COMMUNITY COACHES  GATHER AT DAVID BECKHAM ACADEMY

The Community Sports Coach Scheme, which started in April 2004, has proved to be a great success with London communities benefiting hugely from a £20m investment in the employment of 429 local community sport & physical activity coaches.

The Community Sports Coach Scheme is partially funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and is managed nationally by Sports Coach UK and Sport England. London South Bank University’s Academy of Sport coordinates the scheme within the London region. To date, more than £20 million has been invested into the scheme in London alone helping to provide quality coaching opportunities for people wanting to get involved in sport.

In partnership with over 100 local and regional employer organisations in London, there are now 429 coaches employed by the scheme; with each of them putting their skills to good use in schools and youth clubs.

To ensure that coaches are providing the best possible service, they are encouraged to attend the training and development events, to develop their skills, attend workshops and share best practice.

Steve Bucknall, the first Englishman to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in America, is now a community coach employed via the scheme and is based in Lewisham. He puts his excellent basketball coaching skills to good use and young people are now benefiting from his expertise.

The most recent development day event took place on Friday 26th January at the David Beckham Academy in London, with over 100 community coaches attending. Steve Bucknall will be attending together with 2006 ‘Community Sports Coach of the Year’ Chris Hodge from Waltham Forest School Sports Partnership.

Media contacts

Tim Maynard: timm@launchgroup.co.uk or 020 7758 3921

Alex Eeles: alexe@launchgroup.co.uk or 07980 667262

The Community Sports Coach Scheme:

The Community Sports Coach Scheme is funded nationally by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and has been successfully introduced by Sport England to establish 3,000 paid, qualified Community Sports Coaches between April 2004 and December 2006. They are deployed to deliver high-quality coaching with a focus on young people (5-16 years) in the community.

Sport England:

Sport England is working to create an active nation through sport, providing advice to partners, investing in community sport and promoting sport and its benefits. Our aim is to increase the number of people participating in sport and active recreation by around 2 million by 2012 with specific focus on hard to reach groups that are currently under-represented. Sport England is a non-departmental public body that distributes both Lottery and public funding to develop community sport.

Sports Coach UK

Sports Coach UK is a charitable organisation dedicated to the development and implementation of coaches and coaching throughout the UK.