Amongst those taking part is British basketball star Luol Deng, who has admitted he is relishing the opportunity to play on home soil. The 24-year-old started his basketball career in Brixton as a nine year old before moving to America to play high school basketball and being drafted in by the Chicago Bulls.

While returning to your home town having become a star overseas may be a fairy story for some, the opportunities for the further development of British basketball stars are improving, and young talent won’t have to move abroad to gain access to top quality coaching while studying.

Last week English Basketball celebrated the launch of the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) for Basketball following a year long trial. The AASE programme combines high calibre coaching for top athletes while they continue their education, meaning that those who don’t manage to make the grade at the highest level still have qualifications to fall back on.

Back in February we visited one of the pilot projects at Southend College, as part of our filming for the AASE celebration events, and as we recently mentioned they have also hosted cameras for the Extra Time programme on Sky Sports. The show provides a good background to the growth of basketball in this country, and how AASE will help our young athletes further. You can view the programme below:

If you want to find out more about AASE, check out the pages over on our website: www.skillsactive.com/AASE

REPs is a register of qualified personal trainers and fitness instructors who have all met agreed National Occupation Standards developed by SkillsActive – the Sector Skills Council for Active Leisure and Learning. More than 28,000 individuals are on the Register – the largest membership based register in the world.

REPs was set up in 2002 to regulate people working in the fitness industry and to safe-guard the health of people like Dawn. The Register has strict entry guidelines developed in partnership with the industry and everyday turns away trainers and instructors who do not meet the standards. However, REPs membership is not a statutory requirement for those working in the fitness industry, which is why stories like Dawn’s are so common. It is true that anyone in the UK can set themselves up as a personal trainer and it is also true that these unregistered trainers and instructors carry out fitness sessions with individuals who may suffer from a range of chronic injuries or even serious medical conditions – all of which can be exacerbated through poorly designed exercise. And although the Register seeks to minimise risk by setting standards, it is not full proof. Like any industry – even the medical profession – there are professionals who act carelessly and fail members of the public. REPs works hard to minimise such cases in the fitness industry and the more aware members of the public are of the Register, the more effective it can become at protecting them.

It is also important to note here that personal trainers are not out to “wreck your health”; in fact, they aspire to do the exact opposite. They help millions of people around the UK everyday get fit, lose weight, reduce stress, rehabilitate and prolong their lives. They contribute to government agendas to combat obesity and they reduce the pressure on the public health purse by improving the health of the nation. Alarmingly, in the past six months the number of people reporting that they never exercise has increased from 11 to 14 per cent and of those that do, less than a third exercise four times a week or more. Furthermore, the percentage of adults who are doing the government-recommended 30 minutes of exercise each session has fallen significantly from 34 to 29 per cent. I believe Tuesday’s article not only misrepresents the fitness industry, but it was irresponsible as well. The media should not be giving Britons any more excuses not to exercise and instead, be encouraging members of the public to be more aware of the skills, qualifications and training required by the people that prescribe them physical activity.

There is no doubt that REPs has been a major catalyst in the professionalisation and up skilling of personal trainers and fitness instructors. When the Register was set up, there was no nationally recognised structure to regulate people working in the fitness industry and to safe-guard the health of people like Dawn Elliot. Now, everyone from highly qualified instructors working with cardiac rehabilitation patients to keep-fit teachers running classes in a village hall can be professionally recognised by joining the Register. It is my vision that all trainers and instructors aspire to gain entry on the Register and that the public are sufficiently aware of those that do not.

I first arrived in Canberra on Friday 14^th August and my journey over seemed to never end.  From Bournemouth – Gatwick – Dubai – Singapore – Brisbane, then waited for six hours at the airport for my next flight on Qantas.  I flew then to Canberra and straight to bed when I go to my B & B.  The weekend was rest and recovery and Sunday night I met up with the boys from Parkeon, one of my sponsors, who took me out for a meal in the City.  Canberra is a strange city, it is so incredibly beautiful, but yet so small.  There are a little over 350,000 people living in the city, although I have no idea where they were, as it always seemed so quiet.  Walking round the city I wondered how all the businesses could be sustained with sales and paying out rent, rates, stock etc.

On Monday my first meeting was with the Australian Institute of Sport.  It was a little out of the city in an area where there was plenty of land.  The place itself is huge, offering tours round the facility with athletes for the tourists that come and visit.  Athletes can live on site for short or long stay, they can also study at university and use the facilities whenever they like.  However in order to receive this kind of treatment they have to be on the Australian World Class Program.  Dave Pease met me and kindly showed me around the Aquatic Research & Testing Unit, a place where they have developed all their own technology and use it to analyse the swimmers.  It truly was sensational and I can see how and why their swimmers are at the forefront of the sport – for the time being anyway. 

