Club Coaches

 

The role of the club coach is developing within British Cycling.  The Club coaches are another sector of volunteer who are extremely dedicated to the development of our sport.  Again they cover all disciplines, Road, Track, BMX, Cycle Speedway and MTB. 

Stuart McGinness (Central Region)

 

Josie Heffernan writes:
Stuart McGinness set up the Witney Mountain Bike Club (Witneymtb.co.uk) in 2002 and went on to complete his Club Coach qualification in 2003.  He started coaching children in his local primary school where he serves as a Parent-Governor.  From there he developed the community club with help from family, other local coaches and interested people.

 

The club registered as a Go-Ride Club and with Stuart co-ordinating the requirements, they are the first in Central Region to submit their completed folder for Clubmark accreditation (verification awaited). 

 

During the last two summers the club held a Cycle Challenge Event to offer Go-ride competition, involving teams from six local primary schools.  This year David Cameron, MP, presented the awards.  Next year Stuart is co-ordinating cycling for the first time at the Oxfordshire Youth Games.  From there it is hoped to extend the pilot with schools from the Chipping Norton Schools Sports Partnership (SSP) to all schools in the county.

 

Stuart, together with other coaches, has now visited over 12 schools in the local area to promote the club and their coaching sessions.  He has also coached voluntarily with British Cycling’s Go-Ride PESSCL programme.  He has also been successful in getting club coaches to deliver holiday weeks in local schools and through the West Oxfordshire Sports Development programme.

 

This year Stuart submitted a successful bid to Awards for All to secure cycle lockers at the school and worked on the school’s Travel Plan to encourage more cycling to school.

 

In September he and other coaches organised and ran extremely popular Go-Ride sessions at the National MTB Points series week-end at Checkendon to raise the profile of Go-Ride amongst attending cycling club members.

 

Stuart’s commitment to voluntary cycle coaching at grass routes level has been instrumental to the growth and success of mountain biking around Witney where access to dedicated road or track facilities is difficult.

 

Adam Ellis (East Midlands Region)

 

Jon Day writes:
Adam has been instrumental in setting up Go Ride coaching activities in Lincolnshire.  He has developed the Spalding CC Go Ride scheme from scratch. 

 

The club started with five riders attending sessions and now such is the quality of the coaching, there are 36 riders registered.  The increase in numbers demonstrates how popular and successful Adam has become as a coach.

 

Adam has put an unbelievable amount of work into the scheme.  He coaches at all the club sessions, often taking annual leave to do so.  He has also assisted in PESSCL sessions; some of this work has been unpaid.  Adam has worked hard to improve the facilities at the club venue and has recently managed to secure £1,400 to improve the BMX track.  He has also set up and run a number of inter club events in the region.

 

The club is currently working towards completing the Go Ride accreditation and Adam is yet again the driving force behind it. 

 

As well as driving forward the Go Ride activities Adam still competes regularly and is actively involved in organising and supporting club events.  He is a great ambassador for the sport.

 

Jo Newstead (Eastern Region)

 

Nigel Hampton writes:
Jo is a qualified British Cycling Activity Coach and a member of the Ipswich Bicycle Club where she coaches the club's regular Saturday Go-Ride activities. She has been coaching at the club for two years.  Why the board has nomination Jo for the Club Coach volunteer award is that she goes that extra mile in her coaching and this has been real evidence this year. 

 

When she is not coaching on a Saturday, Jo will still attend the sessions to collect subs, ensure that other coaches have their session plans, and generally oversee other parts to the coaching activity i.e. risk assessment and consent form are competed.  Jo is the coaching secretary for the club and liaises with British Cycling regularly to ensure that the club’s sessions meet good practices and look at ways of developing their coaching programme to maximise the opportunities for young people.

 

Jo is very infused about her coaching and has bundles of energy, which shows in her coaching delivery.  Ipswich BC has just recently become a Clubmark club.  One of the areas that came across strongly during the accreditation visit was the way young people connected with Jo.  Jo has exceptional people management qualities; engaging young people in cycle sport and providing them with a real cycling experience.

