Bethan Fagan

UK Coaching is opening nominations for its annual awards, celebrating and highlighting the fundamental role that coaches play at every level in sport.

With 13 categories open, the awards – in their milestone 25^th year – seek to reward the fantastic achievements of coaches, demonstrating what great coaching means, and how they help people to build a healthy relationship with physical activity and sport.

UK Coaching’s CEO Mark Gannon, said:

“The UK Coaching Awards is an opportunity to recognise those coaches who live and breathe their craft. The Awards celebrate coaches who go the extra mile to deliver excellent experiences for their participants and teams. We’ll hear the inspiring stories of how people have achieved, overcome and developed as a result of their coach. It takes lots of perseverance and time to become a great coach and every year we are astounded at those who through self-determination and investment in themselves and their practice, have become truly great coaches.

“Being a great coach is not about winning, it’s about inspiring and supporting the person, team or people in front of you. It’s about knowing what makes them tick, and how to get the best out of them.

“The last couple of years haven’t been easy. The latest data from Sport England reported over 6 million people gave up their time to lead activity sessions in the 12-month period between November 2020 and 2021, and many of these will have been coaches. That’s why we would like the public to really get behind our amazing coaches and show them how much they mean to us.

“There has never been a more important time to celebrate your coach, and what better way than nominating them for a prestigious UK Coaching Award?”

Overall, there are 13 award categories being celebrated at this year’s UK Coaching Awards. All celebrate #GreatCoaching and showcase the coaches and organisations that make a difference. Collectively, they are:

• Community Coach of the Year – Children and Young People
• Community Coach of the Year – Adults
• Young Coach of the Year
• Change a Life Award
• Talent Development Coach of the Year
• High Performance Coach of the Year
• Online Coach of the Year
• Coaching Podcast of the Year
• Inclusive Coaching
• Coach Developer of the Year
• Lifetime Achievement Award*
• Coaching Technology of the Year*
• And the Coaching Chain*, which recognises contributions made by individual coaches throughout an elite athlete’s life in helping them achieve their potential.

*These award categories are not open for public nominations.  

Public nominations for the awards will close at 10:00 on 12th September followed by an independent and impartial judging process.

For the Awards, UK Coaching uses the broad definition of coaching and welcomes nominations on behalf of coaches, instructors, leaders, teachers, trainers, and others who support people to achieve their sport and activity goals.

Nominate a coach for an award: https://www.ukcoaching.org/events/our-awards/criteria

As of 28^th June 2022, the law states that those in a position of trust in sports organisations, such as a coach, cannot legally have a sexual relationship with young people they look after, under 18 years old.

Although young people aged 16 and 17 have reached the age of consent according to UK law, they could be vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation in certain situations. This includes manipulation by adults who hold a position of trust, responsibility, or authority in relation to them, and, as a result, have a considerable amount of power and influence on their lives.

What is a position of trust?

Someone in a position of trust is a person in a position of authority or responsibility over another person. Those in positions of trust have a considerable amount of power and influence on a young persons’ life. For example, a young person may be dependent on their coach, mentor or other adult for their sporting development, success, or position in a club, representative or national team.

What can sports clubs do?

• Review your codes of conduct and linked safeguarding and disciplinary policies
• Attend safeguarding training (UK Coaching Safeguarding and Protecting Children)
• Ensure your members have signed up to your codes of conduct
• Utilise the BWB Safeguarding Resource Library
• Ensure all club members know their safeguarding contacts (ie, have them saved in their phones)

Time2Learn are hosting a free online webinar providing practical advice regarding these changes to the law regarding positions of trust and sport. All BWB clubs are encouraged to attend. Webinar link: https://www.ukcoaching.org/courses/workshops/time-2-learn/36214

The CPSU briefing paper can be found here for further information: https://thecpsu.org.uk/media/446149/preventing-abuse-positions-of-trust.pdf

The BWB Safeguarding contacts can be found here: https://britishwheelchairbasketball.co.uk/rules-regulations/safeguarding/key-safeguarding-contacts/

BWB Safeguarding Library: https://britishwheelchairbasketball.co.uk/club-resources-toolkit/

Blog post credit: AnalysisPro

We recently took the opportunity to visit Performance Analyst Nathan Payne and the British Wheelchair Basketball team (BWB) at their spring training camp at the University of Worcester. We wanted to interview Nathan and some of the BWB team to share with you how they take advantage of our online team communication and sharing platform, Sharimg.