I had the opportunity to chat with Dave and he answered many questions and concerns for me about swimming in the UK, however I must add with Michael Scott on board at British Swimming, I really think we are going to see massive developments to elite swimming in the UK.  This is something the Aussies are concerned about as many people who work at the AIS tend to jump ship and come and work in the UK.  After I had finished with Dave he took me to meet Greg Shaw, a senior athlete nutritionist.  Greg spent time with me showing me the structure and support in place for educating swimmers at youth level in nutrition and explained exactly how they do it.  He also told me about a scheme they have running for school children too,  something I was fascinated with. 

After Greg I also met with Julian Jones Head of Strength & Conditioning for the AIS.  This was a very interesting meet for me seeing as one of my main focuses is strength & conditioning.  I showed him an example of a brochure I had given to me, by someone high up in a swimming related company, of exercises to help improve core stability.  When I was given it I laughed and thought it was very poor considering it came from a high level company.  When I showed it to Julian he laughed too and told me that we should keep this document in place for the kids, because it means to them we will never beat them at swimming.  Something I found very amusing.  However, it has now inspired me and also given me the confidence to approach them about doing something much better.  Since coming away from the AIS I have been completely inspired and now have a number of ideas that I am going to implement when I get back to the UK.

The following day I headed out to Swimming Australia where I met with Tim Arnold.  He spent a great deal of time with me explaining about how the sporting structure works in Australia and where swimming fits in to everything.  He was extremely helpful and again demonstrated a fantastic support network for swimming right from grass roots level through to elite.  This to me was valuable information, as before I came to Australia I believed they had a fantastic support infrastructure in place and this was confirmed.

The Wednesday was my last day in Canberra and my flight to Brisbane was leaving at 11am.  This was just enough time to swing on by ABC Canberra Radio Station for my LIVE interview with Alex Sloan.  This was a follow up interview, as I had already chatted with Alex before, although I have to say I wasn’t expecting to go out live on the radio.  However I managed it and coped with it just fine.  On my way to the airport I heard Alex read out some of the text messages that had come in after my interview, which was great to hear as it seems people are interested in what I am up to.

The weather was warm and sunny in Brisbane, 26 degrees to be exact, which is great seeing as this is their Winter.  I picked up a hire car from the airport and then Thursday I headed down the coast to visit Surf Australia, which is tucked away in a fantastic beach resort.  I guess I was expecting to see fantastic things when I got to Surf Australia.  They had told me about their High Performance Centre and after seeing fantastic facilities at the AIS I was expecting a little too much.  Their facilities is just a 25m swimming pool and a large gymnasium that’s open to residents, as well as elite surfers. 

Having said that, I shouldn’t put them down, because what I found out about them is that they too have a fantastic structure and network in place for surfers from learn to surf through to World Class Athletes, and what they do is incredible, seeing as they get very little funding.  Because surfing is not an Olympic sport their funding is massively reduced and they still manage to produce the some of the best surfers in the world.  I picked up what I needed from here and will pass back to the British Surfing Association.

On Friday was another meeting, however this time with the Queensland Academy of Sport.  Well what can I say truly lovely people and again amazing facilities.  I was shown around their centre and their rehabilitation unit, which again is second to none.  They have some of the world’s finest athletes who come through their centre and what they do for these athletes is inspirational.  They help them get back on their feet either after injury or if they need to find work or study.  The QAS work closely with the athletes and are always there for them.  Something I felt was commendable. 

Whilst there I met a young male long jumper who will be at the next Commonwealth Games and also a female High Jumper who should be at the London 2012 Olympics.  I was introduced to a great guy who is Head of Strength & Conditioning for the Queensland Swimming Team and I learnt so much from him.  He is a Doctor in his profession and was able to answer my questions of concern about some of my young athletes.  Again a truly inspirational character and a thoroughly nice guy!  Lawrie Fabian showed me around the facilities and passed me a contact for a head coach in the UK, as he felt he would benefit from using the Young Athletes Training Academy, it just so happens this head coach is based at Poole Swim Club.  Right on my doorstep!  Can you believe it I travel 12,000 miles across the globe and am given a contact in my own town? How fantastic is that?  Lawrie should be coming to the UK next year on his own research mission.  Lawrie was telling me that for years all the other countries have admired the Australians success at sport and have often come over and taken back new ideas to implement in their own country.  Apparently the Australians feel they are being left behind, so are running their own research projects now!

