Are you a white middle class male?

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Comments

  • Given the hoops you have to jump through with background checks and the like these days it's a wonder anybody volunteers for anything! I did the lowest level athletics coaching course last year because I wanted to help out at my adults only road running club, but I still had to have the full background checks done. I accept that in our current climate this has to happen, but it's just another hurdle that puts off potential volunteers

    There were maybe 20 attendees on my course, but it had a few kids doing it as part of an educational course, a couple of sports centre employees, a teacher, several from my running club or other clubs, and a couple of parents who wanted to know how to coach their childen. All were white except one of the kids, and I would say that all the adults would have been labelled middle class.

     I don't think we should be looking at race - we should be looking at whether the person can a) do the job properly and b) inspire the athletes. A good coach can inspire no matter what their background

  • I guess I am (although born and brought up working class volunteer but comprehensive education and other Labour party policy gave me the chance to get educated and get a good job etc (Don't ever call mea Thatcher Child. I was running before the Tidal wave of Tory Policy which was desparately trying to put me bacjk in my box) . I am not a coach,  Well did level 1 but not active overly. More an official, adminisrator and low level athlete.

     I live in a multi-cultural area and and am desparately trying to convince some of the minorities to get involved but even where the kids want to the adults aren't always supportive.

     More likely as Middle class is also interesting. I think the middle classes are more supportive of their kids, especially maybe those who come from working class backgrounds and have pushed themselves and used the opportunities so want to do the same for their kids (the working class idea is to always ensure your kids do better than you). However Middle classes often have better jobs and  therefore not the time (not guaranteed time anyway) to coach. I do a lot but can't say I will always be at he track at 7pm 2 nights a week,

     It is interesting that a lot of teachers coach. Partly because they have the teaching/coaching skills but partly because their work hours are more fixed. People that work fior the council are similar.

    Financial ability can be an issue, especially to do higher level coaching course (Level 1 - £60, Level 2 - £200, Level 3 - £1,000 !!!!!)

    However clubs are prepared to fund coaches and there are various funding streams to help do this as well so that doesn't need to be an issue.

     I don't care what colourm, class or religion my coaches are if they can do the job and will help them to do that as much as possible.

     As for CRB checks, a lot of people do seem to get put off by that, almost as if it is an affront that they need to be checked or because they don't think it proves anything.

     Well it doesn't prove you are not a Paedophile and it only valid on the day the check is done BUT people RIGHTLY go mad if you have somebody who has offended working with their kids. You can only avoid that if there are registered AND checked. Sorry I don't see the issue here and we all need to accept that it is absolutely the right thing to do, especialyly for Coaches who are in close contact.

     It is arguably less needed for officials whose contact is generally in an open stadium and who never operate alone. Nonetheless they can be seen in a position of authority.

  • I think the point of what steve cram said has been completely missed here. The main issure that was being disscussed by him was that there are a lack of professional coaches in athletics and as a result the talent  and the amount of talent that is making the grade isjust not good enough, and that up to 233,500 paid positions should be created by 2016. He also said;

    “We’re losing lots of coaches because it simply isn’t a recognised profession in this country, whereas in the United States coaches are hugely respected figures.”

    However the problem is that many coaches are volunteers who are not properly qualified to develop a sporting individual, and that much of the advice being given is bad advice.

    Not many people have the time or money to gain the necessary qualifications, who are already involved in the sport, however those who can afford to are generally middle class white males.

    I dont believe that this statement by steve cram is in the least bit controversial, i woud argue that its the exact opposite, in that it calls for the government to put more emphasis on helping people (of all class, race, colour, or gender) into the sport, by creating paid coaching jobs.

  • Good point about the differences between the US and here, and the fact that coaching is a respected profession in the USA. Maybe if school sport had not been decimated in the country by successive governments and trendy teaching techniques we wouldn't be in this state quite so much. I was in the USA over Christmas and New Year and it was interesting to read the local newspaper as each  day they picked their top composite team for a specific sport from the local schools - soccer, american football, baseball, water polo, cross country, tennis, volleyball, golf, swimming, lacrosse etc. In all cases they not only picked the top players, but also the top coaches as well. Can you imagine the local papers over here doing something like that? For most sports they'd struggle to even find schools that had teams.

     I also talked about it to my cousin who works at one of the local schools, as his school had quite a few kids in various teams and a couple of the top coaches. The big difference would appear to be that it's not like the UK where the schools have a couple of sports teachers who cover all sports - they have specific paid coaches for each sport, and if they don't produce they get sacked. The other main difference however is the attitude. The parents care about how well their school does at sport, and a school without a decent program will potentially struggle to recruit. What a difference from the UK where school sport in the state sector is largely regarded as an inconsequential inconveneince.

     This coaching carries on into colleges, with even more emphasis placed on excellence, and it's big news. Any child that shows any talent in school has a chance to receive top quality coaching and a chance to fulfil their potential in college. The top colleges actually compete to recruit school leavers and pay big money for coaches - if there's talent it's given a real chance to shine. The newspapers are full of college sports results and reports, and there are hours of TV devoted to it. Compare again to the UK where outside Oxford and Cambridge college sport gets paid practically no attention at all, and it's more down to the kids to go out and find coaching wherever they can find it, rather than it being provided for them.

  • We have set up school -club links so that kids with talent and itnerest can come to the club for coaching. particularly important for the technical events like throws and jumps. I haven't actually seen the Cram article so if it is about professional coaches then slightly different, although I think if people saw it as a career then more would come in having done sports science or something at University.

    Of course the issue then is who funds the coaches. At the Elite end, the athletes can afford to and a lot of top end coaches now have contracts wtih their athletes. However Athletic Clubs can't afford to unless we embrace full professionalism like Rugby did. However that was only the top 20 clubs or so.

    Athletics would have to put itself on a full professional footing but lest not kid ourselves that would only fund the elite..

  • The article that i first read can be found here:

     http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/athletics/article3241445.ece

     ...and the full report can be found at:

    http://www.thelssa.co.uk/lssa/sportnation/default.asp 

    and also of interest is this artice, which argues that those entering the sport via university courses are too academic and not practical enough:

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/athletics/article3241447.ece 

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