UCLan extends partnership with Plas y Brenin

UCLan Outdoor students will continue to enjoy practical sessions with the UK's top provider of outdoor adventure activities, following confirmation of an exciting partnership between the University and Plas y Brenin.

After a successful trial period UCLan has teamed up with the National Mountain Sports Centre in North Wales, where they will help deliver selected courses over the next three years.

Outdoor Leadership and Adventure Sports Coaching students will benefit from the expertise of UCLan and Plas y Brenin staff as they tackle a diverse range of modules.

These will develop their practical, coaching and leadership skills via a range of activities including mountaineering, rock climbing, white water kayaking, sea kayaking, mountain biking and canoeing.

UCLan's Institute of Coaching and Performance will also work closely with Plas y Brenin on research projects, including understanding the judgement and decision making processes of experts in adventure sports that will help to influence the future development of the outdoor profession over the next decade.

UCLan Outdoors Senior Lecturer Loel Collins said: "We're very excited be in a position to maintain our relationship with the National Mountain Sports Centre. It's a partnership that reinforces UCLan and Plas y Brenin as leaders in the field of development in this sector.

Dave Cheetham, Marketing Manager for Plas y Brenin, added: "We're over the moon to be working with UCLan's students and their staff, and we hope it will be a relationship that extends long into the future.

"UCLan is committed to helping its students achieve and surpass their goals, and to helping them convert their learning into rewarding careers in the outdoors. We're convinced Plas y Brenin can play a significant part in helping them do that.

"Alongside top-class coaching, world-class facilities and state-of-the-art-equipment, the students will also have the benefit of being immersed in the exciting and inspiring world of a National Sports Centre, surrounded by high performance athletes, coaches and enthusiasts all eager to help.

"They'll share time with many of the country's most successful climbers, paddlers and riders, and have the opportunity to communicate directly with decision makers from the governing bodies of those sports.

"With input from the best in the business at UCLan and Plas y Brenin, these students will enjoy the best foundation for a career in the outdoor industry."

Coaching expert accepts international invite

Professor Collins accepts Snow Sports NZ role

Professor Dave Collins has been appointed as Sports Psychologist by Snow Sports New Zealand.

Professor Collins has worked as a consultant for Snow Sports NZ for the past two years, and his new role will see him help athletes' preparations for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

He commented: "Since 2013 I've been inputting to the coaches and support staff on how these complex skills can best be taught and established.

"I work with Head Coach Tom Willmott, who is a student on our DProf programme, and supported by High Performance Sport New Zealand through a Prime Minister's Scholarship.

"Tom is one of almost 100 postgraduate students currently working with ICaP - a highly skilled group which includes coaches from Premiership Football and Rugby, a number of Olympic sports, plus support scientists and leaders from a variety of high performance environments."

Snow Sports NZ was formed in 2010 to represent the interests of five winter sports – Ski Racing, Snowboard, Cross Country, Freeskiing and Adaptive Snow Sports.

They boast a number of up-and-coming athletes including Christy Prior, only the sixth female in the world to pull off a double back-flip with a snowboard strapped to her feet.

For more information about Snow Sports NZ please click here.

Performance expert joins Irish Rugby World Cup staff

John Kiely has been appointed to the Ireland backroom staff squad for the upcoming Rugby Union World Cup 2015 tournament.

Currently employed as a Senior Lecturer in Elite Performance within ICaP, John (above right) has worked with Irish squad during the past two Six Nations competitions, operating as a 'return to play' specialist for injured players or those who have been unable to take part in full training.

John said he was delighted to work with Ireland Rugby once again: "It's a prestigious link to have, as there are only four home nations and a limited amount of roles available.

"It reflects extremely well on the work we do within ICaP, where we are constantly looking to push boundaries in elite performance environments. The work I'll be doing with the Irish squad will reinforce that, as I don't necessarily sit within one particular discipline.

"Effectively my role will fall between Strength & Conditioning and Medical, and is what ICaP is all about – constantly striving to implement innovative techniques at an elite level."

John boasts a wealth of sporting experience, previously working with star triple-jumper Phillips Idowu, 2013 Squash world champion Laura Massaro and a host of governing bodies.

He has also spent time in professional rugby as power training specialist for the Munster senior squad, provided consultancy services to leading professional football clubs in the UK and supported numerous Olympic Track & Field major medallists.

To find out more about John please click here.

Golf Trade Show invite for ICaP pair

ICaP's Professor Dave Collins and Dr Howie Carson have been invited to present at Europe's largest golf retail and education event.