The weather this weekend has been scorching hot and I have taken some time out to catch up on work and on my tan   In Queensland they are having a heat wave and tomorrow (Monday) will be the hottest day on record so far.  Tomorrow is a new day and I have a last minute appointment with Swimming Queensland and also a meeting with the editor for the Brisbane Times.  Stay tuned for more info…

Bygglelegeplads/building play yard

In my visit to Denmark, I was able to visit two different free time homes.  Free time homes offer out of school childcare for children. The first free time home was in Aarhus, named Skraenten and was situated down a sandy road (the name Skraenten means a ditch). This free time home was open from 11:00am until 5:00pm and could have 150 children. The facilities available included a large house used more in winter, and a range of outdoor space and outdoor opportunity.

Bygglelegeplads: Inside the childrens play space.

The children came from age seven. Some children were able to make their own way from school and some children were collected from school. Animals and adventure play were prominent characteristics of this free time home.

There were rabbits, goats and chickens that belonged to the children, an area for outdoor cooking,  and across the sandy road an area where the children built with wood and tools, and played in their creations.The children in this provision had a mass of space in which they could freely access, inside the house as well as the outdoor environment. This project was inspirational in the way that they presented after school childcare for children.

Central play room

The second free time home I visited was in Esjberg and was based in school, for around 80 children.  Although the children did not have access to adventure play and animals as in Skreanten, the children had a variety of spaces that they could use indoors and out. The children were able to move to different rooms and levels. Freedom, choice and space to move around were prominent in this free time home also.

From both of my visits to free time homes, it seems to be evident that in Denmark the children have great access to risk and challenge through their ability to use tools and to be in spaces where no adults are present to adulterate their play.  Their play spaces seem to be truly their own.

Younger children's playroom

The Extra Time programme visited Southend in June to take in a GB U20 warm up match for July’s U20 European Championships, covering a local school sports basketball competition coached and refereed by AASE players prior to the international game, as well as capturing exclusive interviews with the GB Team’s U20 coach Tim Lewis, and AASE coordinator for Essex Ian Mollard.

You can see the programme on Sky Sports 1 on Monday 17 August at 5pm, with repeats at 7pm on Sky Sports 3 later that day and 1pm (SS3) and 2.30pm (SS2) on Tuesday 18 August. We’ve had a sneak preview, and it is a fantastic feature on the AASE programme and how it is benefiting British Basketball, so watch out for it. If you do miss it, we hope to be able to bring you the footage here on the SkillsActive blog afterwards.

You can see some of the AASE basketball players in action and interviewed in February’s video below, around the 3:50 mark:

On Tuesday 11th August, at 8:30am I arrived at Børnehaven Ajstrup Gl. Skole (child’s garden) which was a kindergarten for Danish children aged 3 to 6 years. The meeting place was in Aarhus, where parents dropped off their children. Some children played, and some had breakfast. The parents were welcome to have coffee and have a chat, and the staff were so  friendly. It was a welcoming social space. This provision makes space for 120 children in total. Three buses were scheduled to arrive at 8:00am, 9:00am and10:00am to take the children and the staff to Ajstrup – 17km away.

Children playing in the garden (Courtesy Ajstrup website)

After my short visit to the meeting place and upon sitting on the bus, I felt overwhelmed at how fantastic this provision felt already – but it doesn’t end there! Upon arriving at Ajstrup, we were greeted by Christian who gave us a history of the provision, and he showed us around the outdoor area. There were chickens, rabbits, and horses. The children helped clean and care for the animals. The children were surrounded by nature, and had the day to be in their own space, do their own thing and play in their own way. The children were happy, ran around freely, and could access whatever part of the outdoors they wished to; a large sand area with a tap nearby for mixing, a garden with berries and herbs, wooden houses and huts, trees to climb, rocks to sit on, wooden structures to explore and play with. These are just some examples of the endless open ended play opportunities at Ajstrup.

Lunchtime was a fantastic social occasion. I was able to eat with the children and the staff. The children decided when it was time to eat, and could do anytime from 11:30am until 1:00pm. The staff carefully monitored this so they knew which children needed to eat. Lunchtime was freely in a variety of open spaces and children came naturally together with friends and the staff, ate, chat  and then ran off to play again!

Children in the sandpits (photo courtesy Ajstrup website)

Afternoon observations included a boy digging in mud with a spade, barefooted covered in mud, but totally engrossed in his play. Two girls were transporting soil in wellington boots, near to to a puddle of water on a piece of plastic. They made a pile of soil, paddled in the puddle and stepped in the soil pile to make muddy feet! They laughed and giggled, stepped in the puddle to wash it off, and started the game again!

