Coach Development

As part of their Great Coaching Comeback campaign, UK Coaching in partnership with CIMSPA and EMDUK, has launched a new initiative ReTrain to ReTain, funded by Sport England.

The fully-funded scheme aims to provide skills, training, and targeted support for 25,000 volunteer coaches, as well as 25,000 sport and activity professionals, who have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Support available for volunteer coaches

Are you a volunteer coach who lives in an area of economic deprivation or who supports under-represented groups?

You could benefit from UK Coaching providing eligible coaches with 12 months' access to online training courses and resources to help you develop your coaching skills and provide you with the minimum requirements to encourage and facilitate your smooth return to coaching.

This includes fully-funded access to:

• a subscription to UK Coaching Club (worth £24 per year)
• Renewal: Safeguarding & Protecting Children (Digital Kids option) eLearning
• Mental Health Awareness for Sport & Physical Activity+ eLearning
• St John Ambulance First Aid Digital Refresher eLearning

Applications are open until 31 March, 2022, and support will be provided to the first 25,000 successfully eligible applicants. Learn more

Support available for employed coaches

In addition to UK Coaching's commitment to support 25,000 volunteer coaches, the ReTrain to ReTain programme includes wide-ranging support for paid and self-employed coaches, fitness professionals, and employers.

Find out what support is available

National Governing Body (NGB) qualifications, and workshops provided by other organisations, remain the most accessible and recognized way of developing your capabilities as a coach. NGB qualifications allow coaches to progress and diversify as a coach and are the best way for others to judge the level at which a coach can operate. They are central to coaching development and support the improvement of technical knowledge and delivery skills.

Along with an NGB qualification, to ensure coaching practice is safe, appropriate and that coaches have the skills to deal with all situations that may arise, various organisations offer other workshops, such as Safeguarding and Protecting Children.

Three of these workshops are included in the Minimum Standards for Active Coaches (MSAC) as determined by UK Coaching. Active Suffolk offer these courses, along with First Aid training and workshops for clubs, in the form of the annual Club and Coach Education Programme. These courses and workshops are heavily subsidised by Active Suffolk, with preferential rates offered if you are a CIMSPA Member, or a coach/member of an accredited club.

To compliment the NGB qualification and MSAC workshops, coaches can access a raft of other sessions designed to improve a coaches knowledge and understanding. Active Suffolk have collated these workshops, and are offering to organise as and when enough interest has been received. Please refer to our Workforce CPD Guide below

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) refers to the process of tracking and documenting the skills, knowledge and experience that you gain both formally and informally as you work, beyond any initial training. CPD is important because it ensures you continue to be competent in your profession. It is an ongoing process and continues throughout your career.

Active Suffolk, in partnership with education partners have developed a CPD guide for the entire workforce which includes a mixture of workshops, seminars, e-learning modules, webinars and tutorials. The guide also includes guidance for clubs via Club Matters support and also includes CPD for the education and health sectors. A number of the core modules are endorsed by CIMSPA therefore members are able to gain invaluable CPD points.