The Golf Trade Show 2015 (GTS2015) features expert industry speakers who will discuss a variety of topics including management of staff, junior coaching, biomechanics and how to grow the game.

The timetable is devised to help PGA professionals learn new information to help enhance every aspect of their businesses.

David Colclough, PGA Head of Member Education, said: "This year's line-up brings together some of the members' favourite speakers, along with some of the people who have been shaping much of the recent analysis of how to get more people playing golf.

"We also welcome new speakers who have made an impact on the PGA's CPD programme this year, and I'm particularly excited to welcome Professor Collins, who brings so much knowledge from the world of sport.

"I really hope PGA Professionals will take advantage of all these great learning opportunities during their visit to The Golf Trade Show."

The event takes place 6-8 October at Harrogate International Centre. For more information please click here.

As a follow up to GTS2015, Professor Collins and Dr Carson are running a CPD event entitled 'So now you've learnt to do it, how do you make it better?'

The course aims to provide new 'tools' for coaches relating to 'what needs to be done and why' and 'how to do it' when implementing skill refinement.

The PGA National Training Academy, The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, is hosting the course on 11 November. Applications are currently restricted to PGA members, although may be opened to non-members closer to the event.

For more details please email Dr Howie Carson.

ICaP continues to deliver elite service

ICaP focuses on the enhancement of performance, either directly or by developing providers and systems to bespoke needs.

Institute members regularly work across a variety of disciplines, both individually and as members of an integrated support team.

Andrew Cruickshank is currently providing ongoing consultancy services to the British Judo Association, Motor Sport Association and other individual elite performers.

In addition, his recent publications have covered topics such as the dark side of elite team leadership, culture change in professional sport, and leaders'/coaches' professional judgment and decision making.

Andrew recently completed his UCLan DProf examinations and is completing training as a supervisor for the professional preparation of applied sport and exercise psychologists through the British Psychological Society.

He has also conducted invited presentations at The University of Edinburgh on professional practice (performance psychology) and elite team cultures.

For more information about ICaP please click here.

Institute to launch pioneering new coaching course

ICaP has revealed plans to launch a new course which could change the face of coaching education.

The Level 3 programme has already attracted huge interest across a variety of sports. Table Tennis England are the first national governing body to sign up to the programme and it's hoped others will join them in the future.

ICaP currently offers an endorsed Level 4 UK Coaching Certificate, but after a request by Table Tennis England to look at a new approach for Level 3 awards the new course was designed.

Course Leader Bryan Jones commented: "From an academic point of view it's very humanistic. Rather than people coming in and having a pre-prescribed coaching programme, we'll assess where they are at the start and see how that measures with a set of competencies at the end.

"We're personalising the journey so they can fulfil their Level 3 within the domain they're currently working. It will be a pioneering approach to coaching at this level. We've had lots of interest so far, including from Rugby League, and we're hoping many other sports will see the benefit in utilising the programme."

Miriam Beales, Coaching and Workforce Manager for Table Tennis England, said the new course will properly bridge the gap between Levels 3 and 4.

"For us it's about making it more realistic to the coach for the environment they are in," said Miriam. "Rather than giving them formalised knowledge, everything will be contextualised towards the individual."

The course, targeted for an October 2015 start date, will be worth 20 credits and provides a university certificate plus the chance for progression onto full honours degrees.

Bryan added: "We're pushing the Level 3 award towards the first year of a degree territory. This should create a higher level of coach further down the road. We hope people will see the value of a programme which will result in the learning journey being a true reflection of their needs and aspirations."

For more details about the programme please email Bryan.

ICaP Director in big demand

Professor Dave Collins' expertise has been in much demand across a variety of disciplines over the past few months.

In addition to ongoing consultancy work in Premier League football and Super League rugby, Professor Collins recently advised top British actor Idris Elba during a 'big air' acrobatics challenge for an upcoming television programme.

He has also delivered a Keynote presentation looking at 'Scienceiness' in Talent Identification to students at the University of Bath, completed PhD examinations in Denmark and Norway, and released numerous publications across different sports including Freeskiing and Snowboarding.

At the beginning of May Professor Collins, along with ICaP's Dr Áine MacNamara and Mark Adamoulas, will conduct a training day for RFL Academy staff as part of our ongoing Knowledge Transfer Partnership project.

Future plans include working with London Business School and a collaboration with Professor Carlos Goncalea from the University of Coimbra in Portugal.

For more information about ICaP please click here.

Sports Coach UK Talent Seminars

The Institute of Coaching and Performance (ICaP) will welcome Sports Coach UK to UCLan for the first of a national series of Talent Seminars.

