SkillsActive

15/3/12

A disability sports volunteer has become the 10,000th Londoner to get qualified through the Mayor’s Sport’s Legacy Fund, which is managed by SkillsActive, helping ensure a grass roots sporting legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Jaspaul Vilkhu, 30 (pictured), applied for the programme, which provides up to 75% off training for London sport and leisure volunteers, after learning about the opportunity through the UK’s leading disability sports coaching company, Disability Sports Coach, where he volunteers helping deliver sports to disabled people like himself.

Jaspaul used the 75% subsidy to complete his Boccia Leaders Award. The one day course enabled him to step up his responsibilities and assist other, more qualified coaches in delivering boccia coaching sessions to players of all ages and abilities.

Jaspaul says: “I’m really honoured to be the 10,000th Londoner to qualify through the Mayor’s Sport’s Legacy Fund. I’ve played boccia for three years but I enjoy being a leader and wanted to learn how to coach the sport.

“Thanks to the training, I now feel more confident going into different settings and coaching disabled participants for Disability Sports Coach and the other organisations I work for. I love seeing the smile on people’s faces when they get involved in sport. I’d like to keep gaining new skills and, eventually, find a paid job in sports.”

Managed by SkillsActive’s National Skills Academy for Sport and Active Leisure, the Fund is part of the Mayor's plan ‘A sporting future for London’. The plan ensures Londoners benefit from a genuine grass roots sporting legacy from the 2012 Games, by encouraging more people to become active and strengthen community sport facilities.

Mayor’s Sports Legacy Fund project manager Katie Couchman says: “The Mayor’s Sports Legacy Fund has created a pathway into coaching and volunteering in amateur sport that would not otherwise be there. London communities will benefit from this programme for years to come.”

Disability Sports Coach founder Peter Ackred says: “Funding training for staff and volunteers can be a challenge, especially in the current financial climate.  Thanks to Mayor’s Legacy, we’ve upskilled 30 sports coaches, which is a huge boost for us and our clients.

“Each day, we deliver sport coaching services to people with disabilities all across London, some of whom we think will have a real chance of competing at future Paralympics. Through our work, the Fund is helping deliver a legacy at grassroots and elite sporting level. We’re really proud to be associated with this fantastic project.”

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “It is spot on that these extraordinary, selfless Londoners are being recognised for their contributions through volunteering in our capital.  The commitment to helping those most in need should be an example to us all.  Being able to recognise the 10,000th person to qualify through the Mayor’s Sport’s Legacy Fund is a wonderful milestone.  Congraulations to all who grabbed this unique opportunity for funded training and are playing their part in the Games Legacy.”

Londoners can receive up to 75% off the cost of nationally recognised qualifications in areas such as coaching and officiating, community sport, volunteering, leisure and health, in exchange for volunteering hours.

To find out more about the Mayor’s Sports Legacy Fund and the range of discounted training on offer please visit www.skillsactive.com/mayorslegacy

Sport endorsement identifies training and qualifications that meet industry standards, allowing you to promote your courses as training of recognised high quality.

Becoming a SkillsActive approved provider for sport highlights the value of your course to clubs, employers, National Governing Bodies (NGBs), County Sport Partnerships (CSPs), professionals, volunteers and anyone else interested in sport training.

With so many training options out there, make your training stand out from the crowd by showing that it has been endorsed by the Sector Skills Council for sport.

Sport endorsement covers any training for which there are National Occupational Standards (NOS) in place.

View the NOS available for sport >

Promote individual training

Ideal for training providers or further education colleges with one specific piece of sport training to endorse.

Endorse all training

The best value option for any type of training provider with more than one sport course to promote – save time, money and effort on paperwork.

Promote degrees

• Sports coach education
• Sports development
• Sport and leisure management

Offer unlimited endorsed courses for the next two years – save time, money and effort on completing paperwork for each course you want to endorse with an endorsement licence.

An endorsement licence offers all the benefits of sport training endorsement for ALL your training:

• Listings on the SkillsActive website
• Social media posts to our network of followers
• Use of the SkillsActive logo to highlight the value of your training

In addition, endorsement licence holders ALSO benefit from:

• FREE online listing of course dates and venues to receive business referrals
• Receive direct enquiries from the SkillsActive website for FREE
• Discounted in-house training with SkillsActive to develop your own staff
• Discounts on selected SkillsActive events
• FREE quality assurance support visit
• FREE orientation day for new providers

All sport training: up to 16 CPD points £1355* Apply Now
The sport endorsement licence covers ALL types of sport training, from seminars to full courses.

