UK Sport

We use cookies to track and analyse visitors to our website

These cookies help make the website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation. They are necessary for our website to function and cannot be switched off.
These cookies gather information to understand how visitors interact with the website, such as how many people are using our website of which pages are popular to help us improve user experience. Switching off these cookies will mean that we cannot gather information to improve the user experience.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by a third party provider whose services we have added to our website. Switching off these cookies mean that areas of our website cannot work properly.

Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user's experience more efficient.

The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site.

For all other types of cookies we need your permission.

This site uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages.

You can at any time change or withdraw your consent from the Cookie Declaration on our website.

Learn more about who we are, how you can contact us and how we process personal data in our Privacy Policy.

Skip navigation
the national lottery
Twitter Facebook Youtube Instagram LinkedIn
  • About us
    • Our Directors Team
    • Our Board
    • Panels
    • Strategic Plan 2021-31
    • Our partners
    • English Institute of Sport
    • Accessibility
    • Contact us
    • Media centre
    • FAQs
    • Working at UK Sport
  • Our work
    • Investing in sport
    • Investing in events
    • Talent identification
    • Coaching
    • Powering positive change and social impact
    • International relations
    • Leadership, development & governance
  • Events
  • News
  • Sports
    Olympic sports
    • Archery
    • Artistic Swimming
    • Athletics
    • Badminton
    • Basketball
    • Bobsleigh
    • Boxing (Amateur)
    • Canoeing
    • Curling
    • View all
    Paralympic sports
    • Boccia
    • Goalball
    • Para-Archery
    • Para-Athletics
    • Para-Badminton
    • Para-Canoe
    • Para-Cycling
    • Para-Equestrian Dressage
    • Para-Rowing
    • View all
  • Resources
    • A Code for Sports Governance
    • Organisational Health
    • Annual reports
    • Board minutes
    • British Cycling independent review
    • Complaints and whistleblowing
    • Eligibility
    • Fraud, corruption and bribery
    • High Performance System Advisory Group
    • HR policy templates
    • Pregnancy guidance
    • Reports
    • Privacy policies
    • Publication Scheme
    • Recruitment framework
    • The Whyte Review
    • Tenders
    • Transparency and open data
    • Welsh language scheme
  • Jobs in sport
    • Explore career pathways
    • Jobs in sport
    • Submit a job
  • About us
    • Our Directors Team
    • Our Board
    • Panels
    • Strategic Plan 2021-31
    • Our partners
    • English Institute of Sport
    • Accessibility
    • Contact us
    • Media centre
    • FAQs
    • Working at UK Sport
  • Our work
    • Investing in sport
    • Investing in events
    • Talent identification
    • Coaching
    • Powering positive change and social impact
    • International relations
    • Leadership, development & governance
  • Events
  • News
  • Sports
    Olympic sports
    • Archery
    • Artistic Swimming
    • Athletics
    • Badminton
    • Basketball
    • Bobsleigh
    • Boxing (Amateur)
    • Canoeing
    • Curling
    • View all
    Paralympic sports
    • Boccia
    • Goalball
    • Para-Archery
    • Para-Athletics
    • Para-Badminton
    • Para-Canoe
    • Para-Cycling
    • Para-Equestrian Dressage
    • Para-Rowing
    • View all
  • Resources
    • A Code for Sports Governance
    • Organisational Health
    • Annual reports
    • Board minutes
    • British Cycling independent review
    • Complaints and whistleblowing
    • Eligibility
    • Fraud, corruption and bribery
    • High Performance System Advisory Group
    • HR policy templates
    • Pregnancy guidance
    • Reports
    • Privacy policies
    • Publication Scheme
    • Recruitment framework
    • The Whyte Review
    • Tenders
    • Transparency and open data
    • Welsh language scheme
  • Jobs in sport
    • Explore career pathways
    • Jobs in sport
    • Submit a job
Press Enter to Search
News

Olympic medallist Sarah Stevenson selected for Athlete to Coach

Published 26 February 2014

Eleven former world class athletes, including GB Taekwondo’s 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Sarah Stevenson, have been selected to benefit from UK Sport’s new fast-track 'Athlete to Coach' programme, in order to support their transition to world class coaches.

UK Sport has identified high performance coach development as a key ingredient to winning more medals at the next Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio, while building a stronger, more sustainable high performance system, and has doubled its investment into this area for the Rio cycle.

