Wednesday, 05 February 2025
High-performing coaches from across the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines came together for the fourth iteration of British Equestrian’s annual Youth Pathway Coaching Conference. The two-day seminar, which took place on 27 and 28 January, was held at the National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont in Nottinghamshire. Around 45 coaches were in attendance, all working within the youth development pathway for British Dressage, British Eventing and British Showjumping and nominated by them to be invited to attend.
The first day began with a two-hour interactive workshop led by Dr Sam Thrower, senior lecturer in sport and exercise physiology at Oxford Brookes University, and Professor Chris Harwood, professor of sport psychology at Nottingham Trent University. The pair drew on over 10 years of experience in parenting research to explain how to work well with parents in a youth sport environment and maintain an effective coach-parent relationship. The session acknowledged the key role that parents play in the development and progress of youth athletes.
The session was followed by a talk from Ash Wallace, Athlete Health Lead for British Equestrian’s World Class Programme, and Head of Performance Pathways, David Hamer. They discussed the concept of having a rider sport science strategy for youth development, outlining the physical profile of an elite athlete in each of the disciplines and what key performance foundations need to be in place within the youth pathway to help a young rider reach the top level.
Despite the rather damp January weather, the second day kicked off with a tour of the Paddle UK training facility at Holme Pierrepont, where Head of Performance Development James Train explained their coaching philosophy and how sessions are structured to ensure that athletes receive the support they need. The group had the opportunity to observe a coaching session with four para athletes, including three-time Paralympic gold medallist Charlotte Henshaw MBE.
Back in the warm, Richard Ramsdale, Head of Pathways, Events and Competitions at Paddle UK, explained the structure of the sport’s pathway from youth development to elite level. He shared how their programme is designed to help youth athletes peak and progress at optimum age brackets, guided by the talent principles of ‘discover, develop, deliver’.
After a short break, Chris Porter and Alan Rapley from UK Coaching set about guiding the coaches to connect the insight they’d gained through the Paddle UK session with their equestrian practice. Chris started by putting the coaches into small groups and encouraging them to discuss the similarities and differences between the two sports and set-ups, including factors such as coaching environment, methods of feedback delivery and the role of coach versus facilitator. They were then able to pose questions to members of the Paddle UK coaching team, who delved deeper into their practical strategies to provide greater insight.
Alan turned the focus towards bring a holistic approach to coaching practice. Using his years of experience in different sports and coaching contexts, he guided the group to consider the overlap between person, performance and participant, with the added element of parents when working within the youth sector.
After lunch, Chris led an interactive session on coaching craft, which encouraged coaches to interpret concept cards and discuss them with each other during a reflective walk to look at the white water course. The exercise was based around the idea of a fire box – where precious memories and possessions are kept to protect them in case of disaster – and what items the group keep in their personal coaching fire box for when times get tough.
Eventing coach Tim Rogers summarised his experience over the two days: “It’s a been really insightful few days and great to look at areas of learning from different sports to take back to the equestrian world.
“The rider physiology session with Ash and David – looking at how we need to utilise straightness through the body and employ a holistic approach to our coaching by looking at areas such as saddle fitting and physiotherapy – was one that will really stick with me.
“Overall, it’s been really interesting to see how equestrian and paddle sports can interconnect. Canoeing has a one-to-one coach to competitor ratio and how they plan that wrap-around approach to coaching is similar to a lot of other sports, particularly equestrian.”
David Hamer, Head of Performance Pathways, oversees the running of the seminar series. He explained: “The purpose of running these two days is to focus on the human element of equestrian sport – everything that’s involved in developing the youth athlete as a person and a performer. While the theme of the seminar may change each time, the focus is always on the art of coaching and giving our coaches a greater toolkit when they’re working with young athletes, from participation through to those who might one day join our World Class Programme.
“By bringing all three Olympic disciplines together, we also provide coaches with a great opportunity to network and share ideas with those they might not normally get to work with. The majority of coaches here today are self-employed, which can limit their opportunity for personal development, so we’re very proactive in wanting to upskill these people who are key in our youth pathway and support them in developing what are hopefully our top international riders of the future.
“By coming to Holme Pierrepoint, our intention was to broaden the coaches’ horizons. Through spending time with another sport, the coaches will hear things that are very familiar to them – it’s easy to get entrenched in the equestrian context, but many problems that coaches face are universal, so hearing that those in other sports might be experiencing the same things can bring clarity. At the end of the day, the common denominator in all sports is the human being, so there are lots of similarities that our coaches can learn from.”
Funded by Sport England and developed in collaboration with British Equestrian’s Olympic and Paralympic member bodies, the Youth Pathway Coaching seminar series has been designed to give coaches currently working within the youth pathways greater insight into holistic approaches to athlete development, which nurtures potential from a young age and promotes health and wellbeing.