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Club, Coach and Volunteer Development

Coach and Volunteer Development
This area of work forms an integral part in the development of sport at a local, regional and national level.  It has been recognised that sport contributes 26% of the volunteer network and without this volunteer support, many sports have difficulty in developing.  
 
Coach and Volunteer Development Programme
The Coach Development Programme has been established based on specific needs of coaches and volunteers within the local community. This programme supports coaches and volunteers by the following 7 statements.

1
Personal development of skills and education not only in the sport specific  areas of coaching but also more generic areas such as Emergency First Aid, Good Practice and Child Protection and Dealing with Equity Issues.
2
Coaches can via this programme, gain employment both within the private, education and local authority sector.
3
Enables the Sport Development Team to recruit, train and ensure that the coaches within the Borough are trained to the required level.
4
Training to higher levels of qualifications helps to maintain the development and performance continuum of athletes.
5
Creates and maintains leadership roles within communities.
6
Creates an environment for coaches to network and share good practice.
7
Ensures quality, safe and effective delivery of programmes throughout the Borough
 
Volunteer Web page

Club Development
Since the appointment of sports development officers to the Borough there has been a dramatic improvement of the infrastructure for local sports clubs.  One of the aims was to establish sport specific forum groups whose role would be to identify clubs needs, share good practice and identify gaps within the local community.
 
The Coach Education Programme, which is a strand of the club development structure, offers support for clubs and their volunteers in order to maintain high quality and safe standards and gives support to the clubs to maintain sustainability by :
 
1
Sports Development Evenings.
2
Advice and support given on funding for sports clubs.
3
Training programmes offered for specific club development.
4
Coordinating role for the club, borough and County Sports Partnership.
5
Advice and guidance given relating to new legislation, National Governing Body of Sport guidelines, government guidelines and their effect on the club infrastructure.
6
Support and help given in relation to promotion and events for the club.
7
Members of the sports development team sit on the local Sports Council committee and play an active part in the decision making process for the community sports clubs, grant  funding applications and distribution of information.
8
Development of the Sports Club Database, supported and funded  by the 6 Districts in Cheshire and also Sport England. This database is now in use by 45 Sports Partnerships nationally.
 
Example of Club Development to date
Established 3 new Junior Clubs in Crewe for basketball, rugby union and netball funded by Sport Cheshire and Local Network Funding plans and partnership working.