outdoors-participation-report-v2

Biographies
Kelly Gordon has been working in the sports development sector for
over 15 years. Starting her career as a sports development officer and
coach, she progressed through regional and national roles to become
Development Director of England Netball in 2009.
Kelly was the first Development Director to embed a participant
centred approach, resulting in whole sport change and development of
England Netball’s four year strategy - Your Game, Your Way.
She took this philosophy to her role as Strategic Lead for Clubs at Sport England where
she was responsible for managing all Sport England’s club programmes including the
StreetGames Doorstep Club project, Club Leaders and Clubmark. During her time at Sport
England she instigated the ‘one stop shop’ support for clubs (Club Matters).
In more recent years she has established herself as an independent consultant specialising
in participant understanding, market insight and supporting organisations to be participant
centred. She has worked across a range of NGBs and other organisations including
the Outdoor Industries Association; Rugby Football League; British Canoeing; FA;
StreetGames; PwC.
She enjoys nothing more than spending time with her husband and four year old son
playing on their bikes in Delamere - a true Family Explorer!
Martin Chester is one of the most highly qualified and experienced
practitioners in the UK outdoor industry, having worked at three
National Centres. Martin has been the Director of Training and now
Development, at Plas y Brenin, Sport England’s National Mountain
Centre. He is the Coaching Development Officer for Mountain Training
UK having led on the development of a new coaching award scheme in
climbing; as well as the climbing expert on the Hidden Talent
programme for Channel 4. He has been a strategic lead for talent profiling
in developing the talent pathway for the British Mountaineering Council. He is also the
Executive Officer for the ABC Training Trust and oversees the development of the National
Indoor Climbing Award Schemes. He now works as a freelance coach, guide and adventure
sports consultant to the outdoor sector. He would rather be skiing.
Andrew Denton has been working in outdoor recreation since 1984,
starting his career in outdoor education and then moving on to a series
of senior management and ownership roles in businesses such as
Rohan, Mountain Equipment, Sprayway, Peaco Group, Outdoor Sports
Company and now climbing walls.
He is best known as the founder and co-owner of the modern
Mountain Equipment brand where he worked for over 15 years.
Today he works as the CEO of the Outdoor Industries Association, the body that promotes
and represents the UK Outdoor Recreation Industries to government and across the world.
A keen outdoor activist, Andrew is an accomplished mountaineer, mountain biker, ski
mountaineer and triathlete with first ascents in Patagonia and Antarctica and a broad
background of outdoor adventures across the world.
The Outdoor Industries
Association
A Community Interest, not-for-profit
Company, with over 200 members that
represent the biggest single group of
Outdoor recreation stakeholders in the UK.
Founded over thirty years ago as a trade
organisation for Outdoor shops and brands,
the OIA has grown and changed significantly
in the last three years. Members now
include Outdoor governing bodies such
as the BMC, BCU, BOF and Parkour,
Charities such as the YHA, Ramblers and
Project Wild Thing, NGO’s like the National
Trust and the Camping & Caravan Club.
Equally the commercial bodies such
as brands like Berghaus and shops
like Blacks remain at the heart of the
organisation funding it with significant
annual donations, sitting on the board
and offering company resources to drive
forward projects.
The mission statement of the OIA is;
‘To Engage, Represent and Promote the
Outdoor Recreation Industries in the UK’,
with a long term goal to ‘Get More People
Active Outdoors.’
The authors wish to thank the wide range of
bodies from the Outdoor Recreation Community
who have contributed to this report, including but
not limited to the following: national governing
bodies (British Cycling, British Mountaineering
Council, British Canoeing, British Orienteering,
Parkour UK, Snowsport England, Triathlon
England, British Kitesports, The RYA, British
Rowing); Ramblers; Calvert Trust; BASI;
SnowCamp; EOC; DofE; National Trust; Forestry
Commission; Canal and River Trust; YHA; Sport
& Recreation Alliance and it’s membership;
All Party Parliamentary Group for Mountaineering;
Tourism Alliance; UKC website; Plas Y Brenin
National Mountain Centre. As well as many
many more.
We especially want to thank
GoOutdoors for the help they
gave enabling the Outdoor
Participation Survey.
Sport England is focused on helping people
and communities across the country create
a sporting habit for life.
To achieve this we invest National Lottery
and Exchequer funding in organisations
and projects that will:
• Create more opportunities for young people
to play sport
• Nurture and develop talent
• Provide the right facilities in the right places
• Support local authorities and unlock local
funding
• Ensure real opportunities
for communities.
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