Maria Miller MP presented Bluewave Korean Martial Arts based in Basingstoke with their Clubmark status Certificate. Clubmark is the universally recognised club accreditation scheme which requires clubs to demonstrate high levels of welfare, equity, coaching and management within a community sports club.
Maria presented the club with their certificate during one of their junior sessions and chatted to the children about their experiences at the club. Maria commented “I am passionate about the need to grow the number of female coaches in sport and am delighted that 50% of the club’s coaches are female. It was wonderful to see how engaged the club juniors were and it was also striking to see how dedicated the coaches were.”
Sport Hampshire & IOW who are the County Sports Partnership worked with Coach Lynne Firth throughout the process and Clubmark lead, Harry Stow said “Bluewave were an absolute please to work with and met many areas of the criteria to an exceptional level. Their support in developing young coaches and communication with their members is outstanding.”
Lynne Firth said “Bluewave were delighted to receive the Clubmark accreditation. As a club we were already confident that we provided first class training opportunities in Taekwondo but the Clubmark process allowed us to reflect on our approach across our structures, finances, club policies as well as our coaching. Doing this certainly helped us make further improvements and I am confident will allow us to grow much further. It was a pleasure to have the presentation from the Rt Hon Maria Miller, MP especially to see her enthusiastic response to the club juniors who were training and to hear her support for our club's engagement in developing opportunities for girls and women. I would also like to highlight the fabulous support from Hampshire County Sports Partnership which helps us through the processes”