The 'Athlete to Coach' programme, designed to meet a demand from sports for help at the foundation level of the coaching pathway, will support former world class athletes, who have been identified and nominated by their sports, to accelerate their careers in world class coaching.
The coaches selected are (Coach, Sport): 

  • Amanda Coulson, Boxing
  • Ben Rhodes, Sailing
  • Charlotte Burgess, Archery
  • Darran Langley, Boxing
  • Louise Donington, Canoeing
  • Marcus Bloomfield, Cycling - BMX
  • Matthew Lawrence, Para Canoeing
  • Penny Clark, Sailing
  • Ruslan Panteleymonov, Diving
  • Sam Hunter, Gymnastics
  • Sarah Stevenson, Taekwondo

UK Sport has worked directly with over 250 coaches to enhance their professional development, including British Skeleton coach Mark Woods and British Curling coach Rhone Howie (formerly Martin), both former athletes turned coaches themselves, who have just returned from Sochi 2014 where their athletes helped Team GB reach a historic four medal haul.

Liz Nicholl, CEO of UK Sport, said: "Congratulations to the eleven coaches selected to participate in our new Athlete to Coach development programme. This exciting programme provides an important opportunity to harness the experience and knowledge of some of our most talented former athletes as they embark on a career in coaching.

"We know there is untapped coaching potential waiting to be unlocked within our athlete community, particularly among female athletes; while there is an almost even split of split of female and male athletes on the World Class Performance Programme, there are far fewer female high performance coaches, so I am delighted to see how many we have on this first intake of the Athlete to Coach programme.

"These coaches are the future of British sport, and we look forward to supporting them as they build a new career in high performance coaching, and help us to build a stronger, more sustainable system for the next generation of medal winners."

Sarah Stevenson, Olympic bronze medallist and GB Taekwondo High Performance Coach, said: "I’m extremely excited to be a part of the Athlete to Coach programme.

"I think that former athletes have something really special to give back to those currently practicing sport and I hope this course will give me the skills to pass on my experience.

"I’m looking forward to meeting the other coaches on the course; sharing experiences, finding out what their barriers have been in the transition from athlete to coach and continuing to develop as a coach myself."

Penny Clark, former World number one sailor and now British Sailing’s Laser Radial Women’s Youth and Podium Potential Squad Coach, said: "As soon as I heard about the Athlete to Coach programme I knew it would be the perfect vehicle to help me in my transition, and would provide me with the essential building blocks that will become the foundations of my new career as a coach.

"In addition to the knowledge, skills and techniques I am hoping to gain from the programme, I am excited by the opportunity to build professional relationships with coaches from a number of different sports and share experiences and ideas as we all progress through our own unique coaching journey."

Athlete to Coach will complement UK Sport’s existing coach development initiatives - the Elite Coaching Apprenticeship Programme and Elite Programme – and the foundation programmes delivered by sportscoachUK, to ensure a clear career development pathway for high performance coaches in British sport.

Graham Taylor, UK Sport’s Head of Coaching, said: "Our aim is to take British Coaching from world class to world leading, by supporting high performance coaches at every stage of their development.

"At the very start of the elite coaching pathway, with Athlete to Coach, we hope to accelerate the development of talented athletes who want to use their knowledge and experience as a competitor to coach others to follow in their footsteps. This isn’t always an easy transition to make, but our sports have told us if we can better equip these transitioning coaches, it could have a great impact on our coaching workforce."

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
News
five athletes sat on stage in mid disussion
International Relations Seminar 2023
21 March 2023
Eilish crossing the line celebrating with her arms in the air
New research shows British public support athletes speaking out and driving social change
8 March 2023
Female wheelchair basketball player lines up a shot at the hoop.
UK Sport makes first awards from NGB Development Fund to support organisational health
22 February 2023
Sport jobs in the UK
Find & advertise UK based sports jobs here
Read more
Funding Partners
  • DCMS
  • TNL partners
Strategic Partners
  • British Olympic Association
  • Paralympics GB
  • english institute of sport logo
  • Sport England
  • Sport Northern Ireland
  • Sport Wales
  • Sport Scotland
Sitelogo
Sitemap
  • Homepage
  • About us
  • Our work
  • Events
  • News
  • Sports
  • Resources
  • Jobs in sport
  • UK Sport editorial policy
  • Freedom of Information Act 2000
  • Website terms
  • Accessibility
  • Cookies policy
  • FAQs
Contact
UK Sport
6th Floor
10 South Colonnade
London
E14 4PU
E: info@uksport.gov.uk
T: +44 (0) 20 7211 5100
Follow us
Twitter Facebook Youtube Instagram LinkedIn

© Copyright UK Sport 2023