The buses arrived to take the children back to the meeting place at 2:30pm and 3:30pm. I got the bus back to Aarhus at 3:30pm, and felt drained by the amount of informaton I had taken in, yet excited and inspired by what I had seen and explored.

I watched my slide show of around 150 photographs in the evening,  and again was overwhelmed by the positive experiences, independence, and confidence that the children were given by play opportunities outdoors with nature.

My day at  Børnehaven Ajstrup Gl. Skole was amazing. My thanks to the staff and the children, who made me feel so welcome.

To my joy Lush, a global cosmetic company came forward with the remaining money and generously the Borough of Poole and Poole Tourism has also donated some money.  As I managed to raise a little more money than required the remaining money has bought me clothing with all my sponsors logos on them and a tripod and microphone also for my trip – more on this will be explained later.

The meetings in Australia have now expanded and I have also gained further interest from the press in Canberra.  I decided to make contact with ABC 666 Canberra Radio and a producer from Alex Sloan’s morning show came back to me and said they would love to interview me on the telephone before I arrived and then get me in to the studio when I am in Canberra.  This is fantastic, as it means I am able to spread the word globally about my project! So on Thursday 30^th July I carried out an interview with the radio station, which can be listened to here: Rachel Light interview.

Since Lush has kindly sponsored me, they too are working hard on obtaining press during my trip.  At the moment I am in liaison with their UK press office to arrange this.  It is also pretty big news for Parkeon too, another sponsor of mine, as at the moment they are getting ready to deploy a contactless electronic ticketing system using smartcard technology for the process of charging patrons for public transport.  Smartcard has already been deployed in Perth the only thing different for Canberra is they have no rail system.  Bizarrely my younger brother is a programmer for Parkeon in Poole, and the guy I am meeting with in Canberra used to be my brother’s boss.

Another piece of great news is a few weeks ago my mum suggested I should look in to a cameraman filming my trip seeing as I am having a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet with all these fantastic organisations in Australia.  I therefore made contact with Channel 4 and Sky to see if it was anything they would be interested in.  Unfortunately Sky came back and said they are already supporting many projects and they did not have the budget.  However Channel 4 suggested I contact a production company to see if it would be something of interest to them, as Channel 4 use production companies to make documentaries.  They sent me a link for a directory of production companies and a came across a company who have been absolutely amazing!  Glasshead, based in London, are interested in my trip and also in my plight to improve education and training on health and fitness to young athletes in the UK.  A lovely lady Faye called me and has told me Glasshead are working with SkillsActive already and looking to put together a production for the Olympics and this could fit it.  HOW AMAZING IS THAT!

Unfortunately because of the short notice they are unable to send a camera person with me for my trip, so I have been loaned a camera from Sport England and will have to film myself.  Now I am no camera person and have no idea what I am doing with a camera, let alone made it any good for TV.  I therefore arranged to meet with a freelance news reporter, Richard Slee, who runs his own company called  Look out Media and well, what can I say, a truly kind man who spent nearly two hours with me talking to me about my project and how best to film, shots to take and what will happen when I return.  He has also said he will help me get my story on to the local news.  Now the pressure is really on!  Best get good with that camera…  I’ve spent the last few days filming everything and I’ve still got so much to learn!

Once again I would like to say thank you to all my sponsors:

• Lush
• Parkeon
• British Surfing Association
• SkillsActive/Nancy Ovens Trust
• Borough of Poole
• Poole Tourism
• John Maughan
• Talbot Heath
• Animal
• Sport England
• Young Athletes Training Academy
• Four friends Melissa King, Russell Palmer, Peter Light (younger brother), Janet Head

I would also like to say a massive THANK YOU to my mum, who has been so supportive to me, listened to me and helped me to stay strong and focused.

Only 5 days to go now. Stay tuned for more news…

During my play and playwork degree at Northumbria University I was inspired by the way the Danish children had access to risk and the outdoors, through forest schools and adventure playground. Thanks to my successful application for a Nancy Ovens Bursary, I am now able to visit Denmark and see these sites in action. I will be leaving for Denmark on the 10th August, and will staying in Arhus for three nights, Esjberg for two nights and Copenhagan for one night before I return on the 16th August.

The links below are to two of the settings that I am visiting. Take a moment to look as there seems to be a clear difference in what the majority of children in England and what these children in Denmark are experiencing.

www.ajstrup.dk (A forest school)

www.byggeren.dk (An adventure playground)

On my visit I will be taking extensive notes and photographic/video evidence so watch this space for a full report on my return!

