WWPIS NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 2024
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.'
Dear Subscriber,
We hope this edition of the newsletter finds you well and you have all been enjoying the start of many sporting seasons across the globe.
It has been an incredible month here at WWPIS with over 20 live and 10 virtual workshops delivered across a range of environments from football academies, gymnastics clubs and schools to name a few.
There was also a first as we were filmed by the Sky Sports Cameras on a recent visit to Charlton Athletic as part of a new documentary coming out on football academies very soon. There is so much wonderful work going on in these environments to create amazing opportunities and experiences for young people regardless of whether they end up becoming professional players and we must focus on this narrative in an industry with no guarantees.
It was also our first live visits to Barnsley FC, Northampton Town and Crewe Alexandra as our work across football continues to expand.
We are looking forward to working alongside Ulster Rugby this season which starts later this month with both parents and coaches adding to our work in the sport already taking place with Leicester Tigers, Bath Rugby and Leinster Rugby.
The Parents in Sport podcast reached a significant milestone this? month with our 50th episode recorded with Marcia Lewis, parent of Arsenal footballer Myles Lewis-Skelly. Myles went into the history books for being the first player booked in the Premier League before even taking the field of play against Manchester City, however, he has a bright future ahead of him and it was great to discuss with Marcia their journey to date.
You can find out more about some of these items in this month’s newsletter.
WORLD OF DANCE
A new experience for us this month at WWPIS as we entered the world of performance dance.
So many transferable pieces from our work in the sporting world with the young dancers and parents helping us to join the dots together for maximum context.
The pupils and parents at Broughton High School in Edinburgh were simply magnificent. We ran two sessions with young dancers, a junior and senior session which gave them the opportunity to discuss and share their experiences of their dancing journey.
We filled in a few gaps and helped them to consider some of the things that may be really beneficial to them in giving them the best chance of achieving some of the things they are aspiring to and working towards.
The parent session was a lovely small group meaning the quality of personal interaction was really high. Not surprisingly, the slides were largely ignored as we disappeared in different directions based on the thoughts and feelings from the room - always enjoy doing this.
We covered a large number of different areas that parents have to navigate in helping support their young people to fulfil their potential and it was done with so much honest reflection and humour.
Next month will see us do some work with Dance teachers with the Royal Academy of Dance and we look forward to venturing further with our work into this most fantastically creative world.
High Challenge and High Support are absolutely essential for all stakeholders involved in the world of performance.
DENSTONE COLLEGE
WWPIS were in live action at Denstone College this month in the first of a range of sessions delivered throughout the year. This follows on from a really positive start to the partnership in the previous academic year.
We delivered a session to the younger sports scholars to give them the opportunity to discuss their sporting journeys to date, the things they have seen and learnt, what they have developed and need to develop and helped prepare the foundations for what may lay ahead.
We then spoke to the Lower School parents the same evening in the hope that everyone will be able to pick up conversations around some of the topics discussed?
Both groups were in excellent form and there was certainly a huge amount of honesty and interaction that took place.
Looking forward to visiting again early in 2025.
NEW FROM SPOND - LIVE DEMONSTRATIONS
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.
They are also running 2 live online product tours/demonstrations each week. It is an opportunity for people to see Spond Club product features and capabilities in action.? Spond hosts them to multiple clubs at any one time and there is always time for questions.?
If you would like to book onto one of these sessions then click on the link below.
https://calendly.com/charlenesponduk/spond-uk-livedemo
SKY SPORTS CAMERAS AT CHARLTON ATHLETIC
The Sky Sports Crew joined us at Charlton Athletic this month to film our live session with parents and carry out interviews with club staff, parents and ourselves as part of an upcoming documentary on football academies.
There is so much positive work going on in academy environments on a daily basis up and down the country and it was great to see part of this play out live in front of the cameras.?
The challenge for the academy environments is that if the sole success criteria is producing a professional player or that that is the only success criteria for parents and their children, we are going to end up with so many disappointed people.
Creating wonderful environments and opportunities for young people to grow as people first as well as players so they thrive in whatever environments they end up in is absolutely key and whilst it may sound cliche, for all families it should certainly be about enjoying the experience and the journey in the now.? Sadly, we don’t have ‘Crystal Balls!’
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIPS
Have you considered signing your organisation up to an annual membership?
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 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.
领英推荐
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 - MARCIA LEWIS
In this episode, the parent of young Arsenal premier league footballer Myles Lewis-Skelly, Marcia Lewis, joins Gordon MacLelland to discuss sports parenting and how we can best navigate the journey from grassroots to professional football.
During the conversation they discuss amongst other things:
Marcia Lewis is the founder and CEO of No1Fan.club , a platform dedicated to supporting families of young footballers. Inspired by her son Myles' journey as a professional footballer at Arsenal, Marcia recognised the unique challenges faced by families of talented youth players.
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 and is constantly evolving to meet specific needs on the ground.
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 all of 2025.
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.
Many organisations are now even keeping their dates and booking up to 12 months in advance.
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, Northern Ireland Athletics, Ulster Rugby, Irish Football Association, Meapa Gymnastics, Broughton School, Stoke City, Luton Town, Brentford, Southampton FC, Brighton & Hove Albion, 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:
Helping our children combat imposter syndrome
Kitchen essentials to support our youth athletes with their nutrition
Are we all delusional to some extent when it comes to our children’s sport?
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