We are pleased to announce the speakers at this year’s UK Snowsports Coaching Conference.
The guest speakers include Stuart Armstrong, who has over 20 years experience in sports development, professionally qualified coach mentor and producer of the Locked in Shed skiing podcasts Richard Barbour, Deena Blacking – founder of Drivetrain, former British Alpine Ski Team Racer and English Alpine Ski Team Coach Kelly Wild, Moguls Coach at FIS, Europa Cup and World Cup Jeff Fozzard and Telemark Coach John Holgate.
The conference will take place on 18 & 19 September at The Chill Factore in Manchester and tickets are still available here.
Find out more about our speakers below.
Stuart Armstrong
Sports Development Professional, Sports Coach, Coach Developer, Mentor, Speaker, Facilitator and editor of ‘The Talent Equation Podcast’ and www.thetalentequation.co.uk
Stuart is a Sports Science Graduate from University of Wales who has worked in sports development for the past 20 years. In 2000 Stuart designed and launched a ground-breaking golf programme aimed at children aged 5 to 11 called Tri-Golf which has gone on to become a globally recognised development product that has now provided golf experiences to over 2,000,000 children across 22 countries.
Stuart has held positions in performance and talent development at England Golf, UK Coaching and the Rugby Football Union that have all focussed on creating optimal development environments for young people to thrive and reach their potential. Stuart is currently the Head of Coaching and Professional Workforce at Sport England. He has been responsible for writing and publishing two national strategy documents, ‘Coaching in an Active Nation: The Coaching Plan for England’ and ‘Working in an Active Nation: The Professional Workforce Strategy for England’.
Stuart is a highly regarded public speaker having delivered keynote presentations across the globe for a range of organisations both in and out of sport. He is also an expert facilitator who leads workshops for organisations striving to support people to be the best they can be. Stuart also owns the website www.thetalentequation.co.uk and is host of the 5-star rated podcast ‘The Talent Equation’ which is dedicated to providing advice, guidance and support to people at the cutting edge of coaching and performance development.
Stuart has coaching qualifications in Hockey, Cricket, Rugby and Golf, He has coached internationally, at national league level and has held roles as a National Age Group Talent Development Coach at England Hockey working with some of the top U16 and U18 players in the country. Alongside all this Stuart also volunteers at his local clubs and faces his biggest coaching challenge with 50 U10 hockey players in the winter and 40 U11 cricketers during the summer!
Deena Blacking
Deena is a return speaker to our conference. She is founder of Drivetrain, cycling is Deena’s main sport, but she has competed and taken part in running and multisport races, including stage races, criteriums, team time trials, and triathlons.
Deena has worked in high performance sport for UK Sport and is a British Cycling Coach and member of British Cycling’s external Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group.
Deena regularly coaches in East London, one of the most diverse regions in the UK, as well as with riders on the national talent pathway. A former human rights lawyer, Deena is passionate about inclusion and equality of opportunity on and off the sports field, particularly for minority groups.
Kelly Wild
Kelly is former British Alpine Ski Team racer, British Children’s Team and English Alpine Ski Team coach. Now a highly experienced Sports Physiotherapist, Kelly worked as team physiotherapist with the English Ski Team and is currently a Snowsports GB teams pool physiotherapist.
Kelly has additionally worked with elite club and national team footballers, military populations and Olympic and Paralympic team athletes in multiple sports. Currently undertaking a part-time Sports Physiotherapy Masters’ Degree, Kelly is heavily involved in skiing injury prevention research and injury prevention strategy development.
Jeff Fozzard
Jeff is a Snowsport England Coach, Freestyle Moguls Coach/Tutor as well as Moguls Coach at FIS, Europa Cup and World Cup. Jeff is qualified in Mogul/Freestyle Ski Coaching in English, Scottish, Canadian and Australian Training Programmes.
Formerly Head of Physical Education and Deputy Headteacher, Leeds City Education Authority, Jeff is currently coaching at Kendal Ski Club and is a member of the Telemark Coaching Committee Working Party.
Busting the Barriers to Successful Skiing in the Moguls
Jeff’s sessions at the Conference will look at exploring the PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL and ENVIRONMENTAL barriers which may block and hinder effective progress and how we can develop ways in which to overcome them.
Richard Barbour
Richard is an engineer, professionally qualified coach mentor and producer of the Locked in Shed skiing podcasts. He was responsible for developing the current Level 3 and 4 Development Coach training, for which he was awarded Fellowship of the Chartered Management Institute. As chair of Snowsport England’s Coaching Technical Panel, he championed and introduced the most extensive review of the sport’s needs for coaches and coaching in over 20 years. He is a professional coach, volunteer Head Coach of Gloucester Disabled Skiing and Senior Tutor for Snowsport England. He also makes things, usually practical and sometimes artistic and is host of the “Locked in Shed” podcast
Creating practical environments for success
Richard’s sessions will use skiing tasks to illustrate the power of external focus and attention to sensory information on skill development. Highlighting aspects of Snowsport England’s coaching scheme philosophy and coaching tools, he will aim to help your muscle memory reproduce some useful sensations next time that you ski. Be prepared to discuss whether skiing and yoga are related.
John Holgate
John is a passionate coach in telemarking and is currently heading up the Telemark Coaching Working group. He is instrumental in arranging the Telemark Festival at the Chill Factore. He Joined Chill Factore staff upon its opening in 2007 and works as an Alpine, Freestyle Moguls and Telemark instructor and coach. John looks forward to helping you develop your understanding and performance in Telemark Skiing.