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Top coaches share experience at event co-organised by Leeds Beckett Academic
They gathered at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in Australia to take part in the five-day event, which saw keynote speeches from some of the biggest coaching names in the World. These included former World Cup Winner and All Black Head Coach Sir Graham Henry, former coach to Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe, Tracey Menzies, two-time Olympic Gold Medal winning hockey coach, Dr Ric Charlesworth and Hockeyroo legendary player, Alyson Annan, who as a coach led the Dutch Women’s National Team to a Silver Medal at the Rio Olympics.
The Global Coaches House event was organised by the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE). Sergio Lara-Bercial, Senior Research Fellow at Leeds Beckett University’s Carnegie School of Sport works in partnership with the ICCE. He was Master of Ceremonies (MC) for the event and helped organise it in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Sport, the Commonwealth Games Federation and Griffith University, Queensland.
He said: “Global Coaches House Gold Coast 2018 was a fantastic event. It is an ICCE initiative that aims to provide a common sharing and learning space for high performance coaches at major multi-sports events.
“Personally, it was a dream come true to MC the event during the Commonwealth Games and to spend quality time with amazing coaches. Lots of learning involved!”
The Global Coaches House focused on different themes each day:
- The Coach as a Learner
- Coach and Athlete Resilience
- Leadership and Games Coaching
- Coaching Science and Women in Leadership
- Made in Australia
The theme of gender equality cut across all the different themes and saw a number of successful female coaches taking part in discussions. These included Tracey Menzies (swimming), Peggy Liddick (gymnastics) and Ellen Randell (rowing). A further panel saw influential women in leadership positions, including Dame Katherine Granger, Chair of UK Sport, discussing gender equality.
Sergio added: “Preparations for Global Coaches House in Tokyo 2020 are already underway. A delegation from the Japanese Sport Council visited the Gold Coast to get a feel for the nature of the event. The bar has been set very high, but no doubt it will be raised again.”