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Another £3,000 is awarded to sports coaches in Derbyshire

A total of 44 people who live and coach in the county successfully applied for cash help from the Derbyshire Sport Coach Bursary Fund in the latest round of funding.

This includes 14 coaches from High Peak, nine in Amber Valley, seven from Derbyshire Dales, five from Derby, four from South Derbyshire, two from Erewash and one from both Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire.

Each of them will receive funding to help them gain new skills and coaching qualifications to strengthen their work in a variety of sports including football, rugby union, cricket, gymnastics, swimming, climbing, sailing and netball.

Clive Moesby, Chair of Derbyshire Sport, said: “The Derbyshire Coach Bursary Fund is a great way of supporting coaches to gain accredited qualifications, and in turn will help more young people get a better, more positive experience of sport.

“We want to see young people regularly playing sport and becoming the best that they can be. The Coach Bursary Fund is one way of achieving this.”

Derbyshire Sport launched the Coach Bursary Fund 18 months ago, and since then more than £20,000 has been shared between coaches in the county, many of whom are volunteers within local sports clubs or work to develop links with local schools, supporting young leaders and increasing participation in sport in Derbyshire.

Coaches can apply for up to 50 per cent of the total cost of training, up to a maximum of £200.

One of the many coaches to have previously benefited from the Derbyshire Sport Coach Bursary Fund is Katherine Bates, from Ashbourne.

She applied to the fund after deciding to update her coaching qualifications, and chose to undertake courses in Multi-skills and FUNdamentals as well as the Level 1 Coaching Rugby Union Qualification.

On completion she received 50 per cent of the overall cost from the bursary fund.

Katherine, who is a volunteer coach as well as working as a paid coach at the Rugby Development Centre at Derby College, said: “Having funded my coaching career myself for so long it is rewarding to receive some financial help.

“The bursary fund is an incentive to help coaches further both their qualifications and knowledge, especially within the voluntary sector.”

Katherine has been coaching for 14 years following a successful playing career, and set up the now well-established Youth Section at Ashbourne RUFC and then progressed to Derby RFC helping to set up its Ladies and Girls Section.

She said: “Gaining the new qualifications, with the help of the Derbyshire Sport Coach Bursary Fund, has helped open new opportunities for me as people are actively approaching me with requests for help.”

Graham Dean, from Derby, also used the Derbyshire Sport Coach Bursary Fund to help him gain a Level 2 UK Coaching Certificate.

As a volunteer with Derby Rowing Club, Graham has gradually become more involved with coaching other members, and money from the Coach Bursary Fund has helped him to work towards a professional qualification to back up his years of experience in the sport.

He said: “I certainly wouldn’t have done the course had the funding from the coach bursary scheme not been available. It is definitely something that is needed.

“If you are a volunteer coach you are not going to get the cost of a course back through your coaching work, and so the cost could be prohibitive to some people getting a qualification.”

Graham heard about the Derbyshire Sport Coach Bursary Fund through the Amateur Rowing Association’s local coaching development officer, and he urged other coaches in Derbyshire to apply to the fund too.

Graham said: “It was great to be able to do the course. It has allowed me to think about things such as health and safety and child protection rather than just rowing technique.

“The course also helps you to plan your sessions and become more participant-focussed and more interactive, which helps the athletes to move on and get more out of a coaching session.”

Money from the Derbyshire Sport Coach Bursary Fund has also helped Andrew Cooper to gain a Level 2 UK Coaching Certificate, and in turn given him a confidence boost.

As a long-standing volunteer with Pilsley Cricket Club, when a second Level 2 qualified coach was needed at the club Andrew stepped in and enrolled on a course.

He also decided to attend two coach development workshops, and was able to apply to the Coach Bursary Fund and receive 50 per cent of the costs back.

Andrew said: “I wanted to build on my own personal development as a coach, and take more in to give more back.

“The club’s junior section has grown significantly in the last two or three years so we needed another Level 2 coach, and also as a team manager the confidence that the course has given me is enormous.

“It has really spurred me on and getting the funding towards it really helps.”

He added: “The training has opened up a whole new spectrum. It has given me the confidence and the know-how to put into practice things that I was perhaps struggling with before and has helped me to help other people.”

Andrew hopes that the main beneficiaries from his coaching experiences will be the juniors he coaches.

The Derbyshire Coach Bursary Fund aims to encourage and support Derbyshire coaches in their personal and professional development of coaches, through subsidising the costs of coach education.

Anyone who works to encourage and improve the sporting abilities of others through schools or other community clubs, either as a paid staff member or as a volunteer, is eligible to apply for a bursary.

Money can be used to pay for training, or other associated costs such as travel and accommodation, to gain new qualifications or skills through observation and mentoring.

Applications for the next round of funding are now being invited, and must be received by October 31, 2008.

These will then considered by a panel of partners from across Derbyshire, and successful applicants are usually notified within three weeks of the deadline.

Priority is given to people who are actively coaching in Derbyshire, and applications are particularly welcome from women, black and ethnic minorities, disabled people and unemployed, who are under represented in coaching.

To apply contact Andrea Stone, Coach and Volunteer Development Officer on 01773 571222.