Irish sport will have another powerful influencer in the upper echelons of UK athletics with news that Athletics Northern Ireland’s Director of Coaching and Athlete Development, Jackie Newton has been appointed as the new Head of Coaching Development for UK Athletics.

Jackie has been a member of the Athletics NI team since 2017 and brought a wealth of experience from previous roles in performance management and athlete and coach development along with leadership expertise. She was a Performance running Manager with Puma in a previous career as well as Performance Manager with British Orienteering.

She was instrumental in the huge success of the Athletics team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games; the recent progress that has resulted in an unprecedented number of Northern Ireland records broken; the development of the Athletics NI Strategy for 2021-2025; the Olympic, Commonwealth and Marathon Potential 2024 programmes; the Run NI initiative and the recent Club Development strategy.

She has also played an important part in facilitating closer collaboration with UK Athletics, Athletics Ireland and the Home Country Athletics Federations. As well as being a qualified education tutor, she also holds a Master’s degree in Exercise and Sport Science with Coaching Studies with several published academic papers to her name.

“I am thrilled to have been appointed as the new Head of Coaching Development at UK Athletics but, at the same time, will leave my position at Athletics Northern Ireland with sadness,” said Newton.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the team at ANI, with athletes and coaches in the programmes as well as with those on the NI and Ulster Teams. Northern Ireland is an exciting place to be. Performances are on the up and the talent is coming through. Underpinning that, the club system is evolving and the future is very promising.”

“I would like to thank the entire athletics community for what has been a great balance of support and challenge that has helped me to grow in this role and prepare me for the next. I look forward to continuing to work with the coaches within Northern Ireland in my new role and will continue to support in every way I can.”

Newton will take up her position on August 10th, hot on the heels of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

 

Athletics NI and Athletics Ireland are among more than 250+ members of the Sport for Business network of sporting and business organisations working together across a number of key areas.

 

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