I currently work as a volunteer fitness coach and personal trainer for the Young Athletes Training Academy (YATA), a new company set up in Dorset to offer increased support and education for children in sport.  YATA has very little money and all the money the company earns go back in to the company to help offer increased services and facilities for children in sport in Dorset. 

It is apparent there is very little in the way of support in the UK for children in sport and many clubs, from my experience in Dorset, are crying out for additional funds to help with improving the fitness and strength abilities of children in sport.  After much research and many appointments with key sport divisions in the UK it appears our country offers nothing at grass roots level.  This of course got me thinking that perhaps if we were to educate and support our children from a young age in sport, we might have a better opportunity to produce more and more world class athletes. 

At the moment many children drop out of sport and this could be for many reasons such as injury and lack of interest.  If children were educated from a young age in to how their body works and why things such as stretching and diet are so important, I believe our children will have a much better opportunity in sport.  Most of these children in sport are incredibly dedicated and our country lets them down by not offering them a chance to develop to world class levels.  Of course there are facilities and support available to elite athletes, but you have to be identified to receive these benefits and that is very difficult.  See www.yatasports.com for more information on what services the Young Athletes Training Academy offers.

Australia is streets ahead in sport and they consistently produce world class athletes from all sports.  I initially decided to run a comparison study on swimming and after looking in to briefly what Australia does for their swimmers, they have a much more in depth coaching system and train less hours in the pool and more on the land.  This way of training has inspired me to think that perhaps they are on to something here.  So I therefore started to make arrangements with Swimming Australia and British Swimming to compare training schemes, systems etc.  To date I have met with Michael Scott from British Swimming who was extremely helpful and supportive, the information he provided me however will be detailed later in my report and is only geared towards elite athletes and nothing for the younger athletes.  Mr Scott suggested I meet with Nick Sellwood from English Swimming to help, however this does appear to be very difficult, as Mr Sellwood is never available to meet with me which is a real disappointment seeing as everyone else is very supportive.

The bursary I was awarded only contributed to 25% of the money I require to visit Australia, so I therefore have had to find the money from elsewhere.  Because the Young Athletes Training Academy has no money to support my trip the only way I can go is to reach out to other companies for sponsorship and in this particular climate it has proved extremely difficult.  However I believe in my trip and my project so much I have done everything in my power to make this trip happen.  Unfortunately British Swimming and the ASA have not contributed any money to my trip, which is a shame seeing as initially the whole basis of my trip is about swimming.  They have said all their money goes to the regional governing bodies.  This is fair enough and I appreciate donating £500 to my trip is just not affordable for them…

Recently the Young Athletes Training Academy has become involved with the British Surfing Association and has started to work with them on occasional strength and conditioning, as well as personal training services to their young athlete surfers.  After many conversations, the BSA have agreed to fund part of the trip in return I make appointments with key surfing organisations to discuss their Long Term Athlete Development Plan.  When I return from Australia the information I have obtained will be used in developing the UK LTAD for the BSA.

My trip to Australia and the reasons for going has raised quite a bit of interest locally.  After I was awarded the bursary I featured in two local publications and was interviewed by the BBC for Radio Solent and also the website.  This has aided my plight for raising more funds and the local council, Borough of Poole, also got involved.  My contact there, Duncan Kerr, has been working extremely hard for me by taking my sponsorship proposal to many different companies.  It caught the eye of one company in particular – Parkeon – a large international manufacturing firm with offices in Australia.  They are extremely interested in my work for children in sport and decided to offer further funding to help my trip to Australia.  Further funds have now been raised from the following:

• Talbot Heath School
• The father of one of my clients Amelia Maughan, the fastest 12 year old swimmer in the world at this time.
• Two friends Melissa King and Russell Palmer
• And Animal clothing are providing me with clothing to raffle off and luggage for my trip

I am still to raise a little more money, but even so I now have a majority of the money and have managed to book flights, accommodation and pay for my visa.

I would like to thank all of my sponsors including the Nancy Ovens Trust/Skills Active, for supporting me, without your generous contributions my trip would not be possible.

My two week trip in Australia has just got bigger and bigger.  I am now no longer focusing on swimming alone and I have many different appointments booked with fantastic sporting organisations, all of whom seem to be extremely helpful and only too happy to help.

