All Things Piscatorial

On 19 October 2008 angling coaches from across the country converged on Windsor & Eton Football Club for the very first ATP Coaching Conference.

The object of this conference was to discuss and debate the future of coaching in the UK.  It was also the perfect place for the Angling Development Board (ADB) and the Professional Anglers’ Association (PAA) to speak directly to their members.

(For the record, the NFA and S&TA and a few other relevant organisations were invited but sadly were unable to attend.)

This is my account of the conference - there was so much that was said, I just hope you can get a flavour of what happened. For those of you who have access to the private forum will be able to read the views of others who attended the conference.

First to take the floor was Robin Darker from the ADB who gave a very useful presentation on what role the ADB has within the coaching structure and what they are currently doing to take coaching forward under the UKCC UK Coaching Framework.

UKCC is driven and supported by  

• The UK Coaching Certificate is a government initiated and recognised quality standard for coach education applicable to all sports disciplines.
• Sports Coach UK is the body appointed by government to implement UKCC
• Sports Council, NGBs Skills Active, Country Sports Partnerships, Youth  SportsTrusts, Education Authorities.

Coaching within angling is not alone with its issues to do with such matters as licensing, CPD, coaching support and communication/website etc.  These issues are shared by a large number of organisations but the ADB recognises that these issues are important and will have to address them in order to move forward.     

 Part of the going forward process was to indentify the key challenges:

 Here is what the task force found to be the main issues that need further investigation.

There were many other matters raised by Robin that would take up most of this website to write down, but I, for one, was left with the feeling that at last the issues coaches have asked to be addressed are being taken seriously.  I am delighted to say that the ADB recognise the work that ATP does to promote angling coaches and they will be working much closer with us in the future.

Next up were the PAA - Professional Anglers’ Association - Derek North and Mick Johnson

Derek North was keen to explain to the coaches at the conference about where the PAA started and how it had evolved since the mid to late 1990s.  He told us that although the membership was quite strong it has dropped off in recent years due to a number of factors.  But he was also keen to point out that although mistakes had been made, he and his team were trying very hard to create a new image for the PAA and work closer with its members.

Mick Johnson was next to speak, his opening address was to ask for unity within the coaches’ rank and file.  He also stressed the importance of coaches having their say at all levels of the consultation process with those who have the power to change things that affect the coaches on the bank side.

He, too, realised that, in the past, the communication between the PAA and its members could have been better, but stressed that he aims to improve on that by producing more regular newsletters and make improvements to the website.  He spoke of a Coaches’ Council that the PAA is setting up which should help improve communication in the future.

It was refreshing to hear that both Derek and Mick wish to improve the service that the PAA provides and they have promised to keep ATP members up-to-date on their latest news - all of which will be posted on the ATP members’ forum.

I would like to thank both Derek and Mick for attending the conference and answering all the questions from the floor.

From my point of view, it was a very interesting morning with a fair amount of debate - some of which was a little heated - which only goes to prove that we still have a long way to go before we are all singing from the same hymn sheet.  This conference was a huge stepping stone towards a better coaching scheme that will really benefit the coaches who are already coaching and those looking to come into coaching.  One thing is for sure, the more support we give each other, the better we will become. 

 After lunch we had the chance to see and hear what our fellow coaches are doing in the field to promote our wonderful sport.

First up was Anne Higham.  For those of you who do not know of Anne, she and her husband Dave have been active members of ATP from almost day one.  We have held six coaches’ days out and Anne and Dave have attended four of them, including running a day at their own fishery, Oham Lakes.  These guys are really committed to promoting coaching and ATP.

Anne’s talk was about the work she has done with the BTEC courses run for local children who have had problems in main stream schools.  She spoke of how learning through fishing had changed the lives of so many of her pupils.  Having been to Oham Lakes www.ohamlakes.co.uk and seen for myself the set up which includes an onsite classroom, it is no wonder these kids work so hard when their reward is to fish the well-stocked lakes.

Anne showed us the standard of work these children have produced.  From not being able to concentrate for more than five minutes, they are now turning out work to a very high standard. They are not only using angling as a tool to read and write, they are learning about the environment and how to respect it and themselves.

Anne and Dave should be extremely proud of the work they do within angling coaching and for the good of their local community.

Thanks to you both for travelling down from Lincolnshire to Windsor to support the ATP conference.  

See Anne in action at the Lincolnshire Show:

www.anglersnet.co.uk/News/fishing_lincolnshire_show.html

Graham Cridland was next to take the stage with his 3^rd Arm attachment.

Graham is based in Sussex and he has a wonderful coaching centre at Lake View Fisheries.

 He is one of the most active coaches I know and has had a huge amount of success, including recently being awarded with the British Business Award of Excellence, for work in the local community.

Please view all the details via this link:

www.allthingspiscatorial.com/grahamcridlandaward.htm

But today Graham spoke of his involvement with the 3^rd Arm attachement and the huge beneifits it has for anglers who have restricted movement in the arm or limited grip with their hands.

To have a more informed view of his invention - please follow the link below:

http://www.allthingspiscatorial.com/Sports_20Equipment_20Support_20Attachment%5b2%5d.pdf

The last speaker of the day was Mr Andy Wood.  Andy is very new to ATP and he took the time and trouble to travel to the conference from Yorkshire to talk about his wonderful project that he hopes to get off the ground in the very near future.

Basically he is working with a multi-million pound company who will be investing heavily into providing an angling and environment centre in the North of England.  This project is very much in the planning stage and when Andy has more news, ATP will be among the first to know.

To round the day off, Nick Palmer showed us all his very neat invention the ‘Clever Claw’. Nick was as keen as ever to us how his Clever Claw worked and how it could help in our coaching and pleasure angling. Judging by the number of coaches including myself who brought a Clever Claw his patter and product worked a treat.

For those of you who are unaware of the Clever Claw please follow the link and don’t forget ATP members can buy them at trade price. www.allthingspiscatorial.com/cleverclaw.htm

I would like to personally thank all the speakers who put so much effort into making our first conference a huge success.  I would also like to put on record my thanks to Steve Rowland who invited us to use Windsor and Eton Football Club and who offered his services as Chairman for the day.

The wheels are already in motion for a second ATP conference next year - when the date and venue is secure, I will post the details on www.allthingspiscatorial.com website.