What is Sharimg?

Communication is fundamental to success within a team. The easier you can share information, start meaningful conversations with players and coaches, and paint very vivid and real pictures, the better chance you have of engaging athletes to take ownership of personal development and ultimately enhance performance. Sharimg is an online sports team communication platform, where you can upload videos, analysis, presentations and documents, along with empowering your team to comment, create their own clips and interact with coaches and players. All in one easy to use platform.

How does Nathan support teams throughout the year?

Nathan works across both British Wheelchair Basketball men’s and women’s squads. Most of his role is around gathering data and video to process in Nacsport and share on Sharimg. A lot of the athletes are remote and play abroad in Europe, so he spends a lot of time collecting data from the European leagues to make sure the BWB athletes have what they need to review their own performances.

Nathan Payne, BWB Performance Analyst: “From a core point of view, a lot of the data we get out of Nacsport into Excel and Tableau is for coaches. So that’s around trends, shooting charts etc. We use that as a part of our reviews. This changes during tournament time because we are usually away for 10 days at a time and here we will have games every single day. The turnaround time is quite tight, so efficiencies and workflows are key. This is something we have been working on with AnalysisPro to make sure we can get what we need to be turned around quickly. Sometimes we have as little as 12 hours to get everything ready for reviews and previews for the next day.”

How does British Wheelchair Basketball use Sharimg to engage players?

British Wheelchair Basketball uses Sharimg to share videos with athletes remotely. The majority of the athletes are spread up and down the country and throughout Europe. This means it can be difficult to regularly meet to review videos in person. To ensure they maintain communication with the coaching team and review their video analysis before and after training camps and competitions, they use Sharimg to enable them to operate remotely.

Nathan Payne, BWB Performance Analyst: “Before the lockdown in 2020 we didn’t have an effective way of sharing video with our athletes remotely, so Sharimg was a godsend. During this period we were able to make sure they had footage of previous competitions in the years prior. This also meant coaches could stay connected with athletes. We did a number of tutorial sessions and skill drills that were shared on Sharimg as well.

As we progressed through the pandemic and went to major tournaments, we had some issues with Covid-19 itself, which meant some of the staff couldn’t travel. We had large time differences and location changes for some of the staff and coaches. With Sharimg we were able to get presentations ready for the next day with people back at home and share what we were presenting to the athletes, so we were able to maintain a high level of efficiency with what we were doing.”

How do the athletes use Sharimg?

One of the key features of Sharimg is its interactivity. Athletes can take ownership and accountability for their own learning and development by making their own highlight reels and developing discussions through comments and sharing ideas with other players and coaches.

Nathan Payne, BWB Performance Analyst: “The ability for the athletes to put together their own clips is something we weren’t been able to do before we started using Sharimg. This is something they really enjoy doing. The coaching team might upload a presentation or some clips, but the athletes might see something differently. So they can refer a coach to take a look at something specific or from a different perspective and start a conversation online. The ability to add comments, ask questions and add notes to clips is really important in a remote environment.”

Kayla Bell, British Wheelchair Basketball Player: “I live really far away from my team, so it’s not realistic to turn up for a short video session. So for me, I can look at Sharimg at home and put comments in and start a conversation with my teammates before I have even had a team session to go through the video. For me, it’s perfect because I can work remotely and I’m still included and I can still start the conversation off ready to go into training and work on the things we’ve seen”

Lucy Robinson, British Wheelchair Basketball Player: “Sharimg has been really useful for me personally because I can go over the sessions we’ve had and clip it to be the things I want to work on and it’s a really good conversation starter, so I can share with coaches or teammates the things I have found and discuss things I’ve noticed or things I want them to help me with and want to improve on.

“So after a session, if I have found something I really want to work on or a specific thing like my shot or how I need to move my chair more in a certain angle to get a shot off, I just go on Sharimg and I clip it easily and find it so I can see what I need to change. Rather than looking at the whole game and trying to find it, I can just clip and save it in a specific section then I can go and find it after.”

