So far, however, eLearning hasn't made many inroads into organised sport. Yet, in recent weeks, news has emerged that both the UK's National Skills Academy for Sport and Active Leisure (NSA) and BADMINTON England - the sport's governing body in England - are embracing eLearning enthusiastically as the UK gears up to next year's London Olympics.

With nearly 750 new 'Change 4 Life' badminton clubs springing up in England over the last year alone, there is an immediate and growing demand for people to take on leadership roles in these - as well as in England's already well established badminton clubs. Melissa Handford, BADMINTON England's Young People's Manager, explained: "Not everyone wants - or has the skills - to be a successful coach. They might prefer to be a leader or administrator. Allied to that, we recognised that today's young people are comfortable working - and learning - online. That led us to consider eLearning as a highly effective and economic way of delivering our new Leaders Award, covering 'event leader', 'activity leader' and 'club leader'."

Since last September, BADMINTON England, together with the eLearning-related solutions and services consultancy, Core Learning Services (CLS), has been designing and developing relevant eLearning materials. Some 1,500 people a year are expected to sign up for the Leader Award online.

The UK's NSA is an employer-led organisation which exists to help employers in its sector achieve their goals relating to training and skills development. These employers include not only the national governing bodies for sports, such as the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Amateur Swimming Association among many others but also private sector employers, such as health and fitness complexes. NSA's parent company is SkillsActive, the UK's Sector Skills Council for Active Leisure and Learning, and, together, these bodies not only define skills and skills standards for the sector but also relate these to national vocational standards and qualifications.

Sunil Malkani, Head of Digital Business at NSA, explained: "We try to ensure that people working in our sector have relevant skills and we put in place the resources to meet skills needs - which are constantly changing."

While some of these skills needs are specific to the sport and active leisure sector, some skills needs are more generic - especially when it comes to continuing professional development (CPD) in soft skills areas, such as management and leadership.

"We realised that there are advantages to making such CPD activities available via eLearning," Sunil explained. "eLearning is available 24/7 and so can be undertaken whenever the learner is able to do it; it's flexible; it can be undertaken almost anywhere at any time; it can be done at the learner's own pace, and, in these economically challenging times, it can reduce the travel and subsistence costs associated with formal training."

"Over the last few years, CLS has helped us to put in place an efficient and effective system, making high quality eLearning available throughout our sector," he added. "The CLS LMS hosts the e-learning materials, sources the third party produced eLearning content and helps us to manage the distribution, tracking and monitoring process."

"In addition, CLS has set up a number of special user groups and even micro-sites to enable particular sports' governing bodies to -˜badge' with their own branding and manage their eLearning activities for themselves."

NSA currently makes over 200 separate eLearning courses available via the CLS LMS. At any one time, the platform hosts over 2,000 learners.

CLS's partnership with the NSA and BADMINTON England could mark a significant step in not only enlarging eLearning's 'empire' but also in helping people who will comprise 'Team GB' to prepare to do well at next year's London Olympics.



For over 20 years, Bob Little has specialised in writing about, and commentating on, corporate learning - especially elearning - and technology-related subjects. His work has been published in the UK, Continental Europe, the USA and Australia.
You can contact Bob.