Community Sports Coach for Cycling Appointed in Derby
Local BMX stalwart and British Cycling Club Coach Richard Camm has been appointed as the first Community Sports Coach for cycling in the UK.
Richard comes to the post from a long career in BMX and Mountain Bike competition. Starting as a schoolboy back in 1983, Richard raced for several clubs including the Warsop Wheelies, Birmingham Wheels, and the Thruster race team.
For the last three years Richard has been working voluntarily on the Bulwell Outlaws track rebuild in Nottingham, running coaching sessions for the local children, and organising the first regional race meeting at the track for several years, attracting over 165 racers. In addition, Richard has continued to race, and develop as a coach, working as an expert rider and guest coach on Midlands Talent Team coaching camps.
Richard’s main role will be to lead coaching activities at three new secondary school Go-Ride clubs in Derby, who together, form the key coaching focus of the newly formed Derby Schools Community Cycling Club (DSCCC), an umbrella group formed in partnership between British Cycling, Sustrans, Derbyshire County Sports Partnership, Derby City Council Sports Development, and Derby City Council Road Safety Team. Further support for the project comes from Derby Mercury Cycling Club, Sporting Futures, and Derbyshire Constabulary.
The development of the school cycling activities has benefited significantly through the successful application for £37,441 of Neighbourhood Renewal funding, which is being used to buy BMX, Road and Mountain Bikes in order to cater for a number of cycling disciplines, as well as hand-cranked and semi-recumbent bikes in order to include young people with disabilities in the project. The schools will also be using some of the cash for bike storage, marketing and publicity.
Coaching activities, both after school and during curriculum time, are being developed in all of the schools, and to compliment the work that Richard will be doing, a total of seven teaching staff from within the city recently attended British Cycling’s Activity Coach Award for Teachers course. Two candidates attended another Activity Coach Award course, to further develop coaching capacity, both in and out of the schools.
The project is gathering pace and other schools and community groups are showing their support and desire to be involved. Richard’s first coaching session is scheduled for Monday 18TH April, however he has already been busy in planning for the project, meeting with staff and pupils at all the schools, and has been promoting the project on local radio.
It’s an exciting time for young people in the city, and the project is set to go from strength to strength.
To download a copy of the Go-Rise Club Development Newsletter in PDF format, please click on the link below:
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/development/Newsletter%20April%202005%201.pdf