EIS Welcomes Glanfield To PL Team

 

EIS - 04.09.09

The English Institute of Sport (EIS) has appointed double sailing Olympic silver medallist Joe Glanfield  to the Performance Lifestyle team to work as part of the team supporting sailing’s Skandia Team GBR support team.

Glanfield, who competed for Great Britain at the past three Olympic Games in the 470 class, will start an initial three-month stint this autumn as the sailing team’s Performance Lifestyle Advisor through the EIS, after taking time out of his own sailing career following his second Olympic silver medal in Beijing last year.

The Performance Lifestyle role will incorporate assisting and guiding the sailors, their coaches and support team in personal goal-setting and in balancing and managing the various aspects of their lives – such as time management, further education, finance, social and future careers – against the main focus of their training and competition commitment.

It’s a role which the 30-year-old Glanfield is well suited to, having not only faced those challenges himself as world class athletes with a young family, but also having spent the year since Beijing working both as a coach to 49er duo Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes, and as a ‘changingLIVES’ ambassador with the Youth Sport Trust, mentoring schoolchildren as to the positive effects that sport can have on their lives.

“To achieve at the highest level of sailing, young sailors will be embarking on long, dedicated campaigns” Glanfield explains.

“Having the skills to successfully manage all aspects of their lives is key to reaching their pinnacle. I am looking forward to working with the sailors on their programme and lifestyle so they can find the right balance and be successful in all areas of their lives” he adds.

RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park adds: “We’re delighted that Joe will be joining Skandia Team GBR in this capacity and as a highly successful sailor who has been through the World Class Performance Programme, he is sure to add a great deal of experience and credibility to the Performance Lifestyle post.

“It’s particularly pleasing that, having been involved since the very beginning of the World Class Performance Programme, Joe is now keen to put his experience back into helping the team succeed up to 2012 and beyond, and shows that there is life and a career after sport for elite athletes.”

Nick Slade, EIS Head of Performance Lifestyle said:
“Joe’s first hand experience of the RYA’s World Class Programmes and his unique experiences through it to Olympic honours will provide sailors at all levels with highly relevant and credible support in developing their off the water decision making.

“I certainly look forward to our continued relationship with Skandia Team GBR, now through Joe, in developing a first class support service to this first class programme.”

Having previously delivered performance lifestyle support to the programme part time, Slade will now continue his focus on overseeing the delivery and development of the support service across sports.

The EIS took on the strategic development for the Performance Lifestyle support service from UK Sport last month, having played a key role in delivering the service across elite sport since the programme’s inception. In line with their strategy of position the EIS as the strategic developer for Sport Science & Sport Medicine, UK Sport has transferred responsibility for the programme to the EIS and will invest in its ongoing delivery through the Home Country Sports Institutes (HCSIs).

Photography © Getty Images