Sports coaching company move premises
A Shropshire sports coaching company has moved its headquarters to the Lilleshall National Sports and Conferencing Centre as part of its expansion.
Crossbar Coaching Education in Sport, founded in 2008, continues to grow at a rapid pace.
The company deliver sport across the curriculum at many Shropshire primary schools and are renowned for running popular holiday courses for county youngsters.
But they also now work closely with older age groups through running a successful apprenticeship scheme for 16 to 24-year-olds, while the Crossbar BTEC Performance Academy, a full time educational programme, is now into its second year.
Gavin Cowan, Crossbar’s managing director, said he's delighted to have moved the day to day running of the company to the impressive surroundings of Lilleshall, near Newport.
But Crossbar has also retained its offices at Pimley Manor in Shrewsbury, which will be the base for a new initiative, Crossbar Alternative Provision, a programme which provides youngsters in need of some guidance with an alternative education.
Gavin said: “We've really enjoyed our time at Pimley, where we remain as CAP, but Crossbar Coaching Education in Sport is now based at Lilleshall National Sports and Conferencing Centre.
"It’s a real community here and there’s some amazing people working here in impressive surroundings. Lilleshall is well renowned as one of the UK’s national sports centres and training grounds for the country’s leading sportsmen and women. It has such an impressive history and excellent facilities.
“Moving here makes us a lot more efficient and it’s a pleasure to come here every day. The staff are happy to be here and it’s a great environment.
"We’ll also be running a lot of competitions here at Lilleshall now for primary schools, so it just puts us in a better position.”
Gavin, a former footballer for both Shrewsbury Town and Telford United, added: “This is our 10th year now and in terms of where we wanted to be, we’re sitting just ahead of schedule.
“I think that’s just testimony to everybody’s hard work. We’re very passionate about what we do and we’ve never moved away from that.
“My job is to stress to the staff that we never move away from what has brought us to this point which is to be ‘learner centred’ and to fulfil the smallest to the biggest job to the best of our ability.”
