Professional Development

22 Feb 2010

 

Pursuit of Excellence Programme (PEP)

 

Please note: We are not currently accepting applications.

 

High Performance Coaches are essential to the success of athletes. As part of the Institute's Professional Development Programme it is committed to furthering the knowledge and expertise of the coaches of Ireland's elite athletes.

The Sport Ireland Institute High Performance Coach Pursuit of Excellence Programme (PEP) provides coaches within the Irish high performance sport system with the opportunity to apply for grant aid and expert support towards coaching professional development activities.


The Eligibility Criteria for this programme is as follows;

  1. Applicants must be able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the IIS that they are primarily working as a coach with athletes that are included on the Irish Sports Council's International Carding Scheme at the time of application.
  2. Coaches that may be eligible for Institute of Sport High Performance Coach Pursuit of Excellence Programme (PEP) must fall into one of the following categories:
    i) Head Coach
    ii) Assistant Coach to Head Coach
    iii) Personal Coach to high performance athletes on the Irish Sports Council's International Carding Scheme
    iv) Retired high performance athlete with coaching qualifications who have demonstrated coaching potential and have a goal to coach high performance athletes.
  3. A complete, typed application is received by the deadline with all required supporting documentation.
  4. All coach requirements have been met whilst studying under the programme during the previous 12 months (this only concerns coaches re-applying for support).


All applications must be endorsed and supported by the Performance Director, Head Coach, CEO or Head of Coach Education of the sports High Performance system.

For more information or be included on the mailing list to be advised when applications are being accepted, please contact: Daragh Sheridan at dsheridan@instituteofsport.ie.

 

 

Professional Development - Sparking Performance


High Performance Coaches are essential to the success of athletes. As part of the Institute's Professional Development Programme it is committed to furthering the knowledge and expertise of the coaches of Ireland's elite athletes.

The Professional Development Programme initiated and provided by the Institute is called Sparking Performance. The Sparking Performance initiative consists of a number of complementary elements; workshops, survey engagement, and peer assist.

 

Workshops

The first Sparking Performance workshop took place in Sports HQ in Dublin; home of many of the National Governing Bodies of Sport in April 2009 and was attended by Performance Directors and High Performance Coaches from ten national governing bodies. Resources from this workshop are available to download.

 

Survey Engagement

In high performance sport, effective elite coaches and performance directors are implicit in the development of our Irish high performance athletes. The Sparking Performance survey is designed to identify how the Institute can help our elite coaches and performance directors develop through skills through high value, tailored workshops.
The first engagement survey, completed by performance directors and elite coaches in April 2009, helped to identify topics for the subsequent workshops and Peer Assist sessions. We intend to continue to engage with our elite professionals throughout the year to ensure that we are on target to deliver professional development initiatives that are appropriate, high quality and, most importantly, useful!

 

Peer Assist

Performance directors, elite Head Coaches and Chief Executives of relevant National Governing Bodies are invited to join the Institute Peer Assist community. In a collaborative and friendly environment, this community will take the form of structured, practical sessions where high performance management and coaching professionals can get together to learn, talk and share expertise and support each other. Again, the topics and format of these sessions have been and will continue to be identified as a result of consultation with the professional that we are serving.