The European Council has recently approved (May) the new Work Plan for Sport for the period 2017-2020. This plan follows on the previous plans for 2011-2014 and 2014-2017. The ICCE has been part of the various working groups that have contributed to both the implementation of previous plans as well as the development of the current one.
The overall aims of the 2017-2020 plan are:
– Integrity of sport: this theme will focus on good governance, safeguarding minors, fighting match-fixing, doping & corruption;
– Economic dimension of sport: focussing on innovation in sport, and sport & digital single market;
– Sport & society: focussing on social inclusion, coaches, media, environment, health, education & sport diplomacy.
Coaches and coaching, whilst already a factor in previous plans, feature explicitly and extensively in the new plan especially in relation to the role of coaches in society and the need for suitable education and employment for them to fulfil a vast variety of functions across all levels of participation. ICCE welcomes this news and has started working with the EU Sport Unit to support the actions in the plan.
The first stop will be the Informal Meeting of EU Member States Sport Directors and the Estonian EU Council Presidency Conference on ‘The Role of Sport Coaches in Society – Adding value to people’s lives’ on the 12th, 13th and 14th July in Tallinn. ICCE will present a series of keynotes and take part in discussion panels debating coaching in 21st century Europe.