Employer Training Licence £1100 Apply Now

For any further enquiries about sport endorsement, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

*The number of CPD points awarded is dependent on the number of training hours.

6/2/12

In the first of a series of blogs, Luke Allen, 18, an apprentice at Stevenage Sporting Futures Team, tells us about his experience as an apprentice in the sport and active leisure sector.

My name is Luke Allen, I'm 18 and I am an apprentice within the Stevenage Sporting Futures Team.

If I’m honest, after finishing sixth form an Apprenticeship never really crossed my mind. However, my old school sent me an email about a sporting Apprenticeship at Stevenage Sporting Futures Team. I have always enjoyed sports so without any hesitation I applied, as I knew it would be something I’d enjoy and be fully committed to.

In my first month of the Apprenticeship I completed a lot of training in different activities and sports, which would be beneficial when I went into schools in Stevenage. This training would also go towards many competitions that I would also go on to help out with, for example a TAG rugby tournament and a basketball tournament.

I was put into my “host school” during my first month. I am now based at the school four days a week, supporting with PE and taking clubs either during lunch times or after schools.

Since starting at the Stevenage Sporting Futures Team, I have set up basketball, lacrosse and football clubs at the school, alongside a member of staff.  Long term, I’d love to get involved in primary education, as working with children and in schools is such a rewarding job in developing life skills and my confidence as a whole.

6/2/12

In the first of a series of blogs, Jill Eaton, director of Stevenage Sporting Futures Team, tells us about her experience of hiring apprentices in the sport and active leisure sector.

Stevenage Sporting Futures Team has been passionate about developing a home-grown coaching workforce ever since it was established as a Schools Sports Partnership in 2003.

We are based in a community which is renowned for low aspiration of our young people, and we believe we can make a difference to lives through our provision of Quality PE and school sport sessions.

In 2007, we started our Partnership Coach programme. We employ 18 year olds and provide them with a year of experience and qualifications. At the end of the programme, our recruits have more confidence and a better feel for the career pathways available to them in sport.

We decided to take the concept further last year after working with SkillsActive on the Future Jobs Fund programme. The experience opened our eyes to the possibility of transforming the Partnership Coach programme into a sporting Apprenticeship. We now have 12 pilot apprentices working at Stevenage, including one who we retained from the Future Jobs Fund programme.

We work with Sporting Futures Training cic, a training provider specialising in school-based, work-based learning to support our apprentices. Our team of experienced PE specialists and coaches provide our apprentices with in house training. They also undertake a Level 2 NVQ Activity Leadership and a level 2 NGB award. Working with people, life-skills, employability comes with the turf.

The increased workforce provided by Apprenticeships has had a great impact in our schools and community - improving participation and providing positive role models for our youngsters. Apprenticeships have also enabled us to have a club based apprentice at Stevenage Scorpians - a level 2 Coach who works developing basketball within the town.

We hope through Sporting Futures Training we can take the model to other areas, as the value for our apprentices and the young people who work with them is immense.

 6/2/12

Yorkshire and Humberside has more than 500 newly qualified staff in swimming and football thanks to a range of successful partnerships created by SkillsActive, the sector skills council for the active leisure sector, and part-funded by the Skills Enhancement Fund.

As a timely boost to raising sports participation in the region ahead of London 2012, the Football League Trust (FLT) and the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) grasped the opportunities presented by SkillsActive in June last year, to benefit from the Skills Enhancement Fund.

SkillsActive is funded by Sport England to support national governing bodies of sport to deliver the workforce development commitments in their current plans, and the news represents one of the biggest regional success stories to kick start 2012.

The £50m Skills Enhancement Fund, available until June 2012, aims to engage employers in Yorkshire and Humber in skills development and increase the region’s skills base. It is co-financed through the Skills Funding Agency through the European Social Fund and Yorkshire Forward and managed by Calderdale College.  

