Sports coaching companies play a crucial role in supporting the education and overall development of young people. By integrating physical activity with valuable life lessons and supporting vocational pathways, these companies contribute significantly to students’ academic success and personal growth.
Activities companies bring their own brand of education to the market. Clubs Complete and Let Me Play Group are no exception. Stacey Dean and Kerry Goodacre, twins from the Midlands, started their journey as founders through activity classes and language immersion.
Amy Lalla and co-founder Matt Lord built no ordinary activities company. With three distinct areas, they offer apprenticeships, training opportunities, and residential sports camps. An end-to-end service offering children and young people support from childhood to their working lives.
When it comes to educating the next generation, Clubs Complete and Let Me Play Group are hitting new heights.
1. Enhancing academic performance
Sports coaching can directly impact academic achievement. Students who participate in sports coached by professionals tend to perform better academically. They score up to 40% higher in tests and are 15% more likely to continue their education after secondary school. This improvement is attributed to increased concentration levels and better school attendance fostered by regular physical activity.
Stacey Dean and her twin sister, Kerry Goodacre, were multifaceted even as youngsters and went on to combine physical activity with academic success in linguistics. Having founded Clubs Complete as a holiday activity camp, Stacey and Kerry also used their unique approach to establish a teaching consultancy and early years nurseries.
2. Developing essential life skills
Sports coaching companies help young people acquire vital life skills that translate into academic and personal success. This includes teamwork, discipline, time management, leadership and communication skills.
For example, Clubs Complete support physical activity and the extension of communication in their clubs by combining language learning with activities. Using native English teachers, they teach a range of sports in their Spanish camps so children can pick up English as they learn games. Stacey Dean and Kerry Goodacre added:
“What you’d call a standard activity company in the UK is a language immersion activity camp in Spain. What they learn over seven weeks is phenomenal! Methodology-wise, each session has only maybe five keywords. And because they’re busy having fun doing an activity, they don’t realise that they’ve learned so much.”
3. Promoting mental and emotional wellbeing
Sports coaching contributes significantly to students’ mental and emotional health. Physical activity offers a healthy outlet for academic stress, leading to improved focus and performance. As they pursue this skill, they can master new skills and achieve personal bests to boost their confidence and self-esteem. A crucial part of academic success.
4. Creating supportive employable communities
Sports coaching companies foster a sense of belonging and community among students. This support network can positively impact overall wellbeing and academic performance. Additionally, these companies often collaborate with schools and local organisations to provide safe spaces and mentorship for youth, especially in underprivileged areas.
The LMP Group has built a full-service programme, starting from residential holiday camps right through to training and apprenticeships. Amy Lalla discussed how LMP Group has created a network to support young people:
“There are three different companies within the group today. There are the original activities company, LMP Education, working with 16 to 24-year-olds who need pre-employability support. And Inspire ATA, an essentially government-regulated organisation, we predominantly hire young people and lease them out to employers as apprentices.”
5. Encouraging lifelong learning
By instilling a love for physical activity and continuous improvement, sports coaching companies set the foundation for lifelong learning. This mindset of growth and development extends beyond sports into academic and professional pursuits.
For the LMP Group, they wanted to create a pathway that helped young people expand in the physical activity sector. Like most activities companies, they could bring the same concepts to schools with after-school clubs or all-year-round camps. Instead, they decided to focus on the extra help in education they saw young people sorely needed. Amy Lalla added on The Drive Phase:
“They needed some kind of guidance and mentoring. So, we branched out our sport into formal education. Part of that was doing study programmes from two to eight different centres. And now we run an apprenticeship programme that is now in a prime place to develop and grow internal programmes at different rates.”
Want to know more?
Sports coaching companies are valuable partners in education, providing holistic development opportunities that complement and enhance traditional academic learning. To find out more about how these organisations have created educational models through sports programmes, check out The Drive Phase podcast.
We interview the movers and shakers in the activities sector to bring you the best in business, operations and development!
