12 questions with our Founder

About the Journey and Vision

1. What inspired you to create UPskill?

I was away in Hong Kong and got sent my email notification to complete 5 hours of safeguarding training for my two hours a week at a school coaching the Year 9 F team basketball, it hit me “why isn’t there anything in this process that helps me be a better coach”

2. What challenges did you see in school sports programs that led to the development of UPskill?

At The Coaching Lab we would speak to DOF and HODS almost every day and the 3 biggest things to come out of those conversations was 1) We have a large staff workforce that we don’t have time to truly support 2) The consistent in delivery is generally poor, why should an F team get a different experience to an A team 3) There’s no budget to send every coach and teacher on CPD away from school each week. 

3. How do you see the role of a Director of Sport evolving, and how does UPskill support that shift?

Fundamentally, the role of a Director of Sport is a coach developer because they have a workforce that needs developing and supporting but more DoS spend more time putting out fires and dealing with HR than developing staff across the school year.

Supporting Coaches and Staff

4. Why is coach onboarding so crucial, and how can schools get it right from day one?

You only know what you know, and you 100% coach how you were coached yourself until someone helps you understand yourself. If schools value supporting pupils, they would work backwards and support the people in contact with them. 

UPskill is the learning platform that gets staff off to a winning start and keeps them winning because they feel supported across the whole year at school.

5. What does ‘coaching the how, not just the what’ mean, and why is it so important?

Teaching the technical is easy, coaching for connection, problem solving and communication is the hardest part of traditional outdated CPD doesn’t give you that. When I speak about the “HOW” I mean; how to ask great questions… how to engage a group of young people… how to transfer training into a game… how to speak to parents… 

6. How can Directors of Sport ensure that professional development actually meets their staff where they are?

One of the biggest design principles was “stickability” we don’t want UPskill to become this boring and tedious HR tick box exercise. Directors of Sport can use UPskill to assign specific modules to certain staff or groups of staff, meaning what they’re receiving is “right time and right place” for them, that’s learning if you ask me!

7. How does UPskill help to support part-time, multi-sport, or less experienced coaches in particular?

The fact that they don’t have to come into school and complete a whole day's worth of CPD is such a winner straight away. Learners have UPskill access for the whole academic year and when they start a module they can also pause and go back to it when they wish, it doesn’t need to be completed in one sitting. 

The Learning Experience

8. What makes UPskill different from traditional CPD courses or generic online platforms?

The fact that UPskill is purpose-made for education is a game changer, so many Directors of Sport would say to me “our coaches don’t understand the difference from club and school sport” or “we have coaches work across 4 different sports and 2 different levels of teams, traditional CPD doesn’t help them.”

9. What are some of the most popular or impactful modules currently on the platform?

Two that stand out to me and two that are so important for a school setting are 1) Developing the individual, this module was written by Paul Barry, who is Assistant Head of Coaching, and 2) Engaging girls in sport, the legends at Ascham School in Sydney wrote this one for us and its just brilliant!

School and Workforce Impact

10. How can UPskill help schools build a more confident workforce with consistent change in staff?

You only know what you know, and until someone helps you understand why you do what you do and how you do it, you won’t feel confident about trying new things. I believe in stories and sharing experiences, which is why UPskill is full of golden nuggets from our work around the world, giving others the skills and tools to be confident. 

11. What role does UPskill play in helping schools deliver a more consistent experience across their sports program?

Good coaching shouldn’t be a lottery, a child in a Year 7 C team should get the same sporting experience as someone playing in a higher team, but this certainly isn’t always the case, 9 times out of 10 its the opposite. 

Directors of Sport using UPskill can deliver consistent sporting experiences because they know that all staff are engaged in learning, and the ability to pick modules for staff that is relevant for their context makes this experience even more engaging and valuable. 

12. What’s next for UPskill, and how do you see it continuing to evolve in schools over the next few years?

We will have sports-specific modules and entry-level NGB qualifications available in the not-so-distant future. We are on a mission to change school sport forever!