Competitions

The Competition Manager Role

COMPETITION MANAGERS a background

In December 2004 the Government announced additional funding of Ł519 million for 2006 to 2008 to continue and expand the national PE, School Sport and Club Links (PESSCL) strategy. Part of this funded the employment of Competition Managers in School Sport Partnerships who will contribute significantly to the ambition that by 2010 a high quality school sport national competition framework implemented locally with opportunities for all will have been developed. It is now recognised that high quality competition is one of the four key elements within high quality physical education and school sport, for ALL young people.

The outline is simple; to manage and co-ordinate the organisation and delivery of a programme of inter-school competitions in Tameside, ensuring that competition is offered to all children and not just the talented few. One of the main focuses of this role being to ensure that festivals and competitions are based on the national framework and associated National Governing Body and Schools Association national templates, and also address local priorities.

The National Competition Framework. Basically it recommends what kind of competition should be delivered at each Key Stage. However, local needs and issues have to be considered, therefore, some recommendations may not be implemented totally. The long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model is also closely linked to the framework, again recommending what should be happening at each stage.

The challenge here is to not create a parallel system but ensure that the right youngsters play in the right competition, talent is given the chance to rise and school/club conflicts are resolved.