We want to say a massive thank you to Kayla, Lucy and the whole British Wheelchair Basketball team for letting us into camp and sharing their feedback. Of course, a huge thanks to Nathan Payne too, for sharing your performance expertise with us and the wider video analysis community. We wish you and the team all the best with the debut of the sport at the commonwealth games in July.

We’ll be following up with another post including more feedback and insights from Nathan and Michael Hanson-Morris (Head Coach at East London Phoenix) on the positive impacts of video analysis expansion across Wheelchair Basketball, so stay tuned for that!

Blog post credit: AnalysisPro

Find out more about AnalysisPro: https://www.analysispro.com/
Nacsport: https://www.analysispro.com/product/nacsport

In recognition of Pride month, a month dedicated to celebrating and commemorating the LGBT+ community, we spoke to GB athlete Jude Hamer on the topic of allyship.

What is an ally?

An ally is someone who supports a marginalised community by defending and advocating for their rights and challenging any prejudice towards those people.

In a sporting environment, this can look like challenging the demographic of a club or sport, identifying ways to increase participation of LGBT people and providing a safe space for competition.

Allyship for the LGBT community can be as simple as honouring someone’s pronouns and challenging the use of offensive language. 

What sorts of situations or conversations may someone find difficult, on and off court?

Conversations around someone’s sexuality can always be difficult particularly in a new environment or one that’s perceived to not be welcoming. It can feel like you are coming out every time you meet new people.

Conversations challenging the use of a deadname or wrong pronouns can be provocative and difficult to navigate. 

What sort of things can someone say or do to be a good ally, on and off court?

• Challenge prejudiced behaviour on and off court.
• Use your pronouns in social media, the more commonplace this is the easier it becomes for trans and non-binary people to do the same.
• Celebrate the achievements of LGBT athletes publicly.
• Small things like supporting the Rainbow Laces campaign can go a long way!

The Diploma in Sporting Excellence (often referred to as DiSE) offers aspiring athletes the opportunity to develop their sporting capability, by training in an elite environment supported by British Wheelchair Basketball whilst continuing in full time education.

This programme guides learners through several key skills on and off court, including technical and tactical skills on the court, physical capability including strength and conditioning, and psychological skills. Alongside sport specific skills, DiSE covers areas integral to personal development, building on skill areas that benefit young athletes such as: lifestyle organisation, career planning, communication and leadership, health and safety, and nutrition.

Applications for DiSE open 1st July 2022, and the deadline will be 17th July 2022. In order to apply, athletes must be aged 16 to 18 years old on 1/9/2022, be in full-time education studying A-Levels and / or BTEC Level 3 Qualifications for the next two academic years, and be a member of an affiliated wheelchair basketball club.

To give you an insight into the course, we spoke to Women’s Premier League Worcester Wolves player and current Year 2 DiSE athlete Ellan Fraser:

How did you first get involved in wheelchair basketball?

I started playing in 2015 after trying it at my school. The coach for my local team was there and he asked if I wanted to come to a training session, so I did and I absolutely loved it.

How did you find out about the DiSE programme?

The England Talent Manager at the time (Simon Fisher) approached me about it, it sounded really interesting and good fun.

What would you say are the main things you have got out of the DiSE programme – on and off court?

I definitely learnt more about the athlete lifestyle and how to develop as an athlete- the nutrition and fitness part of DiSE was very useful for improving my performance. Off court, DiSE helped me with my confidence, I made lots of good friends at the camps.

What are your aspirations following the programme? On the court, off the court?

I hope to study physiotherapy at university alongside playing for the Worcester Wolves Women’s Premier League team and continuing on the HPP. I would also love to represent team GB one day!

What would you say to someone considering applying?

Definitely do it, it’s worth it and the 64 UCAS points is helpful (this does not apply to all universities, but can help and support with applications regardless). DiSE not only helps you but also your team as well; the knowledge gained from the course can be taken back to your teams to help them!

DiSE applications open 1^st of July. For more information, head to the webpage: https://britishwheelchairbasketball.co.uk/diploma-in-sporting-excellence-dise/

For further information, email England Talent Manager Justine Lucas at j.lucas@britishwheelchairbasketball.co.uk