Sports Development Apprentice
Northwood Gymnastics
Northwood (2 available locations)
Closes on Friday 17 April 2026
Posted on 6 March 2026
Contents
Summary
We have a unique opportunity to support a passionate and determined young person who is driven and passionate about developing gymnasts and supporting children to keep active and healthy in our local area, alongside completing a degree apprenticeship.
- Wage
-
£16,000 a year
- Training course
- Chartered manager (degree) (level 6)
- Hours
-
The role is primarily weekend and evening work.
Usual hours for evening work 4.00pm - 8.30pm
Weekends Saturday 8.30am - 2.30pm
Holiday Club 8.30am - 3pm
35 hours a week
- Start date
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Monday 4 May 2026
- Duration
-
3 years
- Positions available
-
2
Work
Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.
What you'll do at work
- Deliver high-quality coaching sessions across club and school settings, ensuring a safe, inclusive and engaging experience that reflects organisational standards and best practice
- Work collaboratively with the management team to plan, organise, deliver and review coaching programmes, contributing to operational planning, administration, monitoring and evaluation to support continuous improvement
- Contribute to strategic discussions and decision-making, supporting the development and implementation of actions to improve Term-Time sessions Holiday Clubs programmes
Engage effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, adapting communication style and approach when working with:
- Coaches at all levels
- Administrative staff
- Customers (parents and guardians)
- Gymnasts
- Welfare and safeguarding leads
- Senior management
This will include face-to-face communication, telephone calls, email correspondence and effective use of the club’s CRM system.
Lead and deliver a structured project with gymnasts, supported by the club, taking responsibility for:
- Planning and objective setting
- Design and development
- Risk assessment and compliance
- Delivery and evaluation of coaching activity
- Support business and financial planning, contributing to budgeting discussions and resource allocation to ensure effective and sustainable club operations
- Apply and champion the use of digital and new technologies to improve customer experience, communication, data management and operational efficiency
- Support marketing and sales activity, contributing to initiatives that promote participation, retention and growth of the club
- Demonstrate leadership and role-model professional practice, working with coaches of all levels (including partners, Level 1 and academy coaches) to embed club policies, standards and good practice
- Support inclusive practice, working with management and coaching teams to effectively support gymnasts with neurodiversity and additional needs
- Develop understanding of people management and recruitment processes, including legal and safeguarding requirements for coaching roles
- Set goals and support the development of Level 1 and Academy Coaches, contributing to talent development and succession planning within the club
- Reflect on your own leadership and coaching style, demonstrating self-awareness and understanding how behaviours and decisions impact gymnasts, colleagues and the wider organisation
- Demonstrate effective time and task management, managing personal workload, session delivery and agreed timescales in collaboration with management to support efficient club operations
- Contribute to the development of the Club Learning and Development Plan, identifying skills gaps and supporting continuous professional development
- Identify operational challenges as they arise, working with Club Owners and Management to develop, implement and review effective solutions
- Maintain high standards of health, safety and safeguarding, ensuring compliance with legislation, policies and best practice at all times
- Act as a positive ambassador for Northwood Gymnastics, promoting the club’s values, culture and reputation through a professional, enthusiastic and proactive approach
- Work independently and as part of a team, consistently demonstrating the club’s core values across all areas of responsibility
- Undertake additional duties as required by management, supporting the delivery of a wide range of club projects and activities
Where you'll work
You can select which locations you want to apply for in your application on Find an apprenticeship.
