Energise Me to create Hampshire and Isle of Wight network of Child First Coaches

We’re proud to announce that we are a Play Their Way Community Builder, championing child-first coaching across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

We’ll be building a network of likeminded coaches from physical activity and youth organisations, who will ensure children’s voices are heard and their choices are respected as part of all sport and physical activity.

Research from the Play Their Way campaign has told us the majority of coaches support the idea of child-first coaching, but nearly a third of coaches say they don’t apply the behaviours of it in their coaching sessions.

Active partnerships and coaching organisations were invited to apply for a limited number of £5,000 contracts to grow a localised network of child-first coaches in their local area. The pilot project will focus on meeting the needs of the coaching community to best support children and young people, to feel empowered to collaborate with their coaches and play an active role in leading their individual sporting journey.

The funding will help us keep supporting and championing a child-first coaching approach, offering a peer-to-peer support platform as well as training and CPD opportunities for coaches.

As part of the pilot project, UK Coaching – the sole organisation to support the nations’ 3 million coaches on best practice, learning, and research – will be deploying their coaching team to provide specialist support to help guide the pilot project.

Our Workforce Team worked alongside Hampshire FA, Hampshire Cricket, Saints Foundation and Pompey in the community to create the bid.

Energise Me Workforce Manager Fraser Ford said “We’re really keen this is a coach-led peer support network. We’ll be co-creating the network and platform alongside local coaches, and once it’s launched, we’ll be issuing an open invitation to all coaches across Hampshire and Isle of Wight that want to develop their child-first coaching practices.”

Fellow participants of the project include England Netball, Be Active Bedfordshire, Active Gloucester, Exeter City FC, Nottingham Trent University, Active Sussex, Black Country CIC – Black Country Coaches Club and RFL & Leeds Rhinos.

The Play Their Way campaign was launched in 2023 to transform the way children and young people are coached by prioritising their rights, needs and enjoyment in a ‘child-first’ approach. The campaign is funded by Sport England and The National Lottery and is led by the 17 partner organisations that make up the CCC.

To learn more about the campaign, access resources and sign up to join the biggest grassroots movement to transform the way we coach our children and young people visit  www.playtheirway.org.