England Boxing partner with UK Coaching on #Born2Coach campaign

England Boxing has partnered with UK Coaching as part of a nationwide drive to expand the coaching workforce, aiming to inspire more youngsters and people from diverse backgrounds into boxing coaching roles.

The partnership will see UK Coaching supporting England Boxing’s coaching recruitment and retention, with a view to significantly increasing the boxing coaching workforce over the next 10 years, and ensuring the nation is fully supported to become more active, more often.

Latest Sport England data suggests an alarming drop in the number of people giving up their time to support others to be active, which could continue to exacerbate already decreasing activity levels.

A total of 6.6 million people (14% of the adult population) gave up their time to lead activity sessions from November 2020 to 2021, a fall of more than 3.1 million people compared to the year before, and this follows a drop in numbers in the years prior to the pandemic.

In response, UK Coaching – the UK’s leading charitable organisation for physical activity and sports coaches – is leading a nationwide drive to expand the coaching workforce.

The campaign will see the organisation engage with seven of the nation’s leading sports, including boxing, to ensure coaching becomes more accessible, inclusive and innovative than ever before.

To support the recruitment drive, UK Coaching have launched #Born2Coach – an initiative that aims to significantly boost the coaching workforce by inspiring people to become coaches and empowering current coaches to enhance their abilities.

The announcement comes at the start of UK Coaching Week (6th to 12th June) – the annual national awareness campaign which empowers athletes, coaches and the public to celebrate great coaching.

“We are delighted to be working closely with England Boxing to help encourage more aspiring coaches into the workforce,” said UK Coaching’s CEO, Mark Gannon.

“As we learn to live with Covid-19, and seek to recover from the challenges of the last couple of years, we want to play our part in supporting physical activity and sport to help rebuild a more active, happier and healthier nation.

“Coaches will be an important conduit for engaging a broader range of people from more communities in physical activity and sport, and with the help of our network and partnerships, we will be able to empower existing coaches and recruit the next generation of coaches.”

Charlie Ford, England Boxing’s Head of Operations, added: “As part of our 2022-27 strategic plan, we have ambitious plans to grow and diversify the sport at all levels, which includes a strong workforce focus.

“Our insight clearly shows that we have work to do in terms of ensuring the sport is inclusive and accessible regardless of gender, ethnicity, capability, sexual orientation, or socio-economic background.

“Through this partnership, we have the opportunity to share challenges and learn from industry leaders which will then enable us to make progressive changes within boxing.”

To find out more about how you can get into boxing coaching, visit: www.ukcoaching.org/born2coach.