NOTAN welcomes new network coordinator!
Joe Frost is the newly appointed network coordinator for NOTAN. Joe’s extensive background is highlighted below.
“As a huge supporter of the role that athletics can
play in enhancing people’s lives, I am a strong supporter of the McCain Athletics Networks concept. I have a number of years’ experience in the sport as an athlete, coach and administrator. I have worked hard to develop the depth and breadth of my skills and experience and have committed significant time and energy to my continued personal professional development. Below I have detailed some of the experience and skills that I believe will help me to be an asset to NOTAN and the sport of athletics. During my time in the sport I have been fortunate enough to have many positive experiences. My desire is to be able to give back to the sport and to give the young people of today and tomorrow the chances and experiences I have had.
In the past year I have become heavily involved with the McCain Athletics Networks, recently being voted to Chair of the Greater Manchester East Athletics Network (Voluntary). In this role I have been leading the development of this network of Clubs in a voluntary capacity, planning and delivering coach and club development activity between the five Clubs involved. I have also had the chance to attend a number of England Athletics Training Days and Events as part of this role and have made many new contacts in the sport and from Athletics Networks across England.
I have recently been accepted on to the newly-formed England Athletics National Coach Development Programme for Youth Development. In this role I will have the chance to meet up regularly with the group to share good practice in Youth Development Athletics and to help drive forward athletics for Young People in England. This will include looking at appropriate/modified competition provision and will also focus heavily on the delivery and development of the Athletics 365 programme.
I am involved in the delivery and roll-out of the Athletics 365 programme across England. I have been working with Clubs on an individual basis to find the most appropriate way for them to deliver the programme. I am a huge supporter of the concept of multi-skill, multi-event young athlete development as laid out in Athletics 365, and further through Short-Format and Sportshall competition.
My role within my own Club is as Head of Coaching & Competition. In this voluntary position I have been responsible for the development of a holistic multi-event young athlete coaching and competition programme. The final programme document has been used by England Athletics as an example of good practice and how Clubs can deliver a multi-event programme of coaching and competition for Young Athletes. The programme document has been presented to all England Athletics and Athletics Networks Staff. In my role in the Club I am also responsible for leading the personal development of Coaches on a one-to-one basis, mentoring each Assistant coach and helping to develop Personal Development Plans and arrange courses, workshops and other Coach Development activities. I am fully committed to developing myself as both a coach and administrator in the sport and am keen to learn from others within the sport at any opportunity. I have recently attended a number of key events that have contributed to my personal professional development significantly. These include the International Festival of Athletics Coaching, England Athletics North Networks Strategy Day, England Athletics Local Coach Development Programme and I hope to attend the European Athletics Convention in 2011. In early 2011 I am attending one of the new “Athletics Coach” Coaching Courses as a Network Coach Advocate so that I can feed back to the Networks I am working with and raise the number of coaches enrolling on the new courses.
I have been involved with sportshall athletics for fifteen years at every level from Primary Cluster Competitions right through the pathway to the UK Final. I have organised and team managed local teams since age 14 and have also team-managed both Cheshire and Greater Manchester teams at Regional and UK Finals. In recent years I have been involved in organising and officiating the UK Sportshall Final, and have gained valuable experience of how Sportshall Athletics has grown and developed. I have also been involved in coordinating local sportshall athletics schools cluster competitions for many years and in recent years have been involved heavily as a coordinator of the entire primary schools School Sport Partnership Sportshall programme in schools across Stockport. This has involved organising up to 14 cluster competitions and a Borough Final leading to a County Sport Partnership Final. I believe that many of the organisational skills I have developed with organising the sportshall programme are directly transferable to working within Athletics Networks and elsewhere across the Sport.
In 2005 I took the lead in the establishment of DASH Athletics Club and guided the transition from unaffiliated sportshall athletics team with a single Coach to fully-affiliated Club. This involved working with the County Sports Partnerships and Governing Bodies to meet the requirements for affiliation, which included completing a Clubmark application that was highlighted as an example of good practice for others to use. The experience of setting up a Club almost from scratch was invaluable to me and helped my develop my knowledge of the structure and politics of the sport at an early age. I learned quickly how to deal with setbacks and challenges and to work round them to achieve a positive solution for all involved.
I have been an Aviva Startrack coordinator and Coach for six years, organising between four and six holiday athletics courses, indoors and out, throughout the year. I was invited to UKA to take part in discussions with the National Governing Body and other organisers on how to develop and improve the scheme and have been involved as one of the first organisers to utilise the new UKA Awards for track and field and sportshall athletics across our startrack courses, and within all the after-school athletics Club I organise. I have organised and coached after school clubs in both primary and secondary schools for a number of years, feeding into both the Club and the Schools Competition structure. I have recently completed a term of Sport Unlimited coaching activity in Reddish Vale Technology College, working with the College to provide athletics to Children in Years 7 – 10 who would otherwise not have access to athletics. I have recently coached after-school clubs in Primary Schools, where we have utilised the new Aviva Awards and hold termly QuadKids or Sportshall Athletics internal competitions for the children.
I am passionate about developing the sport of athletics for young people and am committed to my own professional development, as a tool to raise the profile and standard of athletics for all. I am committed to working hard to achieve my goals and the ambitious goals and targets the Networks Programme and NOTAN have set for the future. I believe I can be a strong asset to your team and look forward to working with you all over the coming months and years.”
Joe Frost. January 2011
