Institute of Sport collaborate with An Garda Siochana to deliver London 2012 Coach Training Event

The Institute of Sport is delighted announce details of a high performance coach training event which takes place on June 22nd – 23rd  in the Garda College, Templemore, Co. Tipperary. The event is the first of 3 coach training events planned for 2012 as part of the Institute of Sport's high performance coach education programme entitled 'The Pursuit of Excellence Programme'.

In 2012, the Institute created 2 new coach support programmes as part of its Pursuit of Excellence Programme. This change was informed through a comprehensive review of the 2011 programme which indicated the need to redesign the current coach support offering. The Institute responded to this feedback by setting up 2 new coach training and development programmes.

The Horizon Programme – Provides formal based training and development support to 22 coaches who perform at a junior/developmental level. The Horizon programme starts in November 2012 and 4 1 day training seminars will be provided to coaches over a 14 month period. The following coaches have applied and successful taken up a place on the 2012 Horizon Programme:

The Podium Programme – Provide informal based training and development to 12 coaches who operate at a senior world class level. The Podium programme provides coaches with an individual grant to access key performance supports whilst also providing coaches with a 2 day pre and post games training seminar. The following coaches have applied and successful taken up a place on the 2012 Podium Programme:

Billy Walsh, Boxing

Pete Taylor, Boxing

Zauri Antia, Boxing

Rory Fitzpatrick, Sailing

Ross Killian, Sailing

Pat Furlong, Paralympic Athletics

Brian Nugent, Paralympic Cycling

James Lafferty, Paralympic Swimming

Daniel McGee, Badminton

Ciaran Ward, Judo

Paul Donovan, Swimming

Ronald Claes, Swimming

'The upcoming Pursuit of Excellence podium event is an exciting event which marks the beginning of a new chapter in our coach support programme. The Podium programme marks an exciting evolution in coach support offering as this is first time that we have created a bespoke programme for coaches at the higher continuum. 12 world class coaches from 8 sports have successfully competed to get onto the Podium programme and we are delighted to be supporting their performance efforts at the London 2012 Games. We are also delighted to extend our training partnership with An Garda Sيochana. Having completed a pilot training event in October 2011, we are truly honoured to access their community of excellence once again. I would like to extend my thanks to Chief Superintendent Ann Marie McMahon, who is the Director of Training & Development in An Garda Sيochana for providing us with this exciting and unique opportunity', stated Gary Keegan, Director of the Institute of Sport.

The programme of activities for the 2 day event will include a joint delivery between the Institute of Sport coach education team and top training practitioners from An Garda Sيochana. The event will address the following learning and development objectives:

1.            Profile and assimilate the typical performance challenges connected with the Olympic/Paralympic Games environment

2.            Assess and enhance coach readiness to deliver top performance at the London 2012 Games

3.            Examine methods designed to assist coaches to solve performance challenges in an applied games context

4.            Develop a peer to peer support ethos across the Podium coaching community

Central to this collaboration will be the use of problem based learning as an approach to simulate live ‘games related’ performance issues. This will involve the use of Garda trainers to role play critical situations that simulate games related scenarios. Coaches in attendance will have an opportunity to test their coaching skills in a range of applied situations and receive video feedback.

'We are delighted to offer coaches on our Pursuit of Excellence programme with a unique training and development opportunity made possible by the training and development team in An Garda Sيochana. This collaboration allows us to access an exciting training and development ethos that is very much focused on an applied problem based learning approach.  We are delighted that 11 coaches have confirmed their attendance for the event which promises to signal a new chapter for our Pursuit of Excellence programme.' stated Daragh Sheridan, Manager, Pursuit of Excellence Programme.