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UK Sport aims to improve on the 2012


Paralympics medal haul of 120 London 2012 breaststroke silver medallist


Michael Jamieson visiting Westcroft Leisure Centre in Surrey, operated by Everyone Active


increase participation at grassroots level is overseen and funded by Sport Eng- land, Carr recognises that UK Sport plays a part in getting people active. “We have an important part to play in


creating heroes and heroines – especially for young people – and creating them in other sports than just football,” he says. “Not everybody will want to play football, so by creating role models in athletics, boxing, sailing and a range of other team and individual sports, we’re able to show young people a wider choice and encourage more people to become active by trying sports that suits them and their skill sets.” And once the role models have been


created, Carr wants, quite literally, to sweat these assets at grassroots level by working in partnership with Sport England. From April 2013, each Team GB member has been contracted to do five days of what could be described as community service – visiting facilities and promoting sport to children. “It’s so important to get our Olympic


heroes to visit schools and clubs and to inspire youngsters on a person-to-per- son basis,” Carr says. “When we get the likes of Ben Ainsley, Jessica Ennis or Chris Hoy to appear in an environment thats familiar to kids – in their “own backyard” – it makes it easier for the youngsters to relate to the sport and especially the su- perstars. And when the athletes tell their


Issue 2 2013 © cybertrek 2013


It’s so important to get our Olympic heroes to visit schools and clubs and to inspire youngsters on a person to person basis


stories, how they first started running or swimming or sailing in a centre or track just like theirs, it gets kids inspired. They feel it, they can touch it. They think “that could be me” – it’s very powerful.” While the requirement for each ath-


lete to make at least five appearances wasn’t introduced until April 2013, the system has been pretty much in full swing since the London Games. So far, 132 of the 172 medallists at London have made at least one school or community appearance, while 45 per cent of the London 2012 medallists have already made five or more visits. Looking ahead, Carr feels that the


sheer number of athletes in the pro- gramme will provide a great opportunity to increase participation through inspira- tion. “In total we’ve got around 1,300 athletes in our programme – a huge number,” he says. “You multiply that by five and you get an idea of how many


visits there will be made to schools, sport clubs and leisure centres. On those days the heroes and heroines will provide a huge inspiration to not only the kids but the club coaches and trainers too.”


COACHING When the talk turns to coaching, Carr emphasises that UK Sport’s remit doesn’t include driving policy on sports coach- ing at grassroots level. However, he has strong personal views on the matter, fearing that the amount of red tape and the time required to acquire qualifica- tions is putting people off becoming coaches at their local clubs. “I’d say that in general the coach-


ing agenda has got to be very carefully managed. We all want to see better coaches, but we mustn’t have a one- size-fits all approach that means when it comes to passing exams and qualifying, that every single coach has got to go


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