New Talent Squad Structure, Award and Membership

08/08/2009

Dear N&R Committee members, Coaches and Welfare Officers, (and readers of British Wrestling website)

Members of the Nations & Regions Committee, Coaches and Welfare Officers are invited to attend one of two briefing sessions that will cover:

A new Talent/Development Squad structure
A new British Wrestling White Award, that will align with the FILA colour awards
A new Recreational Membership level

The briefing Q&A sessions will be at

Wigan and Leigh in parallel to weighing-in on 4th Sept at 7:30-8:30
Leytonstone, in parallel to Referees Course, 12th Sept 12:30-13:30
British Wrestling Academy, Salford, on 19th Sept 12:30-13:30, alongside the Development Squad event

After first briefing session I will circulate a summary of the briefing and Q/As that came up there to inform those unable to attend.

Below, is a short summary on each topic:-

Talent/Development Squad structure
In line with the performance pathways in all other Olympic sports, there will be a talent, development and performance squad structure. It is also intended to have a regionally based Club/School squads for 10-13years. As well as having a consistent pathway, it is important that to ensure we have a transparent selection and development process for our young athletes who are aspiring to achieve domestic and international success.

The current Performance structure remains unchanged, at Salford. However, the current Development Squad will be disbanded and replaced by a Talent Squad (14-19yrs) and new Development Squad (18+ yrs). These national squads will be brought together on a regular basis, approx 5-6 times per year. The finer detail of the logistics and dates of the squads coming together across the year has still to be worked through, but it is expected that athletes would arrive on Friday night, train on Saturday, have a short session on Sunday and return home. Only athletes who are part of these squads will be considered for international tournaments

Club Coaches that want athletes to be considered for the new Talent Squad should send them up to attend the last current Development Squad date of 19th September, (for males & females), where they will be assessed by a panel consisting of Performance Director, National Coach, Scottish Coach and Steven McKeown. This panel will be part of an overall assessment as they will also consider previous performance, and performance in international tournaments. To ensure that only those eligible come to the session, athletes should have finished in the top 3 at the British Junior Championships and the minimum age that will be assessed is 14, (and those coming up for 14 by British Juniors in May 2010). Also, athletes need to be eligible for international weight classes (min 40kg male, 36kg female). Detailed selection criteria for all squads is given below.

Coaches need to communicate about these changes and the 19th September selection event to their athletes and parents. Current Development Squad parents should also receive a letter by end-August.

British Wrestling White Award

This award is intended as an introduction to the FILA Award scheme and gives an attainable target for school sessions and the earlier club sessions. Children are then well placed with a more standard foundation knowledge of grips, stance, basic exercises and moves, which will equip them progress in c lubs to the FILA Yellow Award and upwards . Some athletes who have already been wrestling for a few months will not necessarily take the White Award but go straight to the yellow FILA Award. Any present Level 2 coach will be able to assess the White Award. However, assessors of the initial stages of the FILA awards need to be Level 2 coaches qualified under the new scheme. Link to June website announcement

Recreational Membership level
This level of BWA membership will be required for people taking part in the British Wrestling White Award, (to be eligible for a British Wrestling Award, an athlete needs to be a member of the BWA). It will lead to a consistent approach to membership and consistent application of the White Award. It is expected that many on current Block Memberships will transfer to the Recreational Membership. Current competitive membership remains unchanged and Recreational Memberships applies to the FILA Awards as it does to the White Award if an athlete does not compete at competitions. Recreational membership will cost £5, with £4 being returned to the Regions, £1 being retained for postage and administrative costs etc.

I look forward to seeing as many as possible of you at the briefings , but any immediate questions on the above should be addressed, in the first instance, to the BWA Administrator.

Colin Nicholson
Interim Chief Executive

For squad entry criteria, please see links below…