September Newsletter
Gordon MacLelland
CEO at Working with Parents in Sport (WWPIS) - 'Supporting organisations, coaches, parents and children to work effectively together to help young people fulfil their potential both in and out of their sport.'
PREMIER LEAGUE WORK UNDERWAY FOR 2024-25
This last month saw our work get underway and continue to expand across the Premier League. We now have a large number of live visits in the diary across the league but really enjoyed visiting West Ham United and Norwich City recently.
There was incredible attendance from all sets of parents with plenty of honesty, laughs and interactions as we explored the complexities of being a sports parent to young performers with high ambitions.
Looking forward to visiting again later in the season to discuss the topic of 'Managing Disappointment' with our young people when it comes to their sport, always such a challenging time for sports parents but so important to try and support in a healthy way that allows them to learn, progress and thrive from these moments.
CARLISLE UNITED VISIT
CEO Gordon MacLelland was back to his place of birth and where it all began for him in 1984 with his first taste of live football watching Carlisle United as a young boy.
It is fantastic to now be supporting the club in a professional capacity.
Another really enjoyable evening with the u9-u12 Academy parents this time, after working with staff and the older age groups parents at the back end of the season.
Then it was on to the game at Brunton Park to watch the blues take on Stoke City in the Carabao Cup.
A brilliant mix of both business and pleasure.
SCOTLAND TOUR
WWPIS were in live action in Scotland this last week delivering a whole host of live workshops across the education sector.
Visits to Broughton High School (Dance), George Watson's College, Glasgow Academy and Edinburgh Academy saw a range of bespoke sessions delivered for both parents and pupils.
Before then, a virtual session with Scottish Curling coaches kick started the week which completed our work with their academy for another year. A great privilege as always.
A rather unique Scottish theme to start September and one we thoroughly enjoyed.
SPOND - FREE APP AND CLUB MANAGEMENT SOLUTION
Our primary partners at Spond strive to simplify administrative tasks for coaches and parents in sporting programmes.?
Spond is a free app and club management solution, created to simplify how people manage their clubs, teams and groups in a safe and stress-free way, no matter the activity or sport. Almost 3 million people including coaches, club admins, members, and parents across thousands of clubs, are actively using Spond every month. The app fully supports the management of all sports and activities, offering events, communications, payments, fundraising and other features.
Our collaboration with them extends this commitment, helping us to support a lot of the NGBs, clubs, coaches and parents that we work with not just with administration, but also in safeguarding, communication, and compliance.”
If you would like to check it out and see how Spond may be able to help support you, then click on the QR code above to register for free.
As a valued member of the WWPIS community, if you would like to have a personal meeting with Spond to discuss both the app and club management system then email us at [email protected] and we will help facilitate this for you.
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIPS
It is great to have onboard a large number of annual members here at WWPIS and we have been tasked with creating badges for organisations to put on their own websites/platforms to show our working partnership together.
This model has proved hugely successful across the world in 2023-24 for National Governing Bodies, Sporting Organisations, Clubs and Schools.
The benefits of an Annual Membership include ongoing consultancy and an opportunity to really embed continued support within existing programmes as opposed to one hit wonders which we know don't always have the greatest impact.
Annual Membership also includes discounted rates for access to the WWPIS platform and all of our resources which can also act as a revenue stream for organisations.
The most important benefit of an Annual Membership is that it will give you priority on securing dates for live workshops and webinars. WWPIS has become a world leading brand in this space and securing dates and times to suit is becoming more of a challenge and we never want to let people down.
If you would like to discuss options that may be available to you or would like to set up an annual membership then please email me personally at [email protected].
PARENTS IN SPORT PODCAST - LEWIS HATCHETT
In this episode mindset/performance and former professional cricketer Lewis Hatchett joins Gordon MacLelland to discuss the positives and perils of perfectionism and what we should be looking out for in helping to support our young performers.
During the conversation they discuss amongst other things:
Lewis Hatchett is a Mindset and Mental Performance Coach, Former Professional Cricketer, MSc Student of Performance Psychology at Bangor University, Host of the Raising Your Game Podcast and Creator of the MindStrong Sport App.
To listen to the episode click here.
WORKSHOP AND WEBINAR MENU
These sessions can be for management, performance staff, coaches, parents, parent-coaches and young athletes depending on individual needs and requirements.
The options above show what is currently available for both live and virtual delivery.?
If you would like to find out more or to request a specific workshop or package then please email [email protected].
To read our interactive brochures which give a good overview of all of our services please click here.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
We are taking face to face bookings and virtual bookings for the remainder of 2024 and now into 2025.
October, November and December are practically FULL with just a handful of dates remaining.
January dates are going fast and we are now encouraging people to plan and get dates in the diary well in advance, to ensure we don’t let people down.
Virtual and face to face engagements are already in the diary including dates with Bath Rugby, Leicester Tigers, Newcastle United, Scottish Hockey, West Ham United, Royal Academy of Dance, Southampton FC, Para Ireland Athletics, Irish Football Association, Meapa Gymnastics, Broughton School, Stoke City, Burnley, South Essex Gymnastics Club, Warrington Gymnastics Club and many more…..
Please contact [email protected] or call us directly on (+44) 7897517671 if you would like to discuss specific requirements or make a booking.
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES FOR 2024-2025
We are seeing increasing interest from Sponsors wishing to work alongside the amazing projects that we have created here at WWPIS and are looking forward to making some exciting announcements very soon.
“Aligning with WWPIS has been a real success story for Spond, underscoring our commitment to fostering positive relationships among sporting organisations, coaches, and parents. Through our combined efforts, we aim to create a safe and fun environment for everyone involved in grassroots sport at the junior level.
“This partnership is not just about improving safeguarding and best practice, but also about strengthening the community around grassroots sport, and we’re excited for further initiatives we will roll out together in the coming year.” (Spond CEO Trine Falnes)
If you are interested in the following then we may be the partnership opportunity for you:
You can request our latest Sponsorship pack by emailing [email protected]
MONTHLY FEATURES
Some of our featured pieces (click on the titles to be taken to the web page) published in the last month on the website include:
Positive self-talk: What is it and how do we encourage it as sports parents?
WWPIS Hit List - ‘Sporting films, books, autobiographies and documentaries’
Helping your children understand their values
Our social media posts have included:
We hope that you have enjoyed this edition of the newsletter.
If you would like to leave us any feedback, a review either on the website or on facebook, or even contact me directly on [email protected] about any aspect of our work then we would love to hear from you.
Gordon MacLelland CEO