Cornwall's first sports conference kicks off in style
Cornwall’s first sports conference pulled out all the stops yesterday and, in addition to the day’s successful workshops, Circo Kernow, Capoeira Cornwall and Truro Fencing Club performed throughout the day to entertain the 100 delegates who attended.
(story continues below)
Download the presentations and handouts from the day:
story continues...
Organised by the Cornwall Sports Partnership, the conference was held at Truro College on Sunday April 26. As the first event of its kind, it offered a full-day of innovative workshops, keeping sports professionals and volunteers on their toes all day – in some cases literally.
As attendees first entered the main conference theatre they were met by Circo Kernow performing a number of impressive circus lifts and twists. Shortly after, one of Europe’s leading mind coach, Dr Karl Morris, officially opened the event as key note speaker.
With clients including Red Bull and Volvo, and golfers Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood and Paul McGinley, Dr Morris animatedly discussed his cutting edge methods of goal achievement and provided a range of practical and applicable tools for performance breakthrough.
Together with an interactive Market Place, a variety of workshops took place throughout the day, led by a number of inspirational speakers sharing their experience, tips and insight.
During the workshops, club volunteers had the opportunity to learn how to maximise their membership and success, and discover where to obtain on-hand practical advice and help. Coaches were able to discover an assortment of ground-breaking techniques and useful tips, which also included practical sessions with Cornwall Athletics Club coach Tony Lett and yoga teacher Alison Trewhela.
The conference also provided the perfect showground for Capoeira Cornwall to perform their Brazilian acrobatic martial art. Closing the event with an inspirational speech was Great Britain’s Olympic fencing coach Peter Frohlich, accompanied by a dynamic demonstration from Great Britain’s number two and number five seed fencers, Chris Buxton and Jon Salfield, from Truro Fencing Club.
Conference organiser, Natasha Howard from the Cornwall Sports Partnership, said: “We designed the conference specifically to help those working and volunteering in sport to take a new approach to excellence in club and coach development.
She continues: “Our main proposition was for clubs to think and run more like successful businesses; and, for coaches to strongly consider transferable skills so that different sports can learn from each other. From the feedback we’ve received so far, it sounds like we’ve achieved this and more, and we’re delighted with the event’s success”.
Sarah Butter from Truro Tennis Club attended the event, she said: “From a club perspective the day was highly valuable; the workshops were really informative, the deliverers were very good and I left with some excellent advice.
“We were all blown away by the keynote speaker, Karl Morris, who was simply fantastic. Our coaches attended his workshop in the afternoon and said it was truly inspirational!”