My current itinerary exists of the following:

• Wednesday 12^th Aug: leave the UK.  Change flights at Dubai, Singapore, and Brisbane
• Friday 14^th Aug: arrive Canberra, Australia (Rest and Recovery over the weekend)
• Monday 17^th Aug: meet with the Australian Institute of Sport
• Monday evening meet: with Canberra Times, who are running a feature story on me
• Tuesday 18^th Aug: meet with Swimming Australia
• Tuesday evening: meet with Parkeon Press officer
• Wednesday 19^th Aug: morning fly to Brisbane
• Thursday 20^th Aug: drive to Surfing Australia and meet to discuss their LTAD and visit their high performance centre
• Friday 21^st Aug: meet with Queensland Government to discuss sporting opportunities
• Friday 21^st Aug: afternoon meet with Brisbane Broncos (Rugby Team) watch them train and visit their high performance centre
• Friday 21^st Aug: evening meet with Brisbane Times, who are also running a feature story on my visit
• Monday 24^th Aug: spend the day with Michael Bohl and Stephanie Rice (triple Olympic gold medallist)
• Tuesday 25^th Aug: catch up day and any additional appointments add here
• Wednesday 26^th Aug: fly home to the UK

As you can see my diary and trip to Australia is not only extremely busy, but very very exciting and I cannot wait to go.  I am going to learn so much whilst I am away and really believe when I return to the UK I can make a MASSIVE difference to young athletes in the UK.

Please keep reading my blog for further news and developments of what is happening!  Only 4 weeks and 3 days to go…

Volunteers are at the heart of most sports clubs

Sport England recently reported on their quarterly results for their Active People Survey, which provides the largest  survey of sport and active recreation undertaken in Europe. While the headline results showed promise, with 6,822,000 people (16 and over) now playing sport three times a week and regular participation holding firm since December 2008, as well as satisfaction with local sports provision increasing, there were some worrying trends including a decrease in volunteering.

Could it be that volunteering, along with competitive participation and membership, has suffered from the current economic environment?

With less disposable income it seems that participation in sporting activities, whether as a competitor or volunteer, is one of the things that suffers. A recent Times article, based on research by the CCPR, suggested that the recession could mean the final whistle for 6,000 community sports clubs due to falling membership.

The CCPR research noted that “volunteering is also being affected by the economic downturn, with more than a fifth of clubs saying that the circumstances have had a negative or very negative impact on attracting and retaining volunteers “.

Within our sector, volunteers play a crucial role in delivering activities across sport and active leisure, with volunteer hours equivalent to over 50,000 full time roles. These roles  can range from the obvious ones such as coaches and officials to many more roles behind the scenes such as those who maintain equipment or look after the finances.  One of the key barriers to volunteering, particularly in the front-line roles, is often the cost of training. With both clubs and volunteers currently suffering from a lack of funds this obviously impacts upon maintaining both the number of volunteers and their skills.

SkillsActive often plays a part in directing funding into the sector, and support a number of bursaries and projects which help those in the sector in funding their development. Our London and South West coaching bursaries were a huge success and there are a number of bursaries to coaches still available in some regions. In the East of England  the East-Links: Leading the Field programme provides opportunities in fitness and officiating as well as targeting coaches. Meanwhile in playwork, there is funding available for playworkers to undertake level 3 qualifications, allowing advancement of skills for those in or looking to join the sector.

For more information on volunteering, whether in sport or other areas, Volunteering England have a whole host of information on their website with a large section dedicated to sport. 

If you’ve seen the impact of the recession on volunteering, share your views below.

Rachel Light helping young athletes

This has encouraged development in ways quite removed from traditional training, with work experience and shadowing of top coaches in a certain field proving a popular way to glean the personal insight that perhaps doesn’t exist when undertaking a training qualification.

This year, out of over 50 applicants, we are delighted to have chosen five bursars who will be blogging for us over the course of their time on the bursary. They’ll be introducing themselves here over the coming month, but here is a quick introduction to two of them.

Rachel Light
Dorset swimming coach Rachel Light plans to spend two weeks in Australia this summer to discover the secrets of the nation’s sporting success so that she can assist top young athletes in this country.

Rachel has focussed her work on, and is particularly passionate about, those just outside of the elite sporting programmes. It is difficult for those just outside the top programmes to continue at a high level, so Rachel assists by providing them with guidance ranging from nutrition to strength and conditioning that they would otherwise receive from their NGB.

Judo coach Mike Newton

Read more about Rachel’s bursary here and check back over the coming months to see how her plans for the trip progress. You can also listen to Rachel discussing her trip, and read more, over on the BBC Dorset website.

Mike Newton
Rutland judo coach Mike Newton plans to spend a month next spring in Japan, the home of judo, in order to shadow top children’s judo coaches. Having helped establish Vale Judo Club in 2003, Mike has since established the club as one of the leading clubs in the region with members in national squads, as well as developing a strong schools judo programme.

