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Saturday 27th March saw the staging of the first-ever virtual Youth Development Coaching Conference, under the banner of the #Unite Conference Series.

It was great to see over 71 attendees across the 3 sessions, representing 15 clubs and groups from across Wales;

Llanelli AC, Barry and Vale AC, Neath Harriers, Denbigh Harriers, 3ms Goreinson RR, Deeside AC, Pembrokeshire Harriers, Menai Track and Field, Colwyn Bay AC, Swansea Harriers, Christian Malcolm Sports Academy, Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend AC, Chepstow Harriers, Llanelli AC.

The morning was opened by James Williams, CEO, who praised and congratulated our coaching community for their resilience and adaptability throughout the last year, particularly in their creativity to ensure athletes felt engaged when unable to meet and train in person. James also spoke about the strategy for the sport in Wales and how we must all play our part to achieve the sports vision.

We were delighted to be joined by fantastic guest speakers who each covered relevant and interesting topics to the audience. Hannah Pretty, Welsh Athletics South Regional Club Development Manager delivered an engaging session on ‘Fun Athletics for U11s - Starting Blocs Explored ’, focusing on how coaches can support young people to develop their physical literacy through a game-based approach and build their competencies around fundamental movements, agility, balance, and coordination.

Paul Moseley, England Athletics Coach Development Workforce Manager, delivered an excellent session: ‘Movement skills - Unlocked’. Exploring the newly launched Welsh Athletics Movement Skills modules and important considerations around addressing key fundamental movements aligned to long-term athlete development.

A strong feature of the day was the foundation Event Group sessions delivered by the Welsh Athletics Performance team, which provided practical takeaways for developing coaches, and ideas and considerations for the return to training.

The day finished with a presentation delivered by Heather Douglas, Head of Policy and Impact UKCoaching. Heather delved into the theme of Duty to Care, exploring how the UKCoaching Duty to Care Toolkit resource provides a knowledge check opportunity across the themes of Safeguarding, Inclusion, Diversity, Well-being and Mental Health, as well as signposting other learning resources and development opportunities around coaching process and coach well-being, on the digital platform.

Our appreciation and thanks go to all the presenters, and attendees,  for their support and contributions to making the day such a success.

If you attended the workshop, you will have received an evaluation form via email, please complete this so we can continue to improve our offer for you.

A COPY OF ALL THE PRESENTATIONS DELIVERED THROUGHOUT THE DAY CAN BE FOUND BELOW:

Session 1

• Strategy for the Sport presentation: James Williams, Welsh Athletics CEO
• Fun Athletics for U11s – Explore Starting Blocs presentation: Hannah Pretty, Welsh Athletics South Regional Club Development Manager
• Movement Skills Unlocked presentation: Paul Moseley, England Athletics Coach Development Workforce Manager

Session 2

• Speed - How to get a great start – Exploring various starting positions/progressions & when to introduce starting blocks. Matt Elias, Welsh Athletics NTDC Speed
• Endurance -  Performance vs Process: Win or Learn? – Exploring appropriate competitive endurance opportunities to support the development of young athletes. Liz Davies, Welsh Athletics NTDC Endurance
• Throws -  Step by step guide to developing a young thrower - Case study. Ryan Spencer- Jones, Welsh Athletics NTDC Throws
• Jumps & CE - Exploring the importance of speed and strength for the development of a young jumper. Fyn Corcoran, Welsh Athletics NTDC Jumps & CE

Session 3

• The Duty to Care Toolkit. Heather Douglas, Head of Policy and Impact, UKCoaching

Recordings of some presentations will be available on our Welsh Athletics Youtube Channel in the coming week.