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The Coaching Advisory Panel

The Coaching Advisory Panel has been established to provide guidance on how we can better support people and take our commitment to coaches and coaching forward.

Comprised of volunteers, the Coaching Advisory Panel will enable us to consult with coaches and key stakeholders to transform our coaching policy, coaching practice, and learning and assessment. The Panel will also help us to understand and deliver on our duty to care, ensuring that we are best placed, well-equipped, and inspired to continually meet the needs of everyone within the coaching family.

Find out more about our panellists by reading the bios below.

 

Crofton Alexander

Crofton has a BSc (Hons) in Sports Science and an MSc in Strength and Conditioning. An Accredited Strength & Conditioning Coach since 2008 and an L2 BWLA Coach, Crofton sat on the Board as a Director for the UKSCA between 2013 and 2019. During this period, Crofton was responsible for implementing the new Early Years Coach Development grant, and the regional CPD workshops/seminars project.

Passionate about high quality learning opportunities for coaches, Crofton is also a workshop tutor and CPD panel member, ensuring that accredited members maintain their ASCC status.

Ladi Ajayi

Ladi has been involved in sport for over 37 years as a performance athlete and a sport development professional and has extensive management experience.

Coming from a deprived background and growing up in the care system, sport helped Ladi to feel normal and to survive. Those experiences, coupled with often being a pioneer and even a first in some cases within local, regional, and national organisations, has given Ladi a well-rounded perspective of sport and physical activity and its power to change lives.

Ladi has been involved in the ‘Leisure and Physical Activity Development' service in Hackney and running community sport in Lambeth. One of the first Active Sport Managers in the country, he is currently a board member of the Black Collective of Media in Sport.

Gareth Harper

Gareth has been Managing Director with PeacePlayers International (Northern Ireland) since March 2009. Recognising that religious division persists in Northern Ireland, the organisation helps thousands of young people challenge division, prejudice, and racism through sport with the aim of fighting the ongoing segregation.

As well as qualifications from the Queens University Belfast and the Open University, Gareth holds a black belt in Muay Thai kick boxing and a brown belt in Jeet Kune Do.

Gareth is strongly aware of sport’s power to bring people together despite their differences and to reunite divided communities, paving the way for a future in which sport can help more people reach their potential.

Lee Nicholas

A coaching and sport enthusiast, Lee is passionate about developing himself and others to improve coaching, ensuring that coaches have the knowledge and confidence to help everyone they coach succeed in their goals and reach their potential.

His current position is with the Saints Foundation as the Coaching and Training Lead.

He also coaches Southampton FC’s academy U11 team.

Sophie Burton

Strategic Lead for Insight and Workforce at Energise Me, Sophie has over 20 years’ experience in the sport and physical activity sector.

Sophie has been involved in some innovative approaches to workforce development including ‘Pride in Our Workforce’ and ‘Project 500.’ She plays a keen role in navigating and balancing the ask alongside the expectations of the workforce to maximise positive impact.

Having previously worked for local authorities and leisure providers, Sophie has a strong appreciation of the valuable role that the workforce plays in creating environments that motivate people to engage in physical activity.

Kevin Bowring

The first full-time professional National Coach for the Wales National Rugby Team from 1995-1998, Kevin has also been a PE teacher and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff, working specifically on the Sports Coaching degree programme.

After 15 years as Head of Elite Coach Development within the Professional Rugby Department at the Rugby Football Union, Kevin founded Teaching Learning Coaching Ltd, a coaching consultancy with the aim to help coaches, leaders and people become the best versions of themselves.

He has over 40 years’ experience as a teacher, coach and coach developer, and was a non-executive director of UK Coaching from 2011-2017.

Will Roberts

A Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science and Academic Course Lead for the MSci/BSc in Sport Coaching Science at the University of Gloucestershire, Will is also a series editor for the ‘Routledge Studies in Constraints-based Methodologies.’

His current research revolves around the application of constraints-based approaches in elite sport and developmental/grassroots sport and physical activity settings.