You can read more about Mike’s dedication to the sport and youngsters, along with his planned trip to Japan here, while you’ll find him blogging here soon.

Apprentice candidate Lorraine Tighe lied on her CV but claimed it was a misprint

We recently commissioned research, released yesterday, that discovered that as a nation, we are mostly quite truthful on our CVs… until we need a job.

Following this, our Chief Executive Stephen Studd was in demand for interviews yesterday, which you can view on a number of news sites such as The Metro, the Mirror’s video news and Virgin Media.

Given last night’s dismissals on the TV show the Apprentice, where one of the contestants who Sir Alan Sugar fired, Lorraine Tighe, was accused of lying on her CV and admitted it was “like a graveyard of skeletons” it can be a serious issue. So what can employers do?

We can point towards ActivePassport as a solution for both employers recruiting staff, and candidates looking to ensure their credibility, as it offers a verified record of qualifications, training, employment and volunteering.

While our research found that hobbies were the most likely thing that those questioned would lie about, this was followed by salary and secondary education qualifications, which could certainly impact upon the recruitment process. We also discovered that the recession has sparked an increase in lies on CVs.

Do you think it’s acceptable to lie on your CV? Have you ever done it and would you be more tempted now because of the high unemployment rates? Take our quick poll or leave us a comment below to share your views.

Today the Guardian ran a piece, Fresh start to Olympic dreams, focussing on the opportunity for disadvantaged people to gain training and a chance to get involved in the 2012 games. As the Guardian points out, the scheme aims to tackle social exclusion, particularly by attempting to attract people from a black or minority ethnic background, those with a disability, lone parents, women returning to the workplace and individuals with health conditions.

This programme isn’t solely London focussed however, and SkillsActive are heavily involved in helping develop this programme, and its roll-out across the country.

The North East of England was the first region outside London to launch the programme back in March, with Jonathan Edwards CBE, Olympic triple jump gold medallist and world record holder, on hand to support the initiative as you can see below. 

Jonathan Edwards launches Personal Best in the North East

More videos from Personal Best in the North East can be found on the LSC North East Youtube.

The South East of England also offers the programme, and other regions will soon follow. You will be able to keep updated on the development of Personal Best through our website section at www.skillsactive.com/personalbest

If you are looking to get involved with Personal Best,  the best port of call for Londoners should be the Personal Best website while elsewhere you are advised to go through the local JobCentre Plus or by contacting one of the regional LSC leads, who are:

• South East: Suzanne.Aldridge@lsc.gov.uk
• North East: Eleanor.Porter@lsc.gov.uk

This can often be achieved by taking part in studies, work experience or activities outside of their day-to-day job, with previous applicants shadowing the best coaches in their chosen field or using the money to pay for cover in their day-to-day job so that they can volunteer elsewhere.

We’ve just produced a few new case studies of some of last year’s successful applicants, which you can download below:

• The first case study looked at aspiring basketball coach Ben Foster spent the summer in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA, coaching at various summer camps with Doug Noll, a top former player and assistant coach, who runs a worldwide basketball academy.
  
• The second case study looked at hockey coach Duncan Parnis travelled to Australia over the summer; here he took part in two projects, a coaching project at a successful Australian Hockey club, and ‘The Refugee Sports Project’ which helps children from war torn countries such as Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan who find refuge in Australia.
• Finally, the third case study looks at how Nigel West spent three weeks in California in a bid to learn from some of the country’s top coaches. Despite having 22 years coaching experience, Nigel is always looking to develop his skills and the bursary presented the best opportunity to continue his personal development through a unique learning experience.

As you can see from these, and the other bursary recipients from 2006 and 2007, this is a really unique opportunity to develop a truely individual learning experience – it is these well thought out and unique experiences that the judging panel look for.

In previous years the majority of our applicants, and all of the recipients, have come from the sporting sector. Coaches from a variety of sports have benefited by learning from the very best coaches in their sport, and to do so have travelled worldwide in search of personal development. This year we’re keen to attract applicants from some of our other sectors, in addition to top coaches, who could equally benefit from learning from the best in their field, whether it be in the outdoors, playwork, health and fitness or caravans.

As such, we’ve been running a series of articles on how applicants from each of these sectors might chose to develop their skills in Playwork, the Outdoors, Caravans, Sport and Recreation and Health and Fitness.

The closing date for applications for the SkillsActive and Nancy Ovens Bursary is 12 May, so applicantions need to be made quickly. Find out more at www.skillsactive.com/nancyovensbursary

The videos feature both employers and students talking about the schemes and the benefits that apprenticeships have to offer.