 

Ian McGeorge (North East)

 

Peter Root writes:
Ian is the founder member of Newcastle Phoenix CC, the only Go-Ride club in Newcastle.  Ian became a coach in 2003 and gained experience with Hetton Hawks before setting up the new club in partnership with Newcastle City Council and the Phoenix Park Trust. Ian has worked tirelessly to promote the club, which is primarily for young people, attracting new riders on a weekly basis. Parents are eager to become club officials and supplement the coaching staff at the club.

 

He has also recently become a qualified commissaire in order to increase his understanding of all things cycling.

 

Janet Darwell (North West)

 

Alex Scoular writes:
Janet is a highly enthusiastic Coach with a strong belief in sharing her love of cycling with one and all.  No matter what background, ability or skill they may have, Janet actively encourages everyone to enjoy time on a bike.  Some would say she has the patience of a saint.  Janet's enthusiasm is infectious and she has been a driving force in introducing Bolton's children, and non-cycling parents, to cycling. 

 

Having trained many children to abandon their stabilisers, she recognised that many of their parents also needed their confidence building. Consequently, Janet set up parent sessions so that they could gain confidence and accompany their children out on rides - helping introduce many families to healthier, more active lifestyles.

 

Janet is a founder member of the Go-Ride section of Lancashire Road Club giving her time on a Saturday to coach children in a fun, friendly environment.  The children are very fond of Janet and are eager to show they have been practicing the skills that they have learnt week after week, helping them develop into accomplished bike riders. 

 

To help the children further develop, Janet distributes quizzes the children can take home to underpin the skills they have learnt during the session - providing another opportunity for their parents to learn with them.

 

Cycling is lucky to have a volunteer such as Janet, especially as her ambition is to share the joy she has gained from cycling with everyone that she meets.  Cycling could not wish for a better ambassador.

 

Paul Coates (South Region)

 

Dan Coast writes:
Paul has been a qualified British Cycling coach since 2002, he has channelled his passion for the sport in a number of ways, and he has become the Community Sports Coach for Hamble College, going into the five primary schools teaching them cycling techniques and skills.

 

In addition to this he has, through rain and shine, every Thursday taken local cyclists from any club for a cyclo- cross training session. Cyclo-cross is a passion for Paul and this passion comes through in his sessions and in the events that he organises.

 

He recently took on the role of coach and mentor for Southampton CSC while they got some members of their club trained, passing on his knowledge of conditioning and technique acquisition.

 

Eddie Land (South East Region)

 

Roy Page writes:
Eddie has been Club Secretary for West Kent Road Club since 2002, however as a member he was proactive from 1998 to form links with other clubs to set up Team Darenth youth cycling club. Through his involvement in this process he became a Club Coach to enable him to provide quality coaching opportunities for this growing young club.

 

Regular visits to the club would evidence Eddie’s commitment to coaching the youngest age group to develop their skills through fun activities, races and games. It was clear from the participants enthusiasm that Eddie had a distinct rapport with these young riders. Further developments around Team Darenth led to Eddie coaching in a local primary school on Wednesday afternoons in an after school cycling club, in order to recruit new members into the club.  He continues to coach there today.

 

In the year 2000, Kent Rural Disability Sportslink Project highlighted the need for more outreach work to be carried out to enable everybody with any ability to participate in this popular and varied sport.

 

This led to a ‘Pedal Ability’ scheme being organised where British Cycling qualified coaches would coach in special schools across Kent on a regular basis to widen access for pupils with moderate or severe learning disabilities. Eddie took this opportunity to promote cycling through the use of Go-Ride activities, to develop the skills of these young riders. This was extended further to include cycling in the Kent Youth Games for children with disabilities using an adapted Go-Ride skills course.

 

Eddie was keen to expand the opportunities for young people in the Bexley area to experience cycling and joined a number of members from Gemini BC and Woolwich CC to look into cycling developments at Danson Park. In partnership with Bexley Borough Council, Go-Ride Bexley evolved specifically for youth riders with a view to them joining either one of the partnership clubs as they turned 16 years of age. The club has now grown to 50 members and Eddie is there nearly every Saturday, coaching young riders and offering support to the six new coaches that he has helped recruit.

