SOUTH LONDON ATHLETIC NETWORK

A NETWORK COACHING PROTOCOL

With the establishment of the South London Athletic Network opportunities will be provided for athletes to train and compete within the network. Such opportunities may take the form of groups of athletes from the participating clubs working together under a lead coach or group of coaches from the network. Some coaches in the network clubs may have reservations about this on the grounds that athletes, parents or carers may be persuaded to change and re-locate to another network coach. With this in mind the following protocol is essential to ensure that coaching and club relationships remain on a friendly and firm footing.

If a coach is approached by an athlete, parent or carer with a request that a change of coach is required, or that there is a wish to join a different training group the following procedure should be adopted.

1. Firstly the athlete, parent or carer should discuss with the athlete’s present coach that a change is required.

2. The receiving coach should then contact the athlete's existing coach to discuss the ‘change over’

3. The coaches should inform their club or respective clubs of the change in coaching arrangements

4. Should athletes, parents or carers see a difficulty in approaching a coach, the receiving and releasing coach should always discuss the change over prior to any different coaching practices being implemented.

Ray Thompson SLAN acting coaching coordinator

Nov 2009