Spotlight on the East Glos coaching team
By Frank Leavers, Steve Worsley and Julian Wellings
As part of a regular series in our weekly email newsletter, we’re shining a light on the various functions that make East Glos such a great club to belong to.
Here’s the lowdown on the East Glos coaching team.
The team is an integral part of the club’s operation. It comprises a wide range of both young and experienced coaches working across all the club’s sports. The coaches are typically part-time and, in addition to their roles at East Glos, deliver work across the county through various organisations.
Overseeing the various sports and programmes are managers who typically work off court between five and ten hours per week in addition to their coaching roles.
The management team comprises rackets manager Steve Worsley, responsible for the planning and delivery of all club coaching; squash manager Mark Toseland; racketball manager Charlotte Elgood; performance tennis manager Pete Russell; and padel manager Simon Corbishley.
East Glos delivers year-round courses and individual lessons to players of all ages and abilities, which generate a significant financial contribution to the club and enhance the quality of service we offer, helping retain and attract members for the future. As well as extensive coaching options for adults, the team prides itself on getting children into sport at an early age, with courses from age three upwards.
The coaching function offers an inclusive programme. This includes working with various organisations, such as Active Gloucestershire, in areas such as active ageing and disability, a youth referral programme for children with mental health issues, and support for families through concessionary memberships, such as those who have come from Ukraine. The team’s aim is to make sport as accessible as possible to a wide audience.
While junior coaching at East Glos is for all abilities, through its performance coaching, the team is proud to have developed youngsters who regularly compete in national and international competitions in tennis, padel and squash.
The coaching team also includes Andrew Thompson and Max Richardson, who run the community tennis courses in Pittville Park and Montpellier Gardens. The aim of these courses is to offer members of the public an affordable, low-level commitment to tennis, to grow a love and passion for the sport, and to progress to East Glos membership as their needs grow.
In short, any sports club relies upon the competence and commitment of its coaching staff, and in this regard, East Glos is well served indeed.