The Coaching Development & Elite Athletes Working Group (TAPCOM) is led by Bingley Harriers and chaired by Colin Daniel. Its current activities are as follows:
- Conducting an audit of all active coaches within the BAN clubs and developing a comprehensive programme to upgrade their skills and knowledge. This involves updating records to England Athletics, but also distributing information to the coaches of training opportunities offered by EA.
- Distributing subsidies for coach training qualifications (following new EA guidelines of 28 July 2010). It is expected that in the current year a dozen or more “Next Generation” coaches for adult endurance running will be identified and trained; a particular focus will be on people taking Leadership in Running Fitness (LiRF) courses. The basis for the subsidies, as far as funds permit, is that clubs apply for individuals after they have successfully completed a course, and have undertaken to deliver an agreed number of sessions for the club, and that the funding is limited to 50% of the course fee (unless EA regulations state otherwise).
- Identifying local expertise and delivering specialist workshops to help coaches improve training across the area’s clubs. These will include bespoke training seminars from Physiotherapist or Strength and Conditioning specialists together with other bespoke support.
The expected numbers of beneficiaries during the current year are the 115 known coaches across the network.
The England Athletics subsidy this year for these activities is £4,100 (of which £3,300 is allocated to the coaching course subsidies). The group expects to commit 200 hours of volunteer time on these projects.