Issue 99 - June 1997

Men with a mission

The most important development in the Amateur Rowing Association's services to its clubs for years is personified by the six regional coaching development officers now in place. They met for the first time in April over two days at Holme Pierrepont to talk about their role. A fly on the wall would have been impressed by their expertise, and left clamouring for the outstanding three regions (the East, Yorks and Humberside and Thames Downriver) to be included.

Their job is to help the clubs and regattas in their regions to get more and better qualified coaches, attract new people into rowing, keep rowers in the sport, and exploit opportunities available through the ARA and local services.

The sessions attended by your reporter included a step by step guide to the Instructors Award and Bronze Level Coaching Award, clarification of national vocational qualifications and a lesson from Alan Meegan, the national development officer, on how to tap into money from a variety of grant-awarding bodies. These are the guys who will teach and eventually examine the coaching award schemes and assess the NVQs, and they also spent some time discussing how they would themselves keep up to speed with developments in safety procedures, physiology and training methods, biomechanics, nutrition, equipment development, psychology, rigging and communication through information technology.

Nigel Weare (Thames upriver) and John McCarthy (West Midlands), who have been in post for some time, were full of tips on how to teach very basic techniques for the new boys - Pat Lockley (North West), Simon McCarthy (South East/Thames Lower), Colin Brown (Northern) and Terry O'Neill (East Midlands).

Examples are how to get the best from a video camera, or how to organise time and therefore coach effectively, or how to teach people to teach safe power cleans in weightlifting. It was also clear that the coaching courses are under constant review to make them user-friendly by cutting out cumbersome procedures.

The team is not short on humour, either. Weare on safety procedure:

'They changed the recovery position a couple of weeks ago.'

Regional coaching development officers

• East Midlands: Terry O'Neill,
  National Water Sports Centre, Adbolton Lane, Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham NG12 2LU. Tel 0115 982 5528 Fax 0115 945 5213
• North West: Pat Lockley,
  Wigan Metrolpolitan Borough Council, Leisure Services Dept, Trencher Field Mill, Wallgate, Wigan WN3 4EF. Tel 0194 282 8565 Fax 0194 282 8540
• Northern: Colin Brown,
  University of Durham, Haworth Building, Leazes Road, Durham DH1 1TA Tel 0191 374 7435 Fax 0191 374 7434
• South East/Thames Lower: Simon McCarthy,
  Kent County Council Sports Devolopment Unit, 123 High Street, East Malling, Kent ME19 6ND Tel 0173 287 1791
• Thames Upriver: Nigel Weare,
  Surrey Sports Development Unit, Kings Manor School, Southway, Guildford GU2 6DU. Tel 0148 353 2614 Fax 0148 353 8645
• West Midlands: John McArthur,
  Worcester College of Higher Education, Henwick Grove, Worcester WR2 6AJ Tel 0190 585 5270 Fax 0190 585 5132
• National Development Officer: Alan Meegan Tel 01928 787700 Fax 01928 787733
• Coaching Services National Coaching Co-ordinator: Brian Armstrong,
  8 Purfield Drive, Wargrave, Berks RG10 8AP Tel and Fax 0118 940 2942
• Coaching secretary: Brian Smith:
  ARA, 6 Lower Mall, London W6 9DJ Tel 0181 748 3632 Fax 0181 741 4658

• A regional coach's CV
• Talking to the Guinea pig
• Coaching on the Dock
• Thames Downriver coach funding

© Copyright C. Dodd, 1997.