EIS Review 2009

 

by James Skitt - 23.12.09

The English Institute of Sport (EIS) has had a busy 2009, building on the success of the Beijing 2008 Games, its continued partnerships with Olympic, Paralympic and English sports saw many successes on the world stage as well as put preparations in place for the Vancouver Winter Games and Dehli Commonwealth Games in 2010.

With over 250 staff delivering support from a number of sites around the country, this year the EIS has been supporting approximately 1700 athletes from more than 60 sports, delivering on average 4000 hours of sport science and medicine each week, aiming to improve performances through the delivery of excellence in sport science and sport medicine.

Here, eis2win.co.uk looks back at some of the key stories and developments from the past twelve months.

The year began with the EIS looking to build on the experiences of a successful Beijing Olympics and ensure the ongoing provision of world class sports science and sports medical services following a strategic review undertaken in consultation with UK Sport.

Three regional directors took up positions for the newly created directorates of North, Central and South, each covering three of the institutes nine regions, with National Director Conor O’Shea explaining: “These appointments within the Senior management team allows us to be confident that we have a structure being put in place both nationally and regionally which will enhance the service delivery that the EIS provides.”

As ever, January also saw the EIS National Conference, this year held once more in Sheffield. EIS Chairman Steve Cram paid tribute to staff, insisting the EIS now holds a ‘position of strength and respect’ due to the successful impact of its sports science and sports medicine services, before the conference went on to focus on ‘the road ahead to 2012’ through a combination of keynote speeches and forums.

With attention inevitably turning towards London 2012, February saw legacy plans for the Olympic site being unveiled, with the inclusion of an English Institute of Sport centre within the Olympic stadium after the Games.

Also in February, theMinister for Sport, Gerry Sutcliffe MP, visited the EIS at Sportscity, speaking with practitioners on the ground about their roles working within high performance sport. “Sports science practitioners play a vital role in improving the performance of our elite sportsmen and women. Just a hundredth of a second can make the difference between a gold and silver medal, and the EIS are there to ensure that the athletes they work with stay out in front” he said.

A busy month also witnessed Dr Ken van Someren take over the reigns as Director of Sport Science stating his priority to ensure appropriate levels of delivery in the next funding cycle and the development of EIS sport science services in terms of people, knowledge and practice.

In March it was revealed that Director of Sport Medicine Dr Rod Jaques, through the UK Sport Research & Innovation team, had liaised with Chemical Associates to develop an antiseptic hand wash to combat the significant impact that infections can make on the training schedules of athletes, whilst the spring also saw a steady flow of announcements concerning renewal of sports service agreements with the EIS.

In April, UK Sport announced that the responsibility for the future delivery and development of their Fast-Track Practitioner Programme (FPP) would be entrusted to the EIS.

The FPP – which operates in partnership with all of the home country sports institutes, the British Olympic Association and the sports’ national governing bodies – aims to assist in the training and development of young sport science and medicine practitioners who are starting out on their careers within elite sport.

This news was soon followed by the announcement that Paul Davies had been appointed as National Lead of Sport Science and Medicine for World Class funded sports competing in the Paralympics.

The newly created role will see the EIS aim to maximise the impact and development of sport science and medical services delivered to Paralympic sports’ performance programmes, working closely across all disciplines and practitioners working with Paralympic sports in all of the Home Country Institutes of Sport (HCIS).

Further announcements would follow in the summer as UK Sport announced in August that the EIS would take on the strategic development for the Performance Lifestyle support service, having played a key role in delivering the service across elite sport since the programmes inception.

Following on from this, the EIS would later launch the Athlete Career Development Programme, which aims to provide World Class Programme Athletes with an introduction to organisations receptive to the exceptional skills athletes can bring to the work place.

Having developed the programme within the Performance Lifestyle support service over a number of years the EIS is hoping that through its partners, the Athlete Career Development Programme will develop some exciting and valuable opportunities for athletes.

As summer turned to autumn, Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre marked the completion of new £2 million elite training and rehabilitation facilities.

The investment by Sport England ensures that home-grown athletes training for 2012 with the English Institute of Sport (EIS) will have the best possible facilities as they bid for Olympic and Paralympic gold.

The new facilities include a re-development of the EIS High Performance Gym, including a training and agility area with a 30-metre indoor track, state-of-the-art strength & conditioning machines and weights and video analysis equipment. It also now has increased rehabilitation and medical suites.

In October, two of Britain’s top rowers, Andy Hodge and Katherine Grainger, called on the next generation of British athletes to step up and find out if they have what it takes to follow in their footsteps with the launch of the Talent 2016: Tall and Talented campaign.

The UK Talent Team (a collaboration between UK Sport and the English Institute of Sport [EIS]) also stepped up their medal hunt ahead of 2012 with the launch of a groundbreaking initiative, Talent2012: Fighting Chance, which endeavours to mould an Olympic taekwondo gold medallist from the cream of British martial arts talent, before ,marking the 1000 day countdown to the 2012 Paralympic Games in London with the launch of Talent 2012: Paralympic Potential, encouraging athletes with an impairment to put themselves forward for a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent Great Britain in 2012.

As the year drew to a close, the EIS announced the resignation of National Director, Conor O’Shea, who will be leaving the organisation in March 2010 to join Harlequins as Director of Rugby.

EIS Chairman Steve Cram said: “We wish Conor all the best in his new role at Harlequins. He has made a significant impact during his time at the EIS and led the organisation through a significant period of change. As a result of his efforts, we now feel we are in the best possible shape to support sports in the lead up to 2012 and beyond. A suitable successor is now being sought.”