Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Centre staff have both extensive experience of and interest in coaching policy internationally and in the UK, and how coaching can be improved through system development processes.
Professors Julian North and Sergio Lara-Bercial have worked within sports administration, for example, the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE), UK Coaching, UK Sport, and the Australian Institute of Sport. Prof. North was Head of Research at UK Coaching during the development of the influential UK Coaching Framework (working closely with Prof. Pat Duffy whose name we are proud to associate with our Centre).
Our policy work has both a practical and academic focus. We have worked with the ICCE and the European Coaching Council (ECC) to author/co-author the ICCE’s International Sport Coaching Framework, the International Coach Developer Framework, and the Standards for Higher Education Sport Coaching Bachelor Degrees. These frameworks and resources have be used to design coach development and education systems in Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and the USA. This work has also influenced developments at national and international federation level (i.e., World Sailing and IPGA).
We have worked on a large scale European project including CoachForce21 to explore the professionalisation of coaching across Europe. The outputs of CoachForce21 have provided relevant evidence to make informed decisions about professionalisation issues both at pan-European and national levels. Practical guidance and a menu of options that can be contextualised in different countries will foster the improvement of coaching systems across Europe and beyond.
Ground-breaking research into the prospects of sport coaching as a profession in the EU and beyond - lead by staff from the Centre for Sport Coaching and the International Council for Coaching Excellence.
