UK Sport announces first cohort of its coaching programme CiHPS

UK Sport has recently confirmed the first cohort of a new coach development programme, Coaching in High-Performance Sport (CiHPS), supporting 27 coaches across 21 sports.

The CiHPS programme features already world title holding coaches, with British Curling coach Michael Goodfellow supporting Team Mouat’s Gold medal at the Curling World Championships. Likewise, Joshua Richardson supported Jessica Gadirova to win three gold medals at the European Gymnastics Championships in Turkey earlier this month.

Hannah Brown from para-canoeing, Nicola Benavente from para-rowing and Michelle Forrest from climbing were part of UK Sport’s female coaches leadership programme. Including Michelle Flemings who has had great success of recently, supporting Georgia-Mea Fenton, who was part of the British Artistic gymnastics gold medal-winning team at the European Gymnastics Championships.

The design and structure of CiHPS builds on the learning and feedback gathered from coaches and the sports who participated in the High-Performance Coach Apprenticeship Programme (HiCAP).

Beginning in April, the programme will have a particular focus on supporting coaches’ learning & development, whilst being mindful of a very busy and demanding qualification phase on the journey towards Paris. The 12-month programme will include a combination of online and in-person sessions over the course of the year.

Many of the coaches on the programme have recently progressed to coaching within Podium environments. A central strand of CiHPS is one-to-one support from a Coach Developer, many of whom have recently completed (or are currently participating) in the sister Supporting Coaching in High-Performance Sport programme. Other learning design elements include workshops, cross-sport environment visits and a regular community of practice to provide a supportive social network.

Aligned with the Coaching in High-Performance Sport professional standard (CIMSPA), the CiHPS programme sits alongside UK Sport’s wider suite of coaching development programmes, which in total support more than 140 coaches, Coach Developers and other staff working across the high-performance sport community.

The first workshop was held at the Etihad Stadium at the beginning of May and very deliberately explored the theme of coach well-being, care and support – a strand that will run throughout the programme.

• For more and to hear from some of the first cohort, visit UK Sport’s website.
  https://www.uksport.gov.uk/news/2023/05/16/coaching-in-high-performance-sport-cohort-announced