Regional Development Days begin and UKA Strategy launched

Thursday 28th October 2021

Photo with thanks to Allan Hamilton

Regional Development Days (more details in our original sign-up story)

Scottish coaches gathered at venues around the country last weekend at the start of our Regional Development Day sessions.

The programme is geared to raise standards across specific Event Groups and we’d like to thank the coaching community for a strong response.

Almost 70 coaches will be involved in our opening sessions (last weekend and this weekend) which are the first of a three-part series in Throws, Jumps and Sprints and Hurdles.

Successful workshops took place last weekend at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Pitreavie, Inverness and Tweedbank (with Grangemouth the venue this coming weekend for sprint hurdles and long hurdles).

‘It was great to see the commitment of coaches to the Regional Development Days and we thank those coaches and athlete demonstrators for their time and effort,’ said Mark Pollard, our Head of Performance.

‘The hunger to build knowledge and experience is clear and that can only help clubs and improve athletes. We hope that the Regional Development Days will prove valuable in the development and progression of coaches in the Event Groups.

‘We want to thank our Coach Developers who delivered the sessions on our behalf and we really appreciate your contribution towards progressing the Event Group Projects we’ve set up. Sharing expertise and experience can only help in bringing on the next generation of coaches.’

*More details over the next couple of weeks on the second set of sessions in the three-part Regional Development Days series.

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UK Athletics and four partner Home Country Athletics Federations (HCAFs) – including scottishathletics – have officially launched the Coaching Strategy for the sport of athletics in the UK.

The formation of the strategy has been led by Interim CEO and Director of Development Mark Munro and new Head of Coach Development Jackie Newton, along with the respective HCAF coaching leads.

It follows on from a period of listening to the coaching community and detailed consultation across the sport.

The ambition is a shared vision for coaching, created by coaches, with exceptional coaching for all athletes at every stage of their athletics experience.

The aim of the strategy is to put coaches at the heart of the athletics community through a shared vision for coaching, with open and transparent communication, high levels of engagement and support, that is coach-focused and develops strong networks and great learning environments for coaches across the UK.