Steve Mitchell, Head of National Partnerships at SkillsActive says: “We are delighted that the funding has had such a terrific impact and developed new skills of so many individuals within the sports industry. We worked in partnership with Calderdale College to develop Coaching Tenders under the Framework Activity Route, which provides funding for qualifications that will have a direct and very significant impact in the sector.”

The FLT has now delivered almost 1,000 level one and two qualifications to approximately 500 staff in areas such as coaching, dance, disability awareness, and mental health awareness. 15 ASA staff have also gained their UKCC Level 1 Teaching Aquatics qualification and additional disability CPD modules, providing the participants with disability specific knowledge.

Angus Martin, The Football Leisure Trust’s Regional Community Manager for Yorkshire & the North East explains:  “There was, and still is, a gap for our staff and volunteers to pick up new and additional qualifications due to the growing variety of work that our 72 community schemes get involved with across health, education, sports participation, social inclusion and the environment.

“The funding allowed us to offer an excellent range of CPD to our staff that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible. We would probably only have been able to deliver a tenth of the CPD on our own, so the funding has been a huge boost for us.”

Vicky Norman, ASA Aquatic Officer for the North East says: “Disability specific knowledge is crucial in learn-to-swim programmes to help integrate disabled children into mainstream schemes. These teachers will now have some insight into the needs and requirements of disabled people within a learn to swim setting.”

Clive Howarth, Head of Relationships at the Skills Funding Agency in Yorkshire and Humber, says: “This unique initiative, not available in any other English region, is designed to support skills training that isn’t usually funded, and to allow more individuals who wouldn’t normally get the chance to learn new skills and to achieve recognised qualifications. In the UK’s Olympic year the level of interest in sport has increased significantly and the Skills Funding Agency is delighted to have been able to help turn this interest into qualifications.”

A Leeds student has his sporting career mapped out with his dream of competing at the 2016 Olympics becoming a real possibility, which he attributes to the inspirational guidance he has received from the Advanced Level Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE).

A Leeds student has his sporting career mapped out with his dream of competing at the 2016 Olympics becoming a real possibility, which he attributes to the inspirational guidance he has received from SkillsActive’s Advanced Level Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE).

Jack Bateson from Pool In Wharfedale, near Leeds has been boxing since he was 9 years old, encouraged by his Dad and Uncle who have been coaching the sport as far as he can remember. He recalls the day a letter arrived to invite him to apply for the AASE programme and never looked back, making the move from his new sixth form college to join Bradford College.

“The programme has helped me so much, I’m really sad to be leaving at the end of this year; I’ve had such a strong network of support. I have learned a huge amount about what it takes to reach the top and perform to the best of your ability, the coaching team have been fantastic.

“AASE has helped me to plan for the future and set my career plans, with short, medium and long term goals through to the 2016 Olympics.”

Created by SkillsActive and funded by the Skills Funding Agency, AASE is a sports performance programme for young talented athletes. It’s designed to directly measure an athlete’s ability to plan, apply and evaluate their development in the appropriate technical, tactical, physical and psychological aspects of their sport. It also addresses wider issues such as lifestyle, career development, communication and health and safety.

Jack enjoyed a unique trip to Tenerife through the AASE Boxing programme last August, training at high altitude with young boxers from all over the UK. They experienced firsthand a different training environment that opened his eyes to training in different ways, including running up mountains.

He is currently training in the England Youth squad and is looking forward to the second stage trials for the GB Senior Development squad that will be selected over the next few months. The GB squad will meet regularly in Sheffield with the ultimate goal of competing at the 2016 Olympics and beyond.

Alongside his career in boxing, Jack Bateson 17 explains that the AASE programme has helped him plan for a career as a PE teacher and he hopes to secure a place at University for the end of this year.

His advice for other young athletes considering a place on the AASE programme to boost their chances of a successful sporting career? Jack said, “I would definitely recommend the AASE programme to anyone, but it’s not an easy ride. It has helped me to juggle my boxing and education in the best possible way and realise that it is only hard work that gets you to the very top.”

Learn more about AASE

Two young footballers have their hearts set on playing for Newcastle United and thanks to SkillsActive's Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE), they are living the dream of training and playing top flight football whilst achieving outstanding grades in their academic studies at Newcastle College.

