The advent of strategic commissioning across the public sector and a sharper focus on outcomes from NGB whole sport plans has increased the need for improved skills, knowledge and understanding. This, in turn, has led to growing demand for high quality training and personal development across all parts of the sports sector.

KKP is in the vanguard of this and is building further upon its already strong reputation both for providing bespoke, specialist training packages and for supporting agencies to gain access to programmes and mechanisms that will enable them to enhance the services they provide for members, athletes and coaches. This direct response to the needs of the market and ability to tailor its service to meet specific client requirements is one of the keys to our success.

In addition to our established training delivery for Clubmark (Assessor training), Sport Unlimited and the highly regarded RFU whole club development planning process, KKP is diversifying into innovative new subject areas, such as developing bespoke training for sports coaches and leaders to assist them to recognise and support people that could be vulnerable to being recruited by extremist groups. Other recent examples of KKP's extending training portfolio include:

Is "AASE" right for England Handball?

During 2009, we assisted England Handball to evaluate its potential to join the list of NGBs that offer aspiring elite players the chance to take the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) and the feasibility of using its funding to support development of young talent.

The AASE framework, first introduced in 2004, is now running successfully across a wide range of sports. The first intake of apprentices has completed the two year programme and graduated successfully in a number of areas. Probably the highest profile AASE graduate is Rebecca Adlington who won two Gold Medals at the Beijing Olympics (2008). Five other AASE students competed as Olympians and Paralympians in Beijing.

By July 2008 AASE athletes numbered 3,000 in sports including football, golf, judo, rugby, cricket, tennis, aquatics, motorsports and basketball. Others such as netball, taekwondo, wrestling, hockey, table tennis, fencing, badminton, equestrian, sailing, rowing and winter sports have joined the programme and are running pilots. The Coaching Directorate of England Handball was keen to assess whether the AASE was an effective route for the sport.

KKP concluded that there is potential, in the build up period to 2012 and beyond, for handball to attract (and justify) substantial investment in training and developing its young elite players. Perhaps more significantly, in medal terms the programme has the potential to be fully established in the run up to the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games; by this point, it could have attracted substantial investment in the sport.

Arguably, for handball at its present stage of development and scale, this is a programme from which the knock on benefits in the context of the development of robust, extended squads of talented performers can emanate, are substantially greater than they have been for other sports involved in the AASE programme. To this end, consideration is currently being given to the capacity of the NGB to invest the time and resource required to enable it to take on and succeed in the tasks required to service a commercial and developmental relationship of this nature.

In a separate, but related development, KKP has been commissioned by Skills Active to conduct a national evaluation to examine the AASE programme, the experiences of NGBs, colleges and student/athletes and interrogate the outputs/outcomes and differing models adopted.

How to improve retention of coaches?

At the other end of the spectrum, KKP is, for StreetGames, developing a workshop to support its coaches and leaders to better deliver sport to engage and retain young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Launched in 2007, StreetGames is a national charity that provides sporting opportunities to young people living in disadvantaged communities. Its stated aim is to assist individuals to develop their sports and leadership skills via participation and volunteering.

Retention of young people is a key challenge and KKP's training is intended to assist StreetGames to address this. Designed to build upon its own organisational knowledge and experiences, it will assist leaders to identify specifically what to look for in young people and provide them with hints and tricks to help keep young people engaged, leading to more enjoyable sessions for both coaches and attendees.

KKP will pilot the training with a set number of coaches and deliverers, run it with identified potential tutors, produce a resources toolkit and signpost coaches to support structures for the future.

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Other strings to the KKP bow include its representation on the board of the new Sports Business Degree course at Manchester Metropolitan University and its contribution to a range of conferences and training events including the recent workshop session at Sport England facilities planning staff conference and the upcoming session on the challenges facing the leisure profession at the APSE conference on 22 February.