A MEMBER of Cumbria Taekwondo Kendal has become the first member of British TKD to complete the assistant coach award.

Launched in January 2022, the award is the first step in developing and delivering a top-quality Coach Education Pathway for British Taekwondo coaches.

Steven Pettigrew said: “I’ve found the Assistant Coach Award to be a very worthwhile thing to do. The course was very well balanced with lots of information and a good assessment process.

“I’ve completed several safeguarding courses and training programmes as part of my job and while some areas of the award were similar, there were still plenty of new things to learn.

“The course content is all from a sports perspective and the case studies give context.”

Steven trains at his club four to five nights a week with his family and friends and describes the club as an extended family.

Steven added: “The thing I enjoy most about taekwondo and our club is the camaraderie. We all look out for each other and it’s brilliant to spend time training and coaching with my family and friends.

“It’s nice to network with other clubs too and we’re doing everything we can to make the club succeed.

“As we’re entirely volunteer run, we’re currently as big as we can be with what we’ve got, so developing new coaches is really important.”

1st Kup Steven from Cumbria Taekwondo Kendal was mentored through the award by his Head Coach Bev Fallows.

Steven plans to become a full coach and, alongside Bev Fallows, Head Coach at the Kendal, and is planning the next steps for the year ahead.

Bev said: “I’m delighted for Steven to be the first British Taekwondo member to complete the Assistant Coach Award.

“He has shown great commitment to the process and is doing fantastically well.

“I am really confident that he has taken on board all the practices and processes, including some confident assistant coaching within my sessions at Cumbria Taekwondo.

“I’ve really enjoyed the mentoring side; it flows really well and has prompted me to gain more knowledge and look at ways to improve too.”

114 British Taekwondo members have signed-up to the Assistant Coach Award.

Ian Leafe, CEO of British Taekwondo said: “I am delighted that our first member has completed the Assistant Coach Award and it’s incredibly pleasing to hear the feedback from Steven and Bev.

“We’re always looking at ways to improve and how we can help our members and their clubs.

“A lot of time and effort has gone into developing the Assistant Coach Award and we want all eligible members of British Taekwondo to take this step on their coaching journey.”

James Docherty from British Taekwondo’s Development team, who co-ordinated the Assistant Coach Award, said: “It’s brilliant to see Steven become the first person to complete the course. Our new Coach Education Pathway will bring British Taekwondo in line with other sports and NGBs by providing quality coach education and development products for our membership.

“The Assistant Coach Award is the first step on that pathway, which incorporates a mix of online learning, supervised practical delivery and is completely remote. The award has been well received by our coaches and members, who have provided some very positive feedback.”