Aimed at high performing coaches in talent and performance, the day will consist of two workshops with the addition of a guest speaker who will deliver the talent topic from their expertise, all utilising current research and applied practice.

The seminars are targeted at Level 2 UKCC qualified coaches or those working within the talent pathway and/or identified talented performer.

The event takes place on Saturday, 16 May. For further information please click here.

ICaP member climbs the BASES ladder

ICaP's Dr Howie Carson has successfully completed his British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) Supervised Experience course.

Conducted by Professor Dave Collins, the course lasted over three years during which Dr Carson provided support in a variety of sports including Golf, Motor Sport, Archery and Rugby Union.

He now plans to apply for Accredited status as a BASES Sport and Exercise Scientist and also Chartered status as a Scientist.

Dr Carson worked with numerous leading sports organisations during the course, including Leicester Tigers Rugby Union Club and the English Cricket Board.

He is qualified as a PGA Advanced Professional golf coach and has been invited with Professor Collins to deliver a headline talk at the prestigious Golf Trade Show in Harrogate later this year.

For more details about Dr Carson's work please click here.

Top names gather for coaching event

Bryan Jones and John Trower recently attended a showpiece national conference which brought together some of the world's leading coaching educators.

Hosted by Sports Coach UK at the University of Gloucester, the UKCC Level 4 Conference featured talks from a number of high profile names and gave delegates the opportunity to share ideas and good practice techniques.

Toni Minichiello, who coaches star athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill; Professor Jean Cote, a world leading researcher into sport; and Sports Coach UK's Andy Grant were amongst a range of speakers from across the sporting spectrum.

The event featured a number of workshops, including updates on the latest research, the current thinking behind the process of reflective practice and the challenges of Mentoring in the UK.

Bryan said the two-day event was extremely productive: "It was great to catch up with colleagues who deal with the same issues on a day-to-day basis. We share our approaches to working with high performing coaches and challenge each other to improve what we do.

"There was a brilliant mix of coaches and coach developers in attendance and it's great to get their views. It is clear from the conference that UCLan are performing exceptionally well and changing the practices of coaches."

For more information about Sports Coach UK please click here.

Scottish Basketball Coach achieves UKCC Level 4

Jim Wright has become the first Basketball coach in Scotland to achieve a UKCC Level 4 qualification.

Jim (far left) came to the course as an experienced coach/tutor with many years coaching at both National and International Level.

He felt his coaching skills had been somewhat self-taught and that he, and his players, would benefit from the course both from a purely academic perspective and from the networking opportunities on offer.

The course had coaches from a number of diverse sports including hockey, rugby league and motor sport, with everyone delivering at National/GB level. Jim was also encouraged to develop his practice through observing other sports and high performance environments.

He said: "Little did I know that I would make excellent links both professionally and personally and have my practice positively impacted in such a fundamental way. I think despite the disparate experiences we all brought, the over-riding emotions during the first weekend were described by all of us as 'my head hurts', 'brain melt' and 'head on fire'.

"This was quickly replaced by an enthusiasm to get into the course largely as a result of the attitude of Bryan (Jones) and John (Trower), who led the academic input and coach mentoring respectively and who were always engaging encouraging and challenging.

"One of the most enjoyable aspects of the course was the fact there were very few 'definites' - it was always about possibilities and opinions. This was refreshing and made for a stimulating learning environment. The range, depth and experience of the guest speakers made for added value.

"Adi Stan, John Kiely and others allowed the teaching to avoid staleness and offered students an opportunity to discuss pedagogy with true leaders in their field. Many of my colleagues took the opportunity to visit Adi and others and found them to be both supportive and welcoming.

"John (Trower) was the Coach Mentor/Yoda figure to a few of us. He was available to discuss Practice Issues, L4 Portfolio and for general discussion regarding the course. I found him particularly supportive on a number of occasions, helping to deliver to various coaches within Scottish basketball.

"Particular highlights were the often tangential discussions that developed from the initial topic. These were always allowed to develop and create stimulating discussions. I believe this was strength of the course, in that it allowed the students to truly be responsible for their learning, and to lead their own learning.

"This was crucial for me, as I viewed the course as both academic and a coaching journey. I could develop or not dependent on my efforts and inclinations. All of the input generated reflection, so it was up to me how to implement it in my practice. I was also exposed to academic challenge and reinforcement of my practice, Graves, Dweck et al were all a delight to re-discover and immerse in.

