CORNWALL AA COACHING

MAY 2006 NEWSLETTER

There were 9 representatives from Cornwall at the Regional Conference in Exeter on 6^th May. (Ruth and David Hatch(Moorhaven AC) Dave Varney, Tessa Williams, Clive Marsh, Jasmin Hicks(N&P) Mo Pearson, Tony Lett, Alan Rowling, Dave Buzza (CAC)) We tried to diversify between the workshops as much as possible to get maximum representation. But first, let me outline the democratic structure of athletics in England.

• There are 9 Regions, of which the South West is geographically the largest
• Each region has a chair and council. Nigel Rowe from the Plymouth Forum is our interim chairman and is doing a very good job, getting involved in representing all aspects of the sport. The county has nominated Dave Varney (N&P) to serve on the regional council, but clubs can nominate anybody they wish.
• The regional HQ will be at Exeter
• The election of the South West permanent chairperson will take place on 24^th June and he/she will serve a 3 year term of office, and represent the region on the England Council

Meanwhile there will be a UK Members Council that overseas the accountability of UK Athletics Ltd., made up of a President and Vice President, plus:

• An IAAF rep
• Reps from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Three club reps
• Reps for road running, coaching and officials
• UK Athletics
• 2 additional members, preferably with international athletic experience

PRESENTATION OF AWARDS

It was interesting to see that the awarded athletes had more than one nomination.

Clive Marsh (N&P) was awarded the Development Coach of the Year Award

Paul Battern (NRR/Erm Valley) was also nominated

Jacky Brett (N&P) was runner up in the Services to Coaching Award

Facility of the Year Award. I was going to nominate Carn Brea, but not everybody would see the joke.

THE CONFERENCE

The following is my interpretation of the conference, which I thought was a worthwhile experience, dominated by Andy Paul, the Club Services Manager from UKA who went through the development plan that we were there to discuss, and for a while it looked as though there was a danger of a ‘one size fits all’ plan being forced upon us, but in the end, with a tight time frame that did not allow for procrastinating, most aspects of our future were ventured forward from the participants.

The issue of what is happening to the extra levy paid from road race entries opened a can of worms about money and the legacy funding. The answer to the road levy question was not totally resolved as there is still an ongoing issue which Nigel Rowe is on top of, so we await a final solution, but as it stands, 50p comes back to the county and £1.50 goes to England Athletics. As for the legacy money, there will not be millions of pounds in a pot to dip into, as it is being spread over a 3-5 year development period. However, there is a contingency pot of £160,000 for the South West region who are planning to appoint two regional coaches. The original concept was for two part time appointments to cover Power and Endurance, but this of course could change.

The conference split into workshops lasting 45 minutes each; it being possible to attend two of them. The following is an appraisal of the final summary and may have missed one or two points.

Coaching and Education

• Discussing the educational pathway of athletics
• The logistics of actually getting on a course to suit you.
• The courses should have a worthwhile content
• The business of obtaining licence credits has been eased, and in fact, if you are actively coaching then this should no longer be a problem of scratching around to find a suitable workshop.
• County, regional and sub-regional training centres to help define a pathway to progress.
• More meaningful aspect of mentoring
• Some officiating rules should be included at Level 1
• Tutoring. Anybody interested in tutoring can apply for an information pack. Speak to Viv Matthews or myself.
• Should clubs consider specializing in some specific events. Eg if one club has a good hurdles coach, and another hasn’t, then why not send all those interested in hurdling to the one club. (Andy Paul clearly did not understand the expensive logistics of doing this in Cornwall when working on a minimum wage)

As you can imagine, with all of the above topics, none could be discussed in great depth, but the seed has been sown.

Clubs

· Club Mark and its achievability was mixed with the question of ‘What are its benefits?’

· Identification of volunteers without any pressure by overloading them from the word go. They should be encouraged, regardless of how little or how often they can help.

· Travel and the cost of travel to venues was discussed with a view to financial help or moving better competitions around to reduce travel costs (More of that later)

· Clubs could consider a flying squad of specific event coaches (Which could work if their own squads met on different nights)

· Integration with other clubs for some aspects of coaching. (We already do this with the County and 2012 squads and I’m pleased to say it works very well without any need to fear poaching)

· Clubs that are registered as a charity or sports club can claim back25% of their membership fees in the form of gift aid)

Officials

· Identify a pathway for progress

· The need to identify more volunteers

Track and Field

· The benefits of more regional meetings with electronic timing and EDM would not only attract a higher entry but would reduce the number of officials (This subject was been brought up at county meeting last year but was deferred indefinitely)

· We should take the opportunity to make a change by reducing poorly attended open meetings or linking them with others nearby to form a Grand Prix. (This sounded good to me. I could see that working well between Carn Brea, Exeter, Par and Plymouth)

· Put the level of competition first and take school competitions into consideration.

Cross Country

· Two many small leagues

· Propose a South West championship league with two competitions before Christmas and one after and incorporate an inter-county and South West Championship

Road running

· A coaching structure is needed

· More proper officials need to be recruited and trained

· Development distance races of 5ml and 10k to attract younger runners

· Training squads are needed.

Funding

· Each county is invited to appoint a Funding Advisor

· The Award for All organisation has raised its upper limit to £10000 but restricted applications to bi-annual for the same project.

This session was handled by Neil Parsley, the SW Funding Advisor, and whilst nobody from Cornwall attend his session I had words with him afterwards and there are several promising sources out there, if we can come up with any idea’s.

OTHER NEWS

The refurbishment of Carn Brea is running behind schedule because of the weather (a standard construction excuse) but could well be operational by late May.

There is a Coaching Level 1 at Mounts Bay on 9^th September and a Level 2 in November, still using the old format and still being subsidized by the Sports Partnership. Don’t miss out, BOOK EARLY through Mo Pearson at the Sports Partnership, Threemilestone, Truro.

Tony Lett 01209 891101 tony.lett1@btopenworld.com