Head of coaching for Premier League referees leads next Peak Performance seminar
Neil Cottrill, a former professional badminton player with 30 years experience in coaching, will talk about the challenges faced by elite match officials at Coleg Llandrillo this Thursday
Neil Cottrill, the head of coaching for Premier League referees and a former international badminton player, will lead the next ‘Peak Performance’ seminar at Coleg Llandrillo.
‘Decision-Making Under Pressure in Sport: Supporting the Wellbeing of Match Officials’ will take place at the Rhos-on-Sea campus University Centre this Thursday (March 6) at 6pm.
As head of coaching and development for Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), Neil leads the support and development of coaches working with Premier League, English Football League and Women's Super League match officials.
He started his career in sport as a professional badminton player, competing on the World Grand Prix circuit, achieving a world ranking of 12 in men’s doubles and representing England internationally.
Neil then worked for 10 years as a sports science lecturer, including at Coleg Llandrillo, where he was programme leader for the Foundation and BSc Honours degrees in Sports Coaching & Exercise Science.
After this, he became head of coaching, education and training with Badminton England, transforming the approach towards coach education. Following the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, he moved to PGMOL to lead the support and development of the coaches working with the nation’s top match officials.
He is also the lead examiner for sport and exercise science with national training provider Pearson, and runs his own nutrition and fitness consultancy, Cottrill Sport Services.
In Thursday’s seminar, Neil will talk about the challenges faced by football match officials, and how they are supported to be able to make decisions in the high-pressure environment of elite sport.
Neil said: “The world of elite football officiating is critical to the ongoing success of professional football. PGMOL operates in the background of the game, in the support and development of match officials across all areas of performance. This includes areas such as developing physical capacity, psychological skills, and tactical and technical understanding of the game.”
He said of his seminar: “The session aims to look at the delivery of high-performance support to elite performers, within the context of elite match officials. We will specifically look at the challenges elite football match officials face, as well as the support systems that are in place to keep the match officials on the pitch.”
Neil’s seminar is the third in the ‘Peak Performance’ series, featuring a range of guest speakers from the world of elite sport.
The series started in January with world record-breaking triathlete Sean Conway, who spoke about his journey to achieving the ‘Grand Slam’ of endurance records. Last month, FAW performance coach and Coleg Llandrillo lecturer Sam Downey led a session on his research into mental fatigue in sport.
Future guest speakers include elite sport and exercise nutritionist Felicity Devey from Sport Wales, FAW coach and Coleg Llandrillo lecturer Matthew Williams, and GB wheelchair basketball player Alex Marshall-Wilson. Tickets to each seminar cost £5.
‘Decision-Making Under Pressure in Sport: Supporting the Wellbeing of Match Officials’ takes place at the Coleg Llandrillo University Centre, Rhos-on-Sea campus, on Thursday, March 6 (6pm). To book your place, visit: gllm.ac.uk/peak-performance