We are very pleased to announce ahead of the new season that we have 5 newly qualified adult coaches, 4 youth riders who have gained the same qualification in order to assist at Inner Ring, and 1 coach ‘transfer’ from the team at Herne Hill.
First off, a big congratulations to Al Baker, John Dewey, Jessamy Hibberd, Jack Hibberd and Olly Dorman who all completed British Cycling’s Activity Coach award yesterday. All are parents of current PPYCC riders and have been involved in the club last season in various guises across a range of volunteer roles, so will be well known faces to all. This course started about 8 weeks ago and entailed several online learning modules, a series of online evening workshops and a full day of classroom and practical activities at Preston Park yesterday. I am told that all passed the qualification with flying colours!
Next up, we have 4 amazing new coaches from within our youth ranks. They took the exact same course as the adults and also qualified yesterday. Aged 14+, they can now act as assistants to adult coaches, and then aged 16+ they can lead coaching activities under supervision. Congratulations to Gabriel KH Au, Alex Goodwill, Cooper Aberdour and Ingo Wilcox.
One of our previous youth riders who took this coaching qualification aged 14+ is Idha Hicks, who has been assisting at Inner Ring the past few seasons and we are very happy to announce will be joining the Outer Ring coaching team this season.
Last but by no means least, we are very pleased to have one of the Herne Hill coaching team join us this year. Charlie Clarkstone has moved down to study at University of Brighton and brings with him 5 years coaching experience including 2 years track coaching and 3 years as youth development manager at Herne Hill Velodrome. Welcome to the team, Charlie!
As a grass roots youth sports club, it’s a really healthy sign that we are both developing our young people into coaching roles and giving them great new skills and confidence, while also bringing parents into the volunteer community and coaching team. A big thanks to all involved, and particularly to the club committee for funding the qualifications. Lots to be excited about as we kick off the new season!