This apprenticeship is available in these locations:
- Pinner Road, Northwood, HA6 1QN
- Green Lane, Northwood, HA6 1AF
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE
Training course
Chartered manager (degree) (level 6)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Support the development of organisational strategies and plans. Develop and deliver operational plans; being able to set targets and KPIs, manage resources, and monitor and measure outcomes to establish operational effectiveness, efficiencies and excellence. Produce reports that clearly present information and data, using a range of interpretation and analytical processes. Gain wide support to deliver successful outcomes
- Plan, organise and manage resources in order to achieve organisational goals. Identify key outcomes, develop and implement plans and monitor progress, and provide reports as required. Proactively identify risk and create plans for their mitigation. Able to initiate, lead and drive change within the organisation, identifying barriers/challenges and how to overcome them. Ability to use widely recognised project management tools
- Managing budgets, controlling expenditure and production of financial reports
- Use of customer insight and analysis of data to determine and drive customer service outcomes and improve customer relationships. Creative approaches to developing solutions to meet customer need
- Able to identify service/organisational improvements and opportunities for innovation and growth, using qualitative and quantitative analysis of information and data and benchmarking against others
- Communicate clearly, effectively and regularly using oral, written and digital channels and platforms. Use active listening and open questioning to structure conversations and discussions, and able to challenge when appropriate. Manage and chair meetings and clearly present actions and outcomes. Ability to apply influencing and persuading skills, to the dynamics and politics of personal interactions
- Able to articulate organisational purpose and values. Support the creation of an inclusive, high performance work culture. Enable others to achieve by developing and supporting them through coaching and mentoring
- Able to build teams, empower and motivate others to improve performance or achieve outcomes. Able to delegate to others, provide clear guidance and monitor progress. Ability to set goals and accountabilities
- Able to build rapport and trust, develop networks and maintain relationships with people from a range of cultures, backgrounds and levels. Able to contribute within a team environment. Effectively influence and negotiate, being able to have challenging conversations and give constructive feedback. Work collaboratively with internal and external customers and suppliers
- Able to reflect on own performance, identifying and acting on learning and development needs. Ability to understand impact on others. Can manage stress and personal well-being, and confident in knowing core values and drivers
- Able to create personal development plan, and use widely recognised tools and techniques to ensure the management of time and pressure effectively, and prioritisation and strategic alignment of activities
- Use evidence-based tools and ethical approaches to undertake problem solving and critical analysis, synthesis and evaluation to support decision making
Training schedule
Upon successful completion of the apprenticeship, the apprentice will be awarded a BSc Sports Business Management (Work-Based), along with Chartered Manager status with the CMI. The apprenticeship aligns with the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship standard.
More training information
The apprentice will attend the University of Hertfordshire's de Havilland campus in Hatfield every other week for face-to-face teaching, as well as receiving the required off the job training hours from their employer during the weeks in between teaching. The remainder of the apprentice's working week will be spent in the employer's workplace.
The University of Hertfordshire is proud to be recognised as an Ofsted 'good' training provider.
Requirements
Essential qualifications
GCSE in:
A Level in:
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- IT skills
- Attention to detail
- Organisation skills
- Customer care skills
- Problem solving skills
- Presentation skills
- Administrative skills
- Number skills
- Analytical skills
- Logical
- Team working
- Creative
- Initiative
- Non judgemental
- Patience
- Physical fitness
Other requirements
- Level 1 coaching award or equivalent - in General Gymnastics qualifications - required
- Level 2 coaching award or equivalent - in General Gymnastics qualifications desirable. Northwood Gymnastics will support apprentices to achieve their level 2 during the degree period. This must be taken in the first year of employment
- Full and clean driving licence
- Valid Emergency First Aid and Safeguarding qualifications desirable
The role will be subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check. A full and clean driving licence is essential for this role.
Essential skills and experience:
- Experience delivering a variety of high-quality gymnastics sessions, as well as an empathy and understanding towards the target audience
- Experience in delivering and engaging young people from challenging backgrounds is desirable. This includes some experience with disabilities and SEN sessions
- Experience and ability to communicate professionally across different levels
- Ability to deliver at a high standard and to the values of Northwood Gymnastics
- Experience with Microsoft Office. Other software training will be provided
- Ability to work and deliver in a team environment, as well as individually
About this employer
Northwood Gymnastics is a Gymnastics club in Northwood, Middx. We deliver sessions at two venues in Northwood for children aged 3 and a half to 16 years old. One venue is for Recreational level Gymnasts and the other delivers sessions for Invite - Advance level Gymnasts. We focus on 3 main areas of General Gymnastics - Floor, Vault and Tumble.
We have a strong team of Gymnastic Coaches and Admin Staff who work at both venues.This team also delivers Gymnastics to primary and secondary schools. Sessions mainly run term time, but we do also offer a Gymnastics Holiday Club during the school holidays for children aged 3 and a half to 16 years old. We also run local competitions at our club and at other local clubs.
We offer a growing Academy Coaching Scheme to young members who work closely with the coaches to develop their gymnastics coaching.
After this apprenticeship
Further career progression within the organisation may be possible upon successful completion of the apprenticeship.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE
Michelle Turner
michelle@northwoodgymnastics.co.uk
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000019470.
Apply now
Closes on Friday 17 April 2026