This week we are celebrating this year’s Crypt School PE Assistant, Ollie Goode.

Ollie completed his 6th Form studies at the Crypt School in Gloucester in 2021. A capable student, Ollie also excelled at a number of sports including motorcycle trials riding and rugby. As a pupil he had made the most of the opportunities on offer at the Crypt School and he wanted to share those positive experiences with younger pupils as a member of the PE team before going on to University. 

He has proved himself reliable and a thoughtful, reflective practitioner, who is mature beyond his years.

“The biggest gain from my time as PE Assistant has been the experience gained from my time spent coaching and being allowed to progress to actually leading sessions. That is where the real learning took place. My confidence working with groups has increased tremendously. The S&C qualification has been eye-opening because I have realised how much value can be had in the school environment, not only for those with an interest in sports performance. Everyone who participated gained valuable life skills related to taking care of their health and wellbeing.

“I’ve definitely changed my mindset from a classic teenage boy wanting to lift as much as possible to finding real enjoyment in moving well, mastering technique and first building strength relative to bodyweight. 

“My breadth of understanding of movement progressions and regressions has helped me understand that you don’t always coach the same way. Different people have different issues requiring different solutions and I have so much more confidence that I can make S&C safe and effective no matter who I am coaching.”

We wish Ollie all the very best as he leaves us for a full-time degree in Sport and Exercise Studies at Bath University. We know he will smash it. 

The post The PE Assistant first appeared on Athlete Academy.

In the past, many PE teachers were content to rely on their own experience of sport and fitness to inform their delivery both in the classroom and on the sports field. However, with the health concerns of modern society, we know that our PE leaders need a more strategic approach to ensuring that young people leave school armed with the knowledge, skills and habits that will enable them to enjoy a healthy, active adulthood. Since 2019, the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines have stated that for all population groups, healthy living is made more likely by the inclusion of two strength-based training sessions each week. Therefore modern physical education is required to help young people explore exercise strategies that they enjoy and that provide the appropriate physical adaptations. 

Amy Leask is a great example of the emerging talent in physical education as both a teacher and role model for her students. Following completion of her physical education teacher training, Amy secured a highly sought after role in the Crypt School PE department.

As well as being an enthusiastic educator, Amy is a capable footballer, playing in the FA Women’s National League with Swindon Town and, through her football, has gained extensive personal S&C training experience. Amy also coaches at the Aston Villa Development Centre in Gloucestershire (U9s-U16s).

She jumped at the opportunity to enrol on the L3DipSCT:

“The course curriculum is ideal for both my football coaching and PE delivery. Mastering the ability to coach the foundation movement skills means we can be impacting on athleticism in all our football technical sessions and in every PE lesson I deliver. I now have a much better understanding of how to progress players and pupils to safe and effective strength, speed and endurance training, improving performance and reducing risk of injury.”

Probably the most rewarding return on the course has been the impact Amy has been able to make in encouraging more female students at the Crypt School to access and confidently use the excellent S&C facility at the school. The girls strength training group she has established are themselves now serving as role models and an inspiration to younger pupils. 

The post The PE Teacher first appeared on Athlete Academy.

Esther is the Rehabilitation and Conditioning Lead Physiotherapist at the Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) where she has spent the past 5 years immersed in learning about the demands ballet places on the dancers’ bodies.

Esther is also a Team GB/EIS contract physio for British diving, gymnastics, para triathlon and para canoeing.

These are her thoughts about her role at the BRB and her decision to work with Ed Archer and complete her S&C Trainer qualification:

“Professional ballet is an incredible environment to work in as a physiotherapist: our main challenge is to support dancers to be robust enough to withstand the highly demanding, high volume leaps and landings whilst continuing to enhance the aesthetic quality of all positions and movements. 

“Dancers display artistry through movement and their bodies need to be able to express many emotions and to evoke reactions in the audience. This may involve delicate and refined movements in one instance and be explosive and aggressive in the next.

“Taking a “deep-dive” with a very practical and coaching-centric S&C course has given me a huge boost in personal confidence in the training environment as well as expanding my knowledge and skills in the use of of S&C principles to benefit our dancers. 

“I have a clearer understanding of when and how to load the dancers to improve their ability to tolerate forces and how to select exercises and design programmes to increase rate of force development, jumping and landing skills. The experience I gained on the S&C Trainer course coaching the foundation movement skills now provides me with more tools to screen and assess dancers’ movement skills and also provides a framework of exercise for improving proprioception, balance and coordination in our rehab programmes”

The post The Physio first appeared on Athlete Academy.

The Sport Science and S&C sector have very quickly built a reputation for churning out thousands of university graduates every year into a highly competitive marketplace with far fewer jobs than there are students.

The L3DipSCT provides a valuable and cost-effective opportunity for school leavers to gain insight into a career in S&C whilst at the same time developing their interest in the fascinating knowledge and skills that make up effective physical development and wellbeing.

George completed his 6th Form studies at the Crypt School in Gloucester in 2021. A capable student and excellent rugby player who had been a member of the Gloucester RugbyAcademy U17s squad, he could have had his pick of Universities. Instead he decided to take ‘the road less travelled’; after his A-Levels he got a job in a poultry processing plant “to challenge my work ethic and earn some money” and in his spare time, actively engaged to develop his rugby coaching skills with Ledbury RFC, taking his first step on the S&C and personal training coaching ladder by enrolling on the L3DipSCT. 

Working (and saving!) full time, George completed his face-to-face elements of the course and began building his case study practical portfolio providing athlete development support at Ledbury RFC and with friends who were inspired by George’s own dedication to physical development. After six months he had saved enough to travel to the Italian coast where he is combining completing his qualification with learning Italian in the gyms of north Italy!

The post The School Leaver first appeared on Athlete Academy.

When we first embarked on our coach education journey and we imagined our ideal mentee, the description might have read something like this: 

“Enthusiastic about all things strength and conditioning, reliable, consistent, humble and hardworking, a commitment to ongoing learning and a willingness to adapt, develop and innovate.”

So we feel very fortunate that we’ve had someone who fits this bill on our team for the past 3 years…

Kylie Benadie was one of the first people in the country to complete the S&C Trainer qualification back in 2020. Kylie also has a Masters in Strength and Conditioning and has been an integral part of the Athlete Academy coaching team for the past three years.

When Kylie embarked on her post graduate studies, she started with us as an assistant coach, helping to deliver our Crypt School Sports Academy programme. She quickly stepped up to lead the coaching of those sessions, bringing a fresh perspective on how to connect with and engage the young people in their physical development journey. 

Kylie has gone on to develop a fantastic S&C programme for the Severn Stars Nova Netball Academy players based at the Crypt School and in the past season has also contributed to the Cheltenham Town Academy youth athletic development programme.

Of her decision to complete a vocational strength and conditioning qualification when she already had a degree, Kylie says: 

“I was determined to leave no stone unturned in my S&C education. From my degree I had a good understanding of the principles of training and programming, however I knew the course would require me to really get to grips with the practical setting and as it requires real case studies, I was able to develop my real-world coaching skills.”

As well as her involvement with the Athlete Academy, Kylie has teamed up with the highly regarded Stronghold Gym in Cheltenham to help expand their provision of quality S&C education to a diverse and committed clientele, and is making a name for herself specialising in supporting women and girls to become more confident about training, to understand their bodies and to reap the benefits of good strength training.

The post The Masters Graduate first appeared on Athlete Academy.