Leanne in line for national award
One of the few female golf professionals in Wales has been nominated for a top national award after increasing junior golf at her club from seven to over 100.
Assistant golf pro Leanne Cooper has also seen the number of girls playing take off at her club Llanwern in Newport, with none playing golf there before she arrived - now 33 are taking part in the junior coaching.
Her efforts after joining just over a year ago have seen more than 50 new members join the club with another 20 Little League members, earning her a nomination for the Sinclair Award from the Golf Foundation.
The results will be announced at Wentworth in May, before then Cooper will have qualified with the PGA as a professional.
“When Leanne started at Llanwern in March 2008 only seven boys were playing regularly, and no girls,” explained golf Development Wales manager Hannah James, who nominated Cooper for the award.
“In her first year, Leanne’s pro-active nature enabled the club to secure Starter Centre funding which helped increase the number of juniors in coaching to over 100 utilising the Junior Golf Passport
“Thirty three of these new participants were girls, a key priority for the club. As a result of this membership has increase to 54 full members and 20 Little League members.
“Twenty five club volunteers have been trained as Tri – Golf Activators and assist in coaching in the local Primary Schools. This has meant that over 100 children have had the opportunity to work towards the Tri golf level of the passport, each were provided with additional information on how to continue to learn and play golf at Llanwern.
“Girl’s development is a big focus for Leanne and she runs regular girls-only coaching groups, funded through Golf Development Wales.
“The coaching began with a specific girls taster day which Leanne designed called “Pink Xtreme”. As a result over 30 girls are now in regular coaching at the club.”
Cooper is constantly looking for new ways to attract junior members to the club and successfully applied for Community Chest money from the Sports Council for Wales to develop a nine hole Mini Course on the practice area.
She has also introduced a low cost “Little League” which involves supervised weekly competitions, an Order of Merit and handicap system and a “Little League Ryder Cup” foursomes matchplay competition with family BBQ.
Families are also high on Leanne’s agenda. Parents and families are encouraged to participate in group coaching lessons. Participants are offered low cost membership for the Mini Course so they can play golf with their children.
Cooper has also focused her development work with Newport Community Groups located in areas that are low on the social deprivation index. The groups use golf as a diversionary activity to reduce crime and disorder and aims to give children a positive experience.
Leanne coached many of these ‘at risk’ groups as part of the Communities First scheme and hosted and helped organise a Summer Community Golf festival for over 70 ‘at risk youths’. Free lessons were given as prizes
Cooper also works with local special needs groups leading fun Tri –Golf sessions and set up Children's Golf parties at local council-operated leisure centres using tri-golf equipment to encourage wider participation.
She initiated a Club Newsletter which Golf Development Wales use as an example on their website, has developed a 5 x 60 Golf Xtreme programme in local High Schools which rolls out in Spring 2009 and set up a Club partnership with “Going for Gold” healthy living scheme in Newport schools and businesses.