UK Coaching Conference & Play Their Way Summit

We open the day by recognising coaches’ vital role from playground to podium, celebrating their impact while acknowledging many feel isolated and undervalued. With workforce now a priority for Sport England and a competitive advantage in UK Sport, we focus on better valuing, developing, and supporting our coaching community.

Join an interactive keynote exploring why coaches stop coaching, bringing research to life through shared experiences. Reflect on your own journey, connect personal insights to wider findings, and uncover what shapes coaches’ choices as we consider how to better support, value, and sustain our coaching community.

A dynamic session exploring the latest developments in the professional standard for coach developers. Engage with experts, share insights, and navigate opportunities and challenges as we consider what it takes to support a skilled, professional coach development workforce and drive meaningful change across the coaching system.

This interactive workshop explores non-verbal communication and British Sign Language, where practical challenges bring inclusive coaching to life. Reflect on shared experiences, consider barriers faced by deaf participants, and uncover how thoughtful communication, collaboration, and environment can create more inclusive and accessible coaching experiences.

Exploring workforce diversity through insight and lived experience, this session creates space for honest reflection and shared perspectives. Together, we’ll consider current challenges and what’s needed to drive meaningful, collective action towards a more inclusive coaching workforce.

Led by Activity Alliance, this interactive session introduces Inclusive Learning Principles through practical application and real-world insight. Explore how to embed inclusive approaches in your learning design while hearing from organisations already putting them into practice.

This energising roundtable brings the four new mental health knowledge areas in CIMSPA’s Coach Professional Standard to life through purposeful play and discussion. Reflect, connect, and gain practical insights and resources to support more mentally healthy coaching environments.

Focused on inclusive coaching in practice, this session explores how to better support disabled participants with complex needs. Discover practical strategies to build trust, strengthen communication, and deliver person-centred experiences that enable participants to achieve meaningful physical, social, and personal outcomes.

Centered on insights from Reimagining Sport Coaching: Designing a System That Works for Women, this interactive session creates space for reflection, discussion, and action. Explore practical ways to drive change within your organisation and consider how, collectively and individually, we can shape a more inclusive future for coaching.

Grounded in real-world practice, this interactive workshop explores how AI is already shaping coach development and education. Share experiences, reflect on what’s working, and consider how AI can reduce workload, enhance learning, and support more personalised, ethical approaches to developing coaches.

 A session shaped and led by young people, sharing what voice means to them and what adults in sport need to understand.

Starting with a simple question children love to ask, this upbeat session explores how play can unlock meaningful learning. Discover practical ways to design game-based activities, use constraints to guide development, and adapt sessions to suit every age and stage, all while keeping play at the heart of coaching.

Step inside a live podcast recording as Play Their Way host Laura‑Jane Jones joins Football Beyond Borders and Percy Tussumba. Through honest conversation and real stories, this session explores how coaches create belonging, build trust, and shape environments where young people feel seen, safe, and ready to thrive.

Exploring what it truly means to uphold Article 12 in youth sport, this interactive session uses fast-paced, team-based challenges to bring young people’s voices to life. Reflect on common pitfalls and consider how to move beyond tokenism to create meaningful influence and genuine participation in practice.

Tapping into coaches’ own experiences of unstructured play, this workshop explores how to return ownership to children within organised sport. Reflect on how to create environments where young people can experiment and lead freely, while coaches take a step back to support more independent, engaging experiences.

Bringing together voices from across the sector, this dynamic panel explores how greater collaboration can transform children’s experiences of sport and physical activity. Hosted by Laura‑Jane Jones, hear from Chris Spurr (RFL), Sion Kitson (England Futsal), Sport England, and Clare Roberts (Sport Wales).

Led by Coach Core apprentices, this upbeat session puts young people’s voices at the centre of coaching. Explore how listening with intent can strengthen relationships, shape better practice, and support meaningful growth for both coaches and the young people they serve.

Bringing together voices from across the sector, this high-energy panel explores how play can thrive in every setting, from community spaces to inclusive environments and coach development. Featuring Orlene Badu (Badu Sports), Chloe Studley (Activity Alliance), Eugene Minogue (Play England), and Daniel Lycett (St David’s College).

Centred on the powerful story of Rus and Daisey, this interactive workshop explores how long-term relationships can transform lives through coaching. Reflect on the role of trust, care, and connection, and gain practical tools to build deeper, more meaningful relationships in your own coaching practice.