Leaders 2014 Sport Performance Summit

This week, three England Touch delegates headed to the Leaders 2014 Sport Performance Summit at the Emirates Stadium in London: Tim Osborne (High Performance Director and Women’s Open Head Coach) was joined in attendance by Martin Wright (Mixed Senior Head Coach) and Simon Whitnall (Men’s Open player).

The 2-day conference allowed delegates to network informally, attend round-table discussions as well as listen to a line-up of professional and remarkable speakers discussing high performance – on subjects from creating a HP environment, to strength and conditioning, to injury prevention, to considering mental skills and psychological profiling, to data analysis and decision making, to talent ID, to creating and maintaining success.

Keynote speakers, from very diverse sporting and non-sporting backgrounds, included: Arsene Wenger (Manager, Arsenal FC), Andy Flower (Technical Director of Elite Coaching, ECB), John Longmire (Head Coach, Sydney Swans), Raymond Blanc (Chairman and Chef Patron, Balmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saison), Stephen Park (RYA Olympic Manager, British Sailing), and Kevin O’Hare (Director, Royal Ballet).

The three England Touch delegates left the conference with much to ponder – hopefully they will be able to apply and pass on their new learnings/thinking/motivation to the England Touch HP Team in the lead up to the Touch World Cup in April next year.