"The course was a boon to my coaching as I was involved with Scottish National Squads and I was able to relate my new experience to my coaching almost in 'real time', developing both my practice and my players' performance at the same time, examples such as performance anxiety, functional variability spring immediately to mind.

"I would recommend the course to anyone hoping to develop their coaching practice within a hugely supportive academic environment. I'd especially like to thank Arvinder Kaur, Bryan, John and the rest of Cohort 4 for their support during an energizing two years."

Professor Collins presents at ECB event

Professor Dave Collins was a keynote speaker at the recent ECB Association of Cricket Officials Annual Conference 2014.

Professor Collins discussed the Psychology of Officiating, which built on previous work with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) that used video simulations to develop more coherent decision making in referees and touch judges, long before the days of video referees. He also talked about the multi-tasking skills needed by umpires - the 'Flash Lag' hypothesis.

The event attracted a number of leading names from the world of cricket, including former England international fast-bowler Steve Harmison.

Exploring theory and practice - a constraints-led approach

The Institute of Coaching and Performance (ICaP) is teaming up with Plas y Brenin National Mountain Centre to host an adventure sports coaching seminar.

ICaP's Professor David Collins and Dr. Loel Collins will be joined by top coaches Marianne Davies and Dean (Sid) Sinfield at the event, which is aimed at all coach educators in the industry.

The day will be based around sharing ideas and expertise to explore how we can more effectively coach adventure sports using the interaction of personal, environmental and task-specific constraints, and in particular focus on the application of theory into practice.

The event takes place on Friday, 28th November, 9.00am-2.30pm. For further information please click here.

Institute and students help Tongan Rugby preparations

The Institute of Coaching and Performance have been helping the Tongan Rugby Union team prepare for the forthcoming Autumn Internationals.

The squad is spending three days at UCLan Sports Arena using its rugby pitches and strength and conditioning suite as part of a rigorous training schedule before facing Georgia on Saturday, 8 November.

The players were joined for one of the sessions by former South African Rugby Union team coach Jake White. Tonga Head Coach Mana Otai commented: "Training is going really well and we're all feeling very positive. This is our first visit to Preston and the whole squad has been made to feel really welcome.

"We're very impressed with the facilities here at UCLan Sports Arena and will make the most of them as we prepare for our first Autumn International match next week."

Students from a range of UCLan Sport courses have been able to go along to some of the training sessions and watch the players and coaches in action.

Two second year Sports Coaching students, Oliver Hicks and Liam Reilly, have been chosen to work with the squad on performance analysis and the players also took advantage of the University's Physiotherapy Clinic for sports massage treatment from second and third year Sports Therapy students.

Liam said: "It's a massive opportunity to work so closely with the professionals and they see how they do it.

"We've videoed the players in training and can feed back to the coaching staff on specific areas. It's been a big learning curve and we've been given some really useful advice."

If the three day training camp is a success, Tonga will consider using UCLan as a base for next year's Rugby Union World Cup.

It follows a series of other high profile international sports team visits when both the Irish and Fijian Rugby League teams used UCLan Sports Arena as a base camp during the Rugby League World Cup 2013.

UCLan also hosted several Olympic athletes from Oceania, including Tonga, as they prepared for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

ICaP's Bryan Jones said: "Tonga's visit is a legacy of the work we did with several Oceania countries in the build up to London 2012. Since then we've worked hard to develop this relationship and it's fantastic that we're now able to host yet another international rugby team right here on campus.

"It's a great opportunity for students to see and work with professionals and hopefully we will welcome the squad again next year as they prepare for the World Cup."

In addition to the Georgia game, Tonga face the USA on Saturday, 15 November and Scotland on Saturday, 22 November.

ICaP Divisional update

The Institute of Coaching and Performance (ICaP) is looking forward to another successful academic year.

During 2013/14 ICaP hosted its first Talent Development Symposium and had over 45 peer review papers published, including three in the top rated journal 'Sports Medicine'.

ICaP's Professor Dave Collins is delighted to confirm there are now over 90 students on the DProf and MProf courses, including five full fee overseas students. ICaP has also had three doctoral graduates and secured grants worth approximately £300,000.

Staff who have secured prestigious external applied positions include John Kiely (Strength and Conditioning consultant to the Irish national Rugby Team) and recently appointed Lecturer Andrew Cruickshank (Psychology Consultant to British Judo and the Motor Sports Association).

Dr Tim Holder (Senior Lecturer) and Dr Howie Carson (Research Assistant) have both joined ICaP, whilst Dr Aine MacNamara has returned from maternity leave. The Institute are also planning some new postgraduate degree courses.

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