 

Although Eddie has not been involved in coaching individual athletes, his enthusiasm for the sport has seen him bring cycling to 1000’s of young people.

 

Bill Fereday (South West Region)

 

Mark Adams writes:
Bill has been actively developing coaching in schools linking it back to Camel Valley for the last four years.  He has promoted cycling within Cornwall working with Local Authorities and other organisations to promote cycling both as a volunteer and as a Police Officer.  As a Police Officer he is a dog handler; the promotional work as a Police Officer is voluntary and not part of his everyday duties. He has been heavily involved in the North Cornwall Cycling Festival, supporting the organising and acting as a volunteer.

 

John Holt (WCU)

 

Ian Jenkins writes:
After a successful racing career as a club cyclist, John completed his Level II Club Coach award three years ago.

 

In 2005 John started running regular weekly sessions for youth riders at Carmarthen Cycle Track, a facility which had fallen out of use and was in bad repair. John built the sessions up with a committed following of youngsters, combining Go-Ride skills for the very young with track based activities for the more capable youth participant.

 

John continued the sessions this year and his enthusiasm helped bring the Welsh Schools Track Championships and the Welsh Cycling Go-Ride Inter Club Challenge events to the facility. He even convinced the local town council to re-paint the lines on the previously abandoned track ready for the events.

 

The success of the Youth session is proven by the number of riders from the Carmarthen region who enjoyed a club visit to Wales National Velodrome in Newport to spectate at the Welsh Track Championships. John liased with the local Velodrome Go-Ride community club for his new youngsters to join in their regular training session prior to the Welsh Championships and experience riding on the indoor track.

 

John Holt's enthusiasm has seen a resurgence of interest in track participation and grassroots event promotion in the West Wales region.

 

Chris Pyatt (West Midlands)

 

Nick Yarworth writes:
Prior to becoming one of the West Midland Region’s outstanding Coaches Chris Pyatt enjoyed a long and distinguished career as one of the country’s top track riders. Chris started his career with the City of Stoke AC at Newcastle Track; this venue was to provide the setting for many victories for Chris throughout the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.

 

In the late 90’s, having become a World Champion in the Masters Sprint, Chris applied his considerable skills, knowledge and experience to the world of coaching.  As Club Coach to the successful Newcastle Track Cycling Association, Chris has continued to produce talented riders at the venue where he started his own career. The track itself has undergone considerable refurbishment in recent years, considerable credit for the drive behind this goes to Chris who is proud to coach his riders on one of the best out door venues in the country.

 

In 2005 the Association became one of the first clubs in the country to achieve Go-Ride Accreditation; this was due in no small way to the dedicated work carried out by Chris and the team of coaches at Newcastle.  Weekly quality coaching sessions are delivered by the Association to aspiring track riders of all ages, especially the Under 16 category. 

 

The activities are not limited just to the track.  Multi discipline events, including cyclo cross and roller racing are held both at club level as well as a highly successful inter club competition which Chris has worked tirelessly to assist in promoting for the past few years. It is clear that because of the structure set in place by Chris at Newcastle greater numbers of children and young riders now have the opportunity to participate in our sport.

 

On an excellence level Chris has demonstrated his ability to identify and coach talented riders to National Medal standard.  He has been a driving force behind the Regional teams competing at the Revolution Track meetings and has also worked with the regional Academy and Talent Team Programmes.

 

Chris is a role model to all riders, officials and volunteers; we in the West Midlands are privileged and proud to work along side him.

 

Martin Gamble (Yorkshire Region)

 

Peter Root writes:
This nomination by the Yorkshire Board of British Cycling is as a result of continued efforts by Martin to promote Cycle Speedway and Sheffield Stars CSC over the last year.

 

The club runs regular weekly sessions throughout the year at its Graves Tennis Centre base in Sheffield and has recently developed a satellite club on a new facility at Cookson Park, also in Sheffield. Martin has been active at both venues, both coaching and acting as mentor to others who are now following the British Cycling Coach Education programme. Martin continues to spread the word about Cycle Speedway by organising demonstration events at improvised venues such as Duncombe Park, the finish of the Ryedale Grand Prix.