British Canoeing’s British Canoeing Awarding Body Podcast (BCAB) has been awarded the Coaching Podcast of the Year Award at this year’s UK Coaching Awards. The award acknowledges the British Canoeing Awarding Body Coaching Podcast (BCAB), which has facilitated the development of others in coaching and encourages the delivery of broader social impact through sports and physical activity.
The UK Coaching Awards is a national celebration event, regarded as the most prestigious within the coaching community and created to honour the remarkable contributions coaches make – from delivering high quality and technical coaching, to supporting participants both physically and mentally.
The BCAB Podcast is released monthly, exploring different topics around coaching with a range of guests from within the paddling and sports community, now helping coaches far and wide progress their professional development. Nearing 100 episodes, the podcast is a free resource for any coaches to use – praised most recently by the RNLI for detailing specific advice from a leading researcher on the significant danger of winds to stand up paddleboarders, helping to raise awareness for those heading out to sea.
Conducting distinctive and forward-thinking conversations accessible to everyone, the podcast has been acknowledged for notable efforts across multiple topics, including Neurodiversity Celebration Week. In one instance, it engaged in conversations with a marathon and sprint athlete, as well as an Olympic rower, both diagnosed with ADHD and high-functioning autism. By offering an open and secure platform for them to share their experiences, the podcast has ensured a space for the neurodiverse community and praised for exemplifying the broader impact of exceptional coaching.
Overwhelmed to be announced as an award winner, the team reflected:
“We are a bit starstruck, it is an honour, there is a lot of work that goes behind the scenes that go into this and with every episode we feel really proud and happy to be recognised.
“It is incredibly important to celebrate coaches, because they are often there in the background with people mainly focusing on the athletes and the physical participation of people doing the sport.
“Coaches need support as they are giving so much of themselves and so the idea of a coaching podcast is that support for the coaches who are then supporting their participants. It also celebrates lot of different coaches and something we have tried to do in recent series of the podcast is to represent lots of different coaches from different backgrounds, disciplines and experiences.”
With previous award winners including Sarina Wiegman, Jane Figueiredo, Judy Murray, and Ben Stokes’ coaching chain, the awards are seen as one of the most prestigious within the coaching community, recognising the contributions coaches make to their participants lives and their impact within the wider coaching world – including outstanding podcasts that continue to play a vital role in supporting the well-being of the nation.
UK Coaching’s CEO Mark Gannon congratulated BCAB on their award, and for the profound coaching contribution that saw it honoured as part of the annual celebration:
“I would like to extend a huge congratulations to them on their fantastic work which we are very proud to recognise by presenting him with a UK Coaching award. British Canoeing’s Awarding Body Podcast, and all our winners and finalists should be extremely proud of what they have been able to achieve. Great coaches change lives, tackle inequalities, and help build communities, and continue to be the essential conduit to getting our nation more active.
“It is so important that we celebrate great coaching and acknowledge the tireless work our amazing coaching community deliver to support individuals on their own unique sporting journey. The podcast helps our nation’s outstanding coaches, who chang so many lives through their dedication and creativity in making sport and physical activity accessible for even more people.
Find out more about this year’s winners and the awards by heading to www.ukcoaching.org/uk-coaching-awards.
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