Close to 80 club volunteers came together on Sunday for the Club Coaching and Development Conference at Stirling Court Hotel.
The theme of the day was collaboration : Together We Achieve More, and this resonated throughout. The day was opened by two members of our Young People’s Panel, Erin and Euan, who shared their journey in sport, and gave an update on some of the projects they’ve been involved in, during their first year on the panel.
Sophie McCall, Scottish Cycling’s Development and Participation Manager provided an update on some of the key achievements from the first year of the new corporate strategy, and introduced Pamela Dewar, Partnership Manager from sportscotland who gave an overview of ‘Sport for Life’ - their vision for sport in Scotland.
Simon Turner, social entrepreneur of the Crags Centre Edinburgh and part of the Changemakers Partnership, then introduced the Changing Lives approach, and generated discussion among the delegates as we tapped into our passion for cycling and recollected our favourite cycling memories from across Scotland. We explored the ‘why’ - why are we all involved in cycling, and demonstrated that this was far more powerful than the ‘what’.
Club Development Managers James Bracher and Fraser Johnston launched the new Scottish Cycling Club Development framework and opened application for the Club Progression Programme.
Club Progression Programme:
CLUB DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
Delegates continued to engage in discussions around the Changing Lives approach looking at topics such as ‘Are the outcomes from sport entirely positive?’ and ‘To what extent should sport be intentional about creating social impact?’.
To kick off lunch all attendees gathered outside for a group photo, and we also took the opportunity to mark International Women’s Day by celebrating all our female club volunteers in attendance.
The afternoon split into workshops. On the Coaching side, delegates discussed how to develop strong club coaching structures, and also how to individualise rider engagement.
On the Club Development side, Simon led clubs through some further tools they could use to consider how best to embed the Changing Lives approach in their club setting, and we also heard from three of our clubs who have been successful in securing funding through the sportscotland Direct Club Investment programmes.
Delegates also had the opportunity to find out how to maximise funding opportunities for their clubs.
Eilidh of the Young People’s Panel brought all delegates together at the end to sum up what had been an engaging and inspirational day of learning, networking and sharing across the Scottish Cycling Club community.
Club Coaching and Development Conference delegate John Stollery commented after the event,
"I thoroughly enjoyed the Club Coaching and Development Conference as it was a fantastic opportunity to network and share some best practice around coaching in Scotland. We also had some excellent speakers who made us challenge the way we think and approach coaching which I feel will certainly benefit me going forward. Overall I felt there was a huge amount of positivity in the room and that clubs in Scotland can look forward to a bright future under the new Club Development Framework."
All delegates will shortly receive a feedback survey and we would really appreciate your time in completion of this in order to shape future events. If there is anything you’d like to discuss in further depth, please email ClubDevelopment@scottishcycling.org.uk