Tennis Europe is currently taking part in the S2A (Sport to Administration) Sport Improving Skills for Sport Administration project funded by the European Commission under Erasmus+.
The S2A project is taking place over a 30-month period, and is focused on the skills needed by ‘sport administrators’ working in paid and voluntary middle management roles in the delivery of sport.
On the 7th and 8th of February the S2A-Sport partners met for the fourth time. Held by the WOS in Papendal (NED), the meeting gathered 14 participants representing the 12 partner organisations. The end goal of the project is to change and modernise existing training programmes, to equip those working or volunteering as Sport Administrators with the right skills and so to contribute to building the capacity and effectiveness of sport organisations across Europe
In line with the work programme, the objective of the meeting was to sign off the Functional Map which was previously discussed in Vilnius during the 3rd partner meeting in October 2016 but also to conduct extensive validation process as regard the Competence Framework (also known as Occupational Standards) and engage discussion on future steps in particular, the Curriculum and Handbook, the pilot as well as the final conference.
On the 7th of February, Lobke Mentrop, Director of WOS, welcomed all participants and quickly introduced WOS – Werkgevers in de Sport as well as the Papendal complex.
Partners then were invited to follow on their journey onto the 7 Step Model applied to sport administration. Vilma Cingiene from MRU and Ben Gittus from EOSE Services, introduced the amendments made to the Functional Map based on the decision taken in Vilnius. Then Ben conducted a working session aimed at validating the Occupational Standards for Sport Administration. Articulating the passing of the baton from the employment to the education side, this step was crucial to go through the key competences needed to perform in sport administration while identifying the related performance criteria as well as knowledge and understanding.
On day 2, Kirstie Simpson, from the University of Chester, led a consultation on the Handbook and Training Programme. She firstly introduced the proposed structure based on the project realities as well as the specificity of the target group. Partners had the opportunity to think individually about each Key Area as identified in the Functional Map (namely 1. Strategic Decision, 2. People, 3. Resources, 4. Operations, 5. Sport Processes and Activities) and expressed what should be in the course meant for junior/middle manager. They were then asked to work in groups to identify the key elements of each standard in relation to these Key Areas. Last but not least, they were invited to develop 4/5 learning outcomes per Key Area.