Alex Nicholson, 17 from Cramlington and his Academy team mate Louis Storey, 18 from Walkerville are both in year two of the AASE programme combined with their respective NVQ and BTEC courses.

Created by SkillsActive and funded by the Skills Funding Agency, AASE is a sports performance programme for young talented athletes. It’s designed to directly measure an athlete’s ability to plan, apply and evaluate their development in the appropriate technical, tactical, physical and psychological aspects of their sport. It also addresses wider issues such as lifestyle, career development, communication and health and safety.

Like thousands of teenagers across the UK, they have dreamed since their childhood of playing in the Premiership but just talking to them for a few minutes it seems their hard work and 100% commitment to both their sport and education is about to pay off.

Alex joined Newcastle United at the age of 13, now in year two of his scholarship he has already played several times for Newcastle United Reserves. He describes the AASE programme as, “perfect for me, I’m getting paid to study, play and train to be the best I can be.

Alex adds; “There is so much to learn off the pitch and the course really made me think about my career goals and not just think about playing football as you never know what is around the corner.” Alex now plans to become a football coach or PE teacher in the future.

Louis has progressed from Sunday league and County football, to joining Newcastle United on a scholarship in July 2010 and has already seen big improvements to his game, thanks to the AASE course. He explains, “I have applied the conditioning training that we learned to my personal programme to boost my overall fitness and it has really helped. I feel much fitter playing now and my confidence is increasing all the time.”

A tailored education programme relevant to their sport, is very much key to the success of the AASE programme, as highlighted by Louis’ commitment to learning: “I am really motivated to reach a distinction in each of my BTEC units and I know the better my results, the more chance I have to go to University and continue my studies. The staff and tutors have taught us so many life skills and above all an appreciation that we cannot rely on football forever, they have instilled a love for learning in my approach to life. I have also enjoyed completing the Level 2 Coaching Award and can definitely see myself coaching one day.”

Jimmy Nelson, Manager of Education and Welfare at Newcastle United says, “The AASE course is a terrific deal for any young footballer, the programme of support is second to none. I would love to turn back the clock and be an apprentice now, there really is no comparison to Apprenticeships 30 years ago, education is core to their learning as a player and making them aware of their responsibilities.”

Learn more about AASE

A young student from Richmond Sixth Form College has got a step closer to fulfilling his dreams of racing in Formula One, after a second inspirational year on the Advanced Level Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE).

Max Coates, 18, from Scorton near Richmond is juggling his ‘A’ level studies with the second year of AASE at Loughborough College with his sights set on racing in the Ginetta G50 support class at the British Touring Car Championship this year.

Progressing to the next level demands significant sponsorship to fund the team to prepare the car effectively for each race and AASE has helped Max to achieve these sponsorship targets. He explains, “We hope to confirm later this week that we have secured the sponsorship we need to step up to the G50 Championship this year. It has been a long road with a huge family support team behind me, but we are almost there. The AASE programme has helped me understand the media and the importance of an increased profile including social media and how to secure sponsorship.”

He goes on to explain how the course has given him the tools to reach the pinnacle of his sport. “The programme has improved me as a driver, thanks to a real attention to detail in all aspects; my fitness, nutrition and preparation that I didn’t fully appreciate before and has given me a real focus.”

After two years in the Ginetta Junior Championship, Max is now targeting the British Touring Car Championship and then the World Level Touring Car Championship, inspired by Britain’s recent Formula One World Champions.

He says, “You can’t get two better role models for our sport than Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, they certainly give you added inspiration. AASE has really helped me to learn more about my sport and I really appreciate the small margins that can be the difference between winning and losing a race.

“I would love to be involved with managing a team or coaching drivers one day, next year I am planning to take a gap year to do some work experience in the mechanics of motorsport, technical skills are so important.

“Winning the Championship this year could be the launch pad to successful senior career for me. I know I have an amazing opportunity and just one chance to make it happen.”#

Created by SkillsActive and funded by the Skills Funding Agency, AASE is a sports performance programme for young talented athletes. It’s designed to directly measure an athlete’s ability to plan, apply and evaluate their development in the appropriate technical, tactical, physical and psychological aspects of their sport. It also addresses wider issues such as lifestyle, career development, communication and health and safety.

Learn more about AASE