The Company

Wharton Consulting has a unique focus on policy, planning, strategy and structures for sport. A large proportion of our work is conducted within the national governing body environment, especially where this relates to Government and Sports Council strategies for sport. read on>>

The Wharton weblog:

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Developing the Next Generation

This week sees the first intake of the English Institute of Sport Practitioner Development Programme (PDP). Taking over from the UK Sport Fast-track Practitioner Programme, the PDP aims to provide an accelerated learning experience for identified individuals who already show potential in the High Performance System. The Programme will continue to be delivered by the core tutor team of three who worked on the UK Sport programme, including Wharton's Sarah Rowell.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Merry Christmas!

Neil and Sarah would like to wish all our friends and clients a very merry Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year. If we've worked with you over the past 12 months, we'd like to thank you sincerely for your business - and we look forward to working with you again, and with friends old and new, in 2010. Please note that our office will be closed from Thursday 24 December until Monday 28 December inclusive, and again on Thursday 31 December and Friday 1 January: we'll return to duty again on Monday 4 January.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Getting to grips with BW

WRESTLING: UK Sport and British Wrestling have jointly commissioned Wharton's Neil Tunnicliffe to review the Great Britain wrestling programme at a key stage in the build-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games. Having had its funding cut at the start of the 2009-10 financial year, the programme downsized considerably - and Neil's role will involve assessing the impact of that process on wrestlers' prospects of qualifying for and succeeding at London. Also, with funding having now been increased again by UK Sport for the remainder of the cycle, Neil will advise the Board of Directors of BW on the priorities for expenditure of the extra cash - as well as examining and recommending the optimum governance and management structure for the programme.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Wharton nets WYNC review

NETBALL: England Netball has commissioned Wharton's Neil Tunnicliffe to review its Under-21 international programme which culminated in the World Youth Netball Championship in the Cook Islands in August this year. England finished fourth in the tournament, having won a silver medal four years previously, and the governing body is keen to establish what lies beneath this performance record in respect of issues and trends within its development programme for emerging international players. To this end, Neil will be interviewing current and former athletes, coaches, support staff, selectors and other EN personnel, while also taking a raft of other data into account, before reporting to the EN Board at its meeting in January.

Monday, October 5, 2009

WAG report published

WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT: The Welsh Assembly Government has now made public Wharton Consulting's review of performance and excellence sport in Wales. The report can be found online at http://wales.gov.uk/topics/cultureandsport/publications/?lang=en

The review, which was conducted between February and July this year, took consultation with a wide range of stakeholders - including the Sports Council for Wales, Commonwealth Games Council for Wales, Disability Sport Wales, governing bodies of British and Welsh sport, individual athletes, coaches and spors scientists, universities and colleges - and makes a number of recommendations as to how Wales may fulfil its sporting ambitions on the world stage between now and 2024. The Minister for Heritage will address those recommendations in an Oral Statement to a plenary session of the National Assembly for Wales on 17 November 2009.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Professional standards

The annual British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) conference held this year in Leeds in early September saw the launch of the profession's revised accreditation and supervised experience process.

Developed on behalf of the Association by Wharton's Sarah Rowell (a BASES Fellow), the revised accreditation standards have been positioned to sit alongside similar quality assurance schemes run by other health based professions. As such accreditation will now be awarded to individuals who have the minimum knowledge skills and understanding to be safe and fit to practice as a sport and exercise scientist.

Sarah will be continuing to work with BASES to ensure a successful transition over to the new scheme. Further details on accreditation and supervised experience can be found via the BASES web page - www.bases.org.uk.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Murderball

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY: Wharton's Neil Tunnicliffe has been commissioned by Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby to serve as a high performance adviser in the build-up to the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Neil's role will be to support and advise Head Coach / Performance Manager Tom O'Connor, and to convene and chair the GBWR Performance Management Group. Great Britain currently lie fourth in the world rankings, having missed out on the medals in Beijing, and are looking to identify and work the step-change which will result in a podium place in London. Neil's first task will be to assist in planning and restructuring a programme which has European Championships on the immediate horizon in October and World Championships in Vancouver in 2010.