History of Coaching Development in Hampshire & the Isle of Wight

Coaching development in Hampshire & Isle of Wight has a great track record. Long before the days of Active Sports and initiatives like Champion Coaching, local Sports Development and county-wide coaching development has always played an important role in the development of high-quality sport at school, community, club and elite level in the county and on the Island.

School Sport Partnerships
The inception of School Sport Partnerships (SSP) in 2000 signaled yet another landmark for sports coaching in England & Wales. Hampshire has 10 SSPs with a further 5 existing in the three Unitary Authorities of Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight.

The SSPs are managed by a network of Partnership Development Managers (PDMs) and aim to make links between school physical education (PE) and out of school sports participation, and has a particular remit to raise the participation levels of several identified under-represented groups, of which girls and young women are one. National evaluations of the SSP Programme show that it is beginning to have positive impacts on young people's activity levels by increasing the range and provision of extra curricular activities (Office for Standards in Education [OFSTED]). Coaching is a core part of the SSPs objectives as it represents one of 10 core strands of 'PE and Sport Strategy for Young People' (PESSYP), which aims to improve the quantity and quality of PE and sports undertaken by young people aged 5-19 in England.

Community Sport Coaching Scheme
Coaching received a significant boost 5-years ago with inception of the Community Sport Coaching Scheme. Since then it is estimated that almost ½ a million children have received coaching from Community Sports coaches within Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Whilst the scheme is formally coming to an end, the bar has now been raised and National Governing Bodies are now tasked with supporting and developing the coaching workforce and infra-structure alongside national agencies and organisations like Sport England, the Youth Sport Trust and sports coach UK.

In order to make this happen on a local level, it's imperative that we work together to ensure that there is a clear picture of what our young people and adult performers need to achieve their potential in sport.