging coaches already working in the high performance system, enabling them to not only have an enhanced impact in the short term, but also to become the elite coaches of the future.
David Lindley, National Coach Development, Badminton England, who has also been selected to join the 2013-15 cohort, said: “It is a privilege to be a part of the ECAP program and to be given the chance to develop alongside some of the most promising coaches in the country.”
ECAP promotes a collaborative approach between the National Governing Bodies (NGB) and UK Sport, providing coaches with a two-year accelerated development opportunity to hone the skills, knowledge and experiences to deliver results consistently within high performance sport.
The programme will combine ‘on the job’ training, with the Apprentice working alongside the Master Coach within the NGB, complemented by a structured workshop programme.
As Simon Timson, Director of Performance at UK Sport, told the most recent group of ECAP graduates in November, it is hoped that these coaches will be part of “the future of British sport”, helping to support UK Sport’s strategy to build a stronger, more sustainable high performance system.
ECAP is part of a suite of coach development programmes run by UK Sport, which also include the Elite Programme and the new foundation level Athlete to Coach, to ensure a clear career development pathway for high performance coaches in British sport.
Full list of 2013-15 ECAP coaches:
| Coach (Sport) | Master Coach |
| Gareth Brown (Taekwondo) | Paul Green |
| Richard Denigan (Swimming) | Tim Jones |
| Adam Elliot (Triathlon) | Ben Bright |
| Mark Geraghty (Boxing) | Paul Walmsley |
| Gary Hale (Boxing) | Lee Pullen |
| Marc Holdsworth (Diving) | Andy Banks |
| David Lindley (Badminton) | Jakob Hoi |
| Lolli Montico (Synchronised Swimming) | Biz Price |
| Colin Radmore (Para-Canoe) | Steve Harris |
| Jonathon Riall (Para-Tri) | Chris Furber |
| Maciej Wojtkowiak (Fencing) | Andrey Klyushin |
| Ian Wright (Swimming) | Tim Jones |