Passionate about improving physical literacy and a love of sport in children, Will co-created the ‘Boing Kids’ project, which supports and inspires the creation of playful, active and inclusive activities that develop children’s physical literacy. It recognises that all children are different, while offering solutions to help each child realise their potential.

Michelle Bramley

An international lawyer, executive coach, non-executive director, and board advisor working across commercial and not for profit sectors, Michelle has worked extensively across countries and across cultures.

As a non-executive director at UK Coaching, Michelle chairs the Governance Committee, is the Duty to Care Board champion and is a member of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee.

With experience in leading large teams and as an active coach and mentor, Michelle has a passion for developing diverse, high-performing teams with a strong focus on inclusion. Her goal is to see diversity and inclusion be firmly embedded in sport and physical activity.

Ian Braid

Ian is the founder and MD of DOCIAsport, a bespoke consultancy that focuses on helping organisations in sport bring aspects of duty to care to life in a sustainable manner.

DOCIAsport won Mental Health Consultancy of the Year 2020 at the ‘This Can Happen’ Awards for their work on well-being in the sector, which included a collaboration with Edge Hill University to conduct the UK’s first survey of the mental health of the workforce in sport.

Having also represented the needs of athletes as CEO of the British Athletes Commission, Ian is strongly committed to supporting the “people looking after the people.”

Adrian Christy

Chief Executive of Badminton England since 2006, Adrian is an experienced senior leader with an in-depth knowledge of the sport sector.

Under Adrian’s leadership, Badminton England has secured the greatest level of commercial investment in the history of the organisation, seen the YONEX All England Championships be included among the three badminton ‘majors’ on the World Tour and had its achievements recognised when they were awarded the prestigious ‘Governing Body of the Year’ Award at the BT Sport Industry Awards.

Adrian is passionate about driving a journey of digital transformation to increase reach and engagement with players, members, fans, and partners, as well as to increase revenues, thus improving self-sufficiency.

Heather Lowden

Heather began her career as a PE teacher, and became the Head of PE in Scotland, England and abroad in the 80s.

After working for GB Sports Council in the early 90s, she returned to Scotland to establish a fitness business.

Heather worked for sportscotland from the late 90s until 2010, most recently as a Senior Partnership Manager for Scottish Governing Bodies.

As the Coaching and Learning Manager for Scottish Disability Sport as well as a volunteer coach and mentor, Heather brings a wealth of knowledge and understanding of the fitness industry and disability sport.

Giles Lomax

Giles has worked in the sports development sector for the last 10 years, including in a local authority and with three NGBs (Curling, Gymnastics and Triathlon), primarily working with coaches from grass roots to performance.

He has also played and coached International Rugby League and has considerable lived experience of and empathy for the challenges that coaches face.

Most recently, Giles has been working on implementing a new coaching strategy with Triathlon Scotland that focuses on athlete-centred coaching.

With a keen passion for developing people, Giles’ personal coaching philosophy is that ‘better people make better coaches.’

Stuart Guise

As Head of Coach Development for Great Britain Hockey, Stuart has led a transformation in how the NGB supports and develops coaches in the sport.

Having worked in the sport and coaching sector for over 25 years, Stuart understands the important role that coaches play within sport and physical activity and is committed to driving an improvement in how we support and profile coaches and coaching.

Stuart is extremely passionate about empowering coaches to provide excellent environments and experiences for everyone involved in sport.

Michael Inpong

Michael is a Strategy and Marketing Director who has worked for some of the biggest grocery brands in the UK. In 2017, Michael was appointed Fellow of the Marketing Society.

A keen sportsman, Michael has played high level youth football, won a national karate championship and is a qualified UK Athletics coach. Michael is also a Trustee of the Women’s Sport Trust.

Michael’s wide-ranging experience ensures that he can offer keen insight into our future development based on an in-depth and well-rounded understanding of the sector.

We face a changing environment. By establishing the Coaching Advisory Panel to guide our development, we hope to be able to meet every challenge with enthusiasm, determination, and commitment to always be here for the coach.