Five UK coaches have been selected as ‘Lead Coaches’ on the European Athletics Coach Networking Programme, an online pilot project that forms part of the European Athletics High Performance Programme.

Marina Armstrong, Glenys Morton, John Shepherd, Peter Stanley and Laura Turner-Alleyne, who have been selected for their event expertise and experience of developing coaches, will take on mentoring roles. Nine coaches in total have been selected.

The European Athletics Coach Networking Project aims to increase networking opportunities across member federations, to provide a service to elite coaches, and to improve cooperation among European member federations competing against the rest of the world. By creating communities of practice online, the intention is for coaches to exchange knowledge and experience with their fellow European coaches, under the moderation of a Lead Coach with superior experience.

The Lead Coaches for the pilot project will focus on sprints, discus and triple jump.

Armstrong and Turner-Alleyne have been selected as Lead Coaches in the sprints category.

Armstrong, one of the UK’s leading 400m hurdles coaches and coach to athletes including Olympian and World Championships relay bronze medallist Jessie Knight, said: “I’m honoured to be selected as a mentor for the European Athletics Coach Networking Project and I’m looking forward to contributing and learning.”

Turner-Alleyne, a former world class sprinter who is now coach to a large group of athletes including European under-23 heptathlon bronze medallist Holly Mills, said: “I am very excited to have been selected for this opportunity with European Athletics. I am looking forward to working collaboratively with like-minded coaches, creating an environment for the sharing of ideas and challenging our perceptions.”

Morton, Shepherd and Stanley have been selected as Lead Coaches for triple jump.

Morton is coach to former European under-23 discus champion and British junior record holder Eden Francis. In 2010 she coached Laura Samuel to triple jump silver in the World Under-20 Championships. “I am delighted to be part of this new programme and look forward to meeting and working with the other coaches,” she said. “It’s an amazing opportunity and one that I will do my best to make as rewarding as possible.”

Shepherd, a coach and former international long jumper who writes regularly on the subject of coaching for magazines including Athletics Weekly, said: “To be able to act as a triple jump mentor and work with fellow coaches on behalf of European Athletics is a great honour and opportunity. We will be able to share knowledge and tackle those technical and developmental issues that we as coaches work so hard to develop and improve upon – and doing this as a team should prove exciting and stimulating. The European Athletics Coach Networking Project is a very positive step toward joined up coaching across member federations and a great way to foster learning and coaching.”

Stanley, the former UK Athletics’ strategic lead for coaching who guided triple jump world record holder Jonathan Edwards to Olympic and world gold medals, said: “I am very pleased to be selected as one of the Lead Coaches in this European Athletics initiative to promote coach networking. I have been privileged to have received both informal and formal mentoring support throughout my own personal development. Many coaches have shared their knowledge and experiences and inspired me to continually challenge my own levels of knowledge and explore my own potential and ability. I hope that the experience I gained working within our previous National Coach Development Programme will allow me to help other coaches meet their developmental needs in an atmosphere of mutual trust.”

Each Lead Coach will work with between three and five mentee coaches through monthly, 90-minute meetings. They will:

• Support mentee coaches by providing mentoring for understanding of the technical, physical and psychological demands of the event/event group, training methodologies and performance planning and preparation
• Share knowledge of any new research and innovation in the event/event group
• Foster a culture of knowledge sharing and continual learning within the mentee group
• Create a learning environment that is supportive, stretching and challenging that is underpinned by evidence informed practice
• Promote safeguarding and ethical behaviour in the coaching practices
• Provide feedback to European Athletics with recommendations for future development of the project

UK licensed coaches who are interested in participating in the project as ‘mentees’ are invited to submit their expressions of interest to Jackie Newton, British Athletics Head of Coaching Development at jnewton@uka.org.uk by 21 February.

Criteria for coach mentee applicants:

• Coaching an athlete or athletes on the national team
• Knowledge equivalent to or above World Athletics Level 2
• Minimum of three years of coaching experience and currently coaching international level athletes
• Experience of planning, delivering and reviewing training and competition programmes for multiple athletes
• Committed to own his or her development as a coach and sets personal coaching goals
• Reflective with sound understanding of self
• Open to receiving positive and constructive feedback and guidance from a mentor as well as from the overall group of mentors and mentees.
• Capacity to take advantage of a lead coach as a mentor and keen to develop an open and on-going relationship with a mentor that is mutually constructive.
• Willing and interested in shaping the future of European Athletics Coach Development through feedback and reviews of the programme

Those who are selected for nomination to European Athletics (a maximum of three per member federation, one per event group) will be notified by 24 February and will be required to complete a further application by 28 February.