We’ve also uploaded a number of our older videos on the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence to complement the one we made back in February, and you can see these below:

Hopefully these video’s will help prospective employers and students understand the different apprenticeship schemes and how they offer an innovative work based education experience. For more information on all our apprenticeship schemes, visit the apprenticeship pages of our website.

Local school pupils, college students, training providers and employers joined representatives from SkillsActive and sports stars such as Sharron Davies MBE, Dame Kelly Holmes and Mickey Bushell to participate in a varied programme of presentations, talks, meetings and activity sessions. These ran throughout the week in London, Brighton, Bristol, Bolton, Buxton, Telford, Wellingborough, Sunderland, Harrogate and Benfleet.

Some of the events were organised and run by the apprentices themselves, with one event in Northampton seeing 170 young school children taking part in a multisport festival put on by 30 Young Apprentices. 

The Young Apprenticeship also programme received praise this week from the apprentices and employers alike, following SkillsActive’s evaluation of the programme between September 2006 and July 2008.

One of the London event’s focussed on the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence, and was hosted by former Commonwealth Games gymnast and TV presenter, Gabby Logan. Over 100 AASE athletes attended, and were able to attend workshops, discussions and a Q&A session with former elite athletes. The workshops proved especially popular, and althletes were given advice from Dame Kelly Holmes on “What it takes to be a champion”,  Barry Shillabeer presented elements of Rebecca Adlington’s gold medal winning strength and conditioning programme, and Sky TV presenter Graham Little offered up media training. 

We managed to find a few minutes to catch up with Gabby and ask her about the AASE programme and the impact it is having, and what impact it might have had on her sporting career had it existed when she was an elite athlete.

We also spent some time travelling round the country to interview current and past AASE athletes, those involved in delivering the programme, representitives of National Governing Bodies of Sport and the head of Performance Sport at UK Sport about their views on AASE:

Of course, we’re not the only ones who are throwing our weight behind the importance of Apprenticeships. Sir Alan Sugar has recently been starring in TV advertising (see below) to raise the awareness of apprenticeships, a video which also features Luke Power. Luke of course was Young Apprentice of the Year in 2008, studying his Young Apprentice in Sports Management, Leadership and Coaching at Eltham Green Specialist Sports College.

For anyone looking to find out more about apprenticeships in any form, you can find out more on our website or on the national apprenticeships website.

Did you know that over six million volunteers give a whopping one billion hours to sport every year! It is estimated that 70% of the 1.2 million coaches in the UK are volunteers. Volunteering is a great way to get in the industry, plus you get to learn valuable skills doing something you totally enjoy.

Here are my top 5 reasons to consider becoming a sport volunteer;

1. Help a cause that is close to your heart.
   Most sport clubs simply couldn’t function without the help of volunteers, so they greatly appreciate any offer for help and support.
2. Volunteering is varied and has a wide range of jobs roles.
   Sports volunteers are people with all kinds of skills that help sports clubs in their day-to-day operations. You could be helping the organisation by looking after finances, creating publicity, attracting sponsorship, setting up databases, writing newsletters, raising funds, coaching, running events… the list is endless!
3. Learn valuable skills.
   Good news is many roles do not actually require any knowledge of sport. Many people find that voluntary work has been a great way to learn new skills and most of these skills are transferable to other roles and industries.
4. Opportunity to step into paid employment.
   Many people have found that volunteering has got them a foot in the door of a organisation, and that has led to a paid role. Plus it certainly looks great on your CV or activepassport if you have worked as a volunteer.
5. More importantly volunteering is FUN!
   It can be a great way to make friends and have fun, while making a real difference to people’s lives and helping your local community.

So if you want to get involved and become a sport volunteer here are a few useful websites to help you get started:

• London 2012 Volunteering Pages:
  www.london2012.com/get-involved/volunteering/
• sportscotland Volunteering Pages:
  www.sportscotland.org.uk/volunteering
• Volunteering England Information on sports volunteering:
  www.volunteering.org.uk/sport
• Timebank helps match the passions, interests and skills of individuals with volunteering opportunities:
  www.timebank.org.uk

If anyone has any other suggestions for volunteering leave us a comment or share your story with us, maybe you’ll inspire others to join the next generation to follow Charlotte and David and gain the opportunity to be involved in some of the biggest sporting events in the world!

Happy days…
Dougie

There are many different careers pathways available, a handy tip is to check out our interactive sports map that is available on my careers website.  You can also ask me questions and I’ll do my best to help you with your queries, else leave me some comments here!

I’ll be back with some more insight into working in sport, fitness, the outdoors, playwork and caravans over the coming weeks.

Happy days…
Dougie