England Athletics Flying Coach

Supported by Sweatshop
The Flying Coach Programme is being delivered across England to benefit clubs, coaches and athletes of avariety of abilities, across all disciplines. Under the scheme, top coaches visit local clubs to work directly with club coaches and assist with the development of their athletes, to help develop coaching expertise in a particular technical event in a practical coaching environment.

Flying Coach visits typically take place over a number of weeks to ensure that coaches maximise the development opportunities from them. Where appropriate, clubs are encouraged to work together to host the sessions.

Who are the Flying Coaches?

A range of coaches have been identified on the basis of their experience and expertise in technical events. The Flying Coach Programme has seen the likes of former Chicago Marathon winner Paul Evans and World Champion coach John Anderson visiting clubs. Coaches interested in becoming ‘Flying Coaches’ should contact their area Club and Coach Support Officer to register interest (To find your local Club & Coach Support Officer click here.).

What is the cost?

Sport England and specialist retailer Sweatshop have agreed to support the project financially until 2011. This means that the Flying Coach Programme can be offered at no cost to clubs! Coaches working on the programme will be paid and provided with kit by England Athletics.

Requesting a Flying Coach Programme Visit

To request a Flying Coach Programme visit to your club/Athletics Network then please complete and return the Flying Coach Visit Request Form (available to download on the right of this page) to your local England Athletics Club & Coach Support Officer (CCSO). Your Club & Coach Support Officer will then assess your application and if successful will allocate a coach to deliver the session to your coaches. Please read the FAQ document before completing your application to see what the selection criteria the Club & Coach Support Officers apply to requests. To find your local Club & Coach Support Officer click here.

What might a Flying Coach visit involve?

While it is expected that the focus of the majority of Flying Coach visits will be the technical development of coaches, clubs are encouraged to address other areas of coach development using the Flying Coach scheme, such as:

• Strength & Conditioning
• Fundamental Movement Skills
• Planning and Periodisation
• Communication Skills
• Sport Psychology

Case Study – Notts AC

Flying Coach visits were used to help develop a new structure for sprints coaching within the club. Visiting coaches worked alongside club coaches to identify current strengths and weaknesses, gaps in provision, and current areas of expertise within the club. Alongside this, technical skills were addressed, including the development of fundamental movement skills.

A six week programme was delivered to coaches at the club. This explored traditional movement drills, coaching language (do coaches really mean what they say?), new drills, performance analysis (how it can be used?) and analysis of athletes’ movement ability.

Coaches attended from speed, jumps, and endurance events. Each coach was
invited to bring along two of their own athletes to help with the sessions.

Have you got more questions?

If you would like to know more about the Flying Coach scheme you can download the Flying Coach Frequently Asked Questions document on the right hand side.



Supporting the England Athletics Flying Coach Programme
When you buy any product from Sweatshop and quote your England Athletics competition license you get your 10% discount (on full priced product) and also support the Flying Coach scheme as 2% of the value of your purchase is then given to the Flying Coach scheme by Sweatshop.