Coach Core is a training and apprentice coach development programme for 16-23 year-olds living in London’s most disadvantaged communities.

Greenhouse Coaches will mentor the trainees who will gain work experience and qualifications (NVQs, Coaching Qualifications and more) to become the next generation of technically excellent, well-rounded coaches.

The history of Coach Core

The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry wanted to develop a sports programme in recognition of London hosting the Olympic Games and developed the Coach Core concept with Greenhouse.

The Coach Core programme

The pilot programme launched in July 2012 with the aims of achieving the following outcomes:

• Provide an opportunity for young people engaged in sport who are not following a pathway to higher education, professional sports performance careers or taking up other education and employment and therefore are at higher risk of becoming NEETS (Not in Education, Employment or Training)
• Provide them with the recognised qualifications and training required by employers;
• Provide them with the first hand working / professional experience required by employers;
• Provide them with professional coaching and employment experience enabling them to gain an understanding of professional responsibilities and increasing employability skills.

Where we are now

Phase One (Sep 2012 – Jan 2013): Greenhouse recruited 30 young people as trainee apprentices from its existing participant base in September 2012. Over a period of three months they attended classroom based training around Child Protection, Child-Centered Learning and Coach Core’s key aims. They also volunteered as sports coaches under the guidance of Greenhouse Head Coaches and were assigned personal metors in their chosen sports. Those who demonstrated commitment and the aptitude for further training were chosen to progress to Phase 2.

Phase Two (Feb 2013 ongoing): Twenty-three trainee apprentices have successfully progressed to the next stage and have become official paid Greenhouse Apprentices. Over the next year the apprentices will:

• Be formally assessed by Greenhouse then verified by a body responsible for awarding apprenticeship certificates
• Continue their ‘on the job’ training building on their experience so far, work one-to-one with Greenhouse Head Coaches and will be required to work at more than one programme (min. 8 hours a week)
• Attend “Create Development” training and National Governing Body Level 2 coaching courses
• If they require it, be given training in Maths and English to ensure they are successfully reaching the equivalent of Grade C GCSE in both.
• Record their personal progress on custom-built software called ‘The Wheel’. They will use this colourful computer programme to record their progress, demonstrate their experiences and identify any weaker skills. The Wheel also allows them to upload pictures and video evidence.
• Be required to undertake one additional project to gain external experience such as helping at a volunteer or fundraising event

Aims for the future

In addition to the individual benefits to the trainee coaches, the ultimate outcome is to increase the number of professional coaches in the UK, inspiring more young people in disadvantaged communities through sport.

The pilot is expected to be completed by the start of 2014 and will be independently evaluated. The hope is that the project can then be rolled out to become a national initiative, improving sports coaching across the country.

Coach Core could then be adopted by sporting governing bodies (such as the Football Association, Rugby Football Union, Welsh Rugby Union) and local football clubs and other community organisations.

To find out more and to read about the launch of Coach Core please click here or see a video of the launch here