Sport Wales' vision was clear: to make sure the next generation of athletes receive the right level of S&C support - support that has traditionally only been available to athletes at the elite level.

Seb Moran, Sport Wales' Lead S&C Coach writes about their solution and partnership with UKSCA on the Sport Wales website.

In May 2022, Seb attended our second Licensed Assessor training weekend and in November 2022, started delivering the Level 3 Diploma for S&C Trainers to their first cohort of 7 sports coaches. Attendees came from a variety of sports including Welsh Athletics, Boxing and Judo  and since that first cohort, a further 46 coaches have enrolled on Sport Wales run courses, with more courses planned to start in 2024 and 2025 as demand increases.

Seb and his colleagues at Sport Wales recognised that while S&C has benefitted the top tier of sport, it has perhaps come at the expense of the younger generation.

For sports coaches, teaching young athletes how to move their body effectively is often seen as secondary to learning sport-specific techniques and tactics. This is also compounded by the fact that developing general athleticism is now seen as something the 'S&C Coach experts' do.

Common at the grassroots level of many sports, where there is no funding for specialist S&C Coaches, young athletes are transitioning to the elite level without the basic strength and movement skills they need to thrive, which leads to drop-out. Seb acknowledges that young, female athletes in particular are at a bigger risk for career-ending injuries such as ACL tears.

In partnering with UKSCA to deliver the new S&C Trainer course, Sport Wales are significantly increasing the number of people in their sporting system that are able to deliver safe and effective S&C programmes to their young athletes.

See more about the course in the Sport Wales video below.