GREAT BRITAIN WHEELCHAIR RUGBY PARTNER WITH UK COACHING AS NUMBER OF PEOPLE DELIVERING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FALLS BY A THIRD
Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby has partnered with UK Coaching as part of a nationwide drive to expand the coaching workforce, aiming to inspire more people to take on coaching roles within the sport.
The partnership will see UK Coaching supporting Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby’s coaching recruitment and retention, with a view to significantly increasing the coaching workforce over the next ten years, and ensuring the nation is fully supported to become more active, more often.
Latest Sport England data suggests an alarming drop in the number of people giving up their time to support others to be active, which could continue to exacerbate already decreasing activity levels. 6.6 million people (14% of the adult population) gave up their time to lead activity sessions from Nov 2020-21, a fall of more than 3.1 million people compared to the year before* and this follows a drop in numbers in the years prior to the pandemic.
In response to this worrying new data, UK Coaching – the UK’s leading charitable organisation for physical activity and sports coaches – is leading a nationwide drive to expand the coaching workforce. The campaign will see the organisation engage with seven of the nation’s leading sports, including wheelchair rugby, to ensure coaching becomes more accessible, inclusive and innovative than ever before.
To support the recruitment drive, UK Coaching have launched #Born2Coach – an initiative that aims to significantly boost the coaching workforce by inspiring people to become coaches and empowering current coaches to enhance their abilities.
The announcement comes at the start of UK Coaching Week – the annual national awareness campaign which empowers athletes, coaches and the public to celebrate great coaching.
Discussing the partnership Mark Gannon, UK Coaching CEO said:
“We are delighted to be working closely with Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby to help encourage more aspiring coaches into the workforce. As we learn to live with COVID and seek to recover from the challenges of the last couple of years, we want to play our part in supporting physical activity and sport to help rebuild a more active, happier and healthier nation.”
“Coaches will be an important conduit for engaging a broader range of people from more communities in physical activity and sport, and with the help of our network and partnerships, we will be able to empower existing coaches and recruit the next generation of coaches.”
CEO of Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby , Jason Brisbane said:
“There has never been a better time to get involved as a coach in wheelchair rugby. There is Paralympic wheelchair rugby, wheelchair rugby fives (WR5s), and our soon to be piloted 3 v 3 low point format. This provides great variation for those new to the sport, and existing players or volunteers. We are pleased to be working with UK coaching on this recruitment drive and are looking forward to welcoming more people into our fantastic sport”
To find out more about how you can get into wheelchair rugby coaching, visit www.ukcoaching.org/born2coach.
