Brook Sport Consulting

One of the lessons I took away from reading Brent Rushall’s[1] sports psychology book[2] “Psyching in Sport: The Psychological Preparation for Serious Competition in Sport” was the proposition that athletes need to enter competition with a positive task-oriented approach if they hoped to be successful. Players who set realistic and challenging goals are more likely to believe they can achieve these in competition.  A positive attitude is essential but not enough on its own. P

Where sports organisations have acted on their duty of care to safeguard participants in their sport from non-accidental harm, there has to date been a focus on implementing safeguarding policies and procedures that seek to protect children and protected adults (adults at risk). Children are defined as young persons under 18 years of age and are protected under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which has been adopted by 197 nations. Protected Adult (Adu

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development[1] recognise that sport is an important enabler of sustainable development. Sport is making a contribution to the realisation of peace and development, promoting tolerance and respect, encouraging the empowerment of women and of young people, individuals and communities and contributing to health, education and social inclusion objectives. The Commonwealth Secretariat published a guide titled “Enhancing the contribution of sport to

Brook Sport Consulting has just completed three facilitator training courses, two for the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) conducted over two weekends in Budapest, Hungary, and one for the International Triathlon Union conducted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The UCI courses were to train tutors for the UCI Elite National and International Commissaire Courses as facilitators of adult learning using learner centred teaching approaches. Course participants attended from Australi

There seems to be quite some concern in Sport for Development and Peace circles that UN Secretary-General António Guterres has announced that the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) has closed. Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan created the UNOSDP, appointing the first Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace Adolf Ogi in February 2001. Wilfried Lemke was appointed as the 2nd Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Sport for

Norman Brook has been appointed to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee’s Education and Training Commission. The commission is headed by SASCOC Vice President, Mr Barry Hendricks and comprises four members. The other members are Ms Marion Keim Lees, Ms Thoko Mlonyeni, and Mr Cecil Colin Abrahams. The Commission’s Mandate is to provide policy guidelines and recommendations to the SASCOC Board on all matters relating to policies of Education and Training

Traditional sports programmes focus on developing individual players and teams to take part and pursue success in sports competition. Sport for development programmes use sport as a means of reaching out to young people in order to address a social challenge and contribute towards the achievement of a development goal. In both contexts the coach helps individual players to develop their sporting competences and their personal and social competences. Even in sport only program

A soft skills manual is unveiled during a training day at Juventus Stadium, a new tool developed by Juventus and UNESCO supporting the development of J|Academy coaches. Education, integration and the rejection of all forms of discrimination are the core objectives of the strategic partnership between Juventus and UNESCO. And these were also the underlying themes of today’s meeting at Juventus Stadium, where five J|Academy coaches met UNESCO expert Norman Brook from Brook Spor

The manual seeks to promote sport as a tool for both positive youth development and the adoption of healthy lifestyles. The principles set out in this manual can be used by basketball coaches operating in basketball clubs/ teams who wish to promote the holistic development of their players or can be used by basketball coaches working in NGOs where sport is used specifically as means of reaching young people and developing their life skills. The manual can be used by coaches c

Cape Town – Norman Brook, regional programme manager of Coaching For Hope, has been awarded an MBE from the British Empire for services to social development through sport, specifically in Southern Africa. Brook was given the accolade for his involvement in the upliftment of disadvantaged youths through sport in Cape Town, Durban, Botswana and Johannesburg. For full article click here. #CapeTown #Triathlon #SkillshareInternational #NormnBrook #CoachingforHope #sport #socialde

Norman Brook, former head of endurance at UK Athletics, is made an MBE for services to social development through sport, particularly in South Africa. Currently programme manager at Coaching for Hope, a programme which uses football to create better futures for young people in West and Southern Africa, Brook began his sporting career in 1982 when he was appointed as a British national athletics coach. As well as his position at UKA, Brook has also worked with the Sports Counc

Norman Brook recently facilitated a participatory workshop for athletics coaches from the Western Province in South Africa.  Western Province Athletics is seeking to build a better coaching environment for the development of both athletes and coaches and was keen to involve local coaches in action research that would inform the assoications’ future strategy. The workshop divided into groups and asked what they would like to see in terms of an athlete development system in the

Dr Istvan Balyi is acknowledged worldwide as the expert in long term athlete development and the periodization of training plans.  He has led some excellent development work in this area in Ireland, Canada and the UK.  Most recently he has been engaged by the South African Sports Commission and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) to develop long term athlete development (LTAD) plans with South African sports federations. Dr Istvan Balyi presents on LTAD in South Africa The LTAD model

Norman Brook recently presented a paper on the practice of identifying, confirming and developing sporting talent at a seminar in Fortaleza, Brazil, organised through the International Inspiration programme and hosted by the state government of Ceara.  Brazil will host the Summer Olympic Games in 2016 and identifying and developing talent in Olympic sports will be high on the nations agenda.  The fourth extract from the paper is featured below and two more will be published h

Norman Brook recently presented a paper on the practice of identifying, confirming and developing sporting talent at a seminar in Fortaleza, Brazil, organised through the International Inspiration programme and hosted by the state government of Ceara.  Brazil will host the Summer Olympic Games in 2016 and identifying and developing talent in Olympic sports will be high on the nations agenda.  The third extract from the paper is featured below and others will be publshed here

Norman Brook recently presented a paper on the practice of identifying, confirming and developing sporting talent at a seminar in Fortaleza, Brazil, organised through the International Inspiration programme and hosted by the state government of Ceara.  Brazil will host the Summer Olympic Games in 2016 and identifying and developing talent in Olympic sports will be high on the nations agenda.  The second extract from the paper is featured below and others will be publshed here

Top sports coaches are innovative, finding new approaches to the train and prepare their teams and athletes, and in the process helping them to achieve a competitive advantage.  Good coaches possess practical coaching skills, knowledge and understanding of their sport, and demonstrate appropriate attitude, values and conduct.  Top coaches move to higher levels by reflecting on their coaching practice, solving problems and creating new and innovative approaches to coaching.  T

The education and training programmes adopted by most sports federations to develop their coaching workforce have in recent years tended towards a competence based training approach. Competence is often defined as a combination of awareness, skills, knowledge and attitude that enables an individual to coach to the agreed standards required to coach in a specified context. Competence Capability Matrix Competent coaches have demonstrated the ability to operate effectively in a

This week two reports were published detailing the alarming extent of child abuse in South Africa. Helping Hand Fund, an organisation for social care that was founded by the trade union Solidarity, reported that one child is raped in South Africa every three minutes.  SAPSAC, a professional body investigating child abuse in South Africa claimed that there are about 10 000 child prostitutes in Johannesburg alone and that the situation in Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth ar

I was especialy pleased to be invited by UK Sport earlier this month to travel back to Lusaka, Zambia, to undertake some consultancy work with Ken Black in connection with the London 2012 legacy programme titled International Inspiration writes Norman Brook. Edusport Activity The reason being that this was my fourth engagement with the Zambian sporting community, the other three dating back to 1995/1996 and I was keen to learn what had changed in the last 13-14 years. My firs