The third residential workshop of the Home Nations Coaching Leaders Programme 2025-27 has taken place in Newcastle, County Down.
The programme, which is a collaboration between Sport Northern Ireland, Sport Scotland and Sport Wales, is designed to help the Leaders ensure that coaching within their respective sports meets the needs of participants and helps to reduce the inequalities which exist in sport.
For this residential, 13 Coaching Leads from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales were brought together to explore the theme of ‘Understanding the System’.
Working alongside facilitator Professor Julian North (Director of the Centre for Sports Coaching at Leeds Beckett University) and Home Country Sports Council staff, the leaders were supported to focus in on Coaching; considering its characteristics, influence and how it is understood across the sector, gain an increased understanding of historical challenges and potential solutions and explore how an ecological-thinking approach could be used to explore their coaching system, presenting their views back to the group to conclude a thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable three days.
An excellent ‘System in Action’ case study presentation was also received from Jamie Turkington, National Coach Development Manager with the Irish Rugby Football Union and an alumni of the 2023-25 Coaching Leaders Programme.
Finally, the Coaching Leaders were provided with the opportunity to explore the importance of taking time to truly understand a challenge/problem, utilising effective communication, being solution-focused and aligning effort in a different context, through activities facilitated by members of the Sport NI People Development Team in the stunning natural surroundings of Tollymore Forest Park.
Once again, the five leads from within local sport: Denise Murphy (triathlon), Gary McKeegan (cycling), Callum Grieve (volleyball), Declan Leung (athletics), and Michelle McMillan (hockey) have provided extremely positive feedback on their experience at the third residential and how they believe the learning gained can be applied within their system. A flavour of this has been included below:
“This residential has reinforced the need to re-double our efforts to highlight and substantiate the critical role that coaches and coaching has to the health of participants, clubs and governing bodies. Be that the face that greets them on day one of a new activity, to the one that’s stood with them on the hard days or the medal winning days.”
“What this programme is giving us is the space and the tools to step back and really understand what a functioning coaching system looks like – the participant experience, how talent is identified, how coaches are developed, how learning is supported over time, and how all of that links together. This residential block of learning and the support from Julian North, has come at precisely the right time for our sport.”
The fourth and final residential workshop for the programme will be taking place at The Vale Resort, Wales from 21st – 23rd April 2026 and will focus on Understanding and Leading Change.