An Edinburgh gymnastics coach has won a national coaching hero award following her exceptional work over the pandemic trying to keep participants active, as well as looking after their mental well-being during the lockdowns.
From nearly 500 public nominations, Amy Chambers is one of 25 coaches across the UK to be crowned a winner at the UK Coaching Hero Awards. The coaches, who were voted by the public for their innovations and achievements to keep people moving during the coronavirus lockdowns, each received a memento from UK Coaching’s Royal Patron, HRH The Princess Royal to mark the considerable difference they made to people’s mental and physical well-being.
Despite completing the final year of her teaching degree during the pandemic, Amy still had time to focus on her gymnasts, creating a program of activities that were essential to staying positive and connected during the strange time.
With a specific focus on supporting her gymnasts’ mental wellbeing, Amy created a ‘Check in Tuesday’, which encouraged gymnasts to write down their emotions and share with the group – bringing people together through sport and showcasing the best of what coaching can be.
Just happy to be making a positive difference, Amy said: “I’m very proud that my coaching work has been recognised with a UK Coaching Hero award. It was such a surprise and I felt really touched that my gymnasts had decided to nominate me.
“The pandemic has affected my coaching delivery massively. During the first lockdown all my coaching took place over zoom with some outdoor training sessions (very unusual for gymnastics!) later in the summer. When we came back to gymnastics in September 2020, we were unable to physically support gymnasts which was very challenging and lead to some really creative coaching and innovative training sessions.
“Invested and committed coaching can be hugely important to people’s lives, especially when you’re working with children and young people. The positive relationships formed through such coaching are often life-long. It makes me feel really honoured and privileged to be able to make such a difference supporting people’s mental and physical health.
“It’s my hope that my gymnasts will carry what they’ve learnt about positive mental health strategies, emotional literacy, and physical preparation into whatever they do in life after gymnastics.
“I wanted to start coaching because it was something that came quite naturally to me when I was still a gymnast myself. I was always getting distracted by trying to help other people with their gymnastics rather than being focused on my own.
“I’ve focused a lot on supporting mental health throughout my coaching career -as a teaching student (and now teacher) I’ve also been very lucky to have regular and updated training and access to research about children’s mental health and how we can best support it as influential adults in their lives.
“I feel really passionate about ensuring athletes have a positive experience in gymnastics and that their experience in the sport gives them skills which they can use in their everyday lives.”
Reflecting on the exceptional contribution of the award-winning coaches like Amy, UK Coaching Director of Coaching Emma Atkins, said: “Many congratulations to Amy and all our winners. We applaud your efforts and the role you played in your communities, boosting morale, and lifting people’s moods in a completely alienating time.
“Helping people to use sport and physical activity positively through challenging times is a privilege and one which carries huge responsibilities, and you took your duties seriously, using your initiative to create solutions to the embargo on most sport and physical activity – looking always to what was possible – thank you.”
UK Coaching opened nominations to its UK Coaching Hero awards initiative in 2020 after the first major UK-wide COVID-19 lockdown. The charitable organisation wanted to acknowledge the efforts of coaches, who in difficult circumstances persevered and re-thought coaching techniques to deliver legal digital and one-to-one training, utilising sport and physical activity to keep people connected.
If you are interested in coaching or to progress your coaching career, visit ukcoaching.org
25
0
20
