The Active Code

Who is Adam Lakeland? 

Adam Lakeland is founder and director of Pro Sport Coaching Ltd . Dedicated to raising children’s activity levels, Adam launched Pro Sport Coaching in 2006, growing a team of like-minded individuals who deliver quality physical activity provision in Lancashire schools and nurseries. 

Alongside his role as director, Adam is a committed First Team Manager at Curzon Ashton FC. He joined as manager in November 2021, prior to which he was manager of Farsley Celtic FC from May 2017 - October 2021. Adam’s first season saw him guide the team to the Evo-Stik Premier Division playoffs and win the West Riding County Cup. During his second season, Farsley Celtic FC won the Evo-Stik Premier Division, earning promotion to the National North, and under Adam’s management, the team reached the League Cup Final. 

Hosts Luke and Paul chat to Adam about: 

• His experiences in football management with teams such as Blackburn Rovers, Curzon Ashton and Farsley Celtic. 

• How the dedicated team at Pro Sport Coaching increase physical activity levels in the North West. 

• The importance of saying no to customers. 

• Why effective delegation is one of the key elements of a successful business. 

Who is Chris Brindley? 

Chris Brindley is a Non-Executive Director, International Speaker, Executive Coach and Consultant in business and sport. 

Chris’ career prior to his current portfolio of roles spanned two different industries, having been an Executive Director in both. After four years as MD at the UK’s leading challenger bank, Metro Bank, Chris decided to make the move that has seen him recognised with an MBE for services to sport and awarded winner of the Institute of Directors, UK Non-Executive Director of the Year in 2017.  

Chris is a leading Conference speaker in the UK, Europe, Africa and Australia covering topics such as customer excellence, (international speaker in) leadership, change, employee engagement and how to build high performing teams through a growth mindset. 

From a sport and business perspective, Chris is recognised as an asset around the board table. An independent board evaluation of GreaterSport, where Chris was Chair for 11 years, described the way in which the board operated as (part of) "one of the best seen in any industry across the world". 

Awards: 

• MBE Special Recognition Award United Kingdom 
• Non-Executive Director of the Year 
• Sales Leader of the Year at the National Sales Awards 
• Most Outstanding Employer at the National Business Awards 
• Sales and Marketing Director of the Year 
• Britain’s Best Boss by the Working Families Association 
• Sales and Marketing Director of the Year for 3 consecutive years at the British Excellence Sales and Marketing Awards 
• Sales and Marketing Director of the Year 
• Led teams to success at the National Customer Service awards. 

Clients include: 

• Heineken 
• Sport England 
• Professional Footballers Association 
• Manchester United FC 
• WILO 
• Allianz 
• Close Brothers 

Hosts Paul Griffiths and Luke Johnson chat to Chris about: 

• His belief that physical activity enables a better and longer life 
• Children’s health being more important than whether provision is coming from the public or private sector 
• The social impact sport and physical activity can have on local communities 
• How the Rugby League World Cup shall be unique in its inclusivity vision 
• The importance of leaders being visionary, doing the right thing even when it’s the hard thing and having emotional intelligence 

In the series finale, hosts Paul Griffiths and Luke Johnson are joined by Steve Mitchell.

Who is Steve Mitchell?

Mitch is a Skills and Sport Consultant and retired rugby player who believes that sport can change lives. 

Mitch’s parents ingrained in him the importance of physical activity from a young age, and this led him to taking a gap year coaching in primary schools in Johannesburg, followed by a degree in PE and Sport Science at Loughborough University. 

After graduating, Mitch worked in the public sector in a range of roles but most notably for SkillsActive, the Sector Skills Council for Active Leisure, Learning and Well-being, where he formed a passion for developing people in, through and across sport. 

Mitch has worked with a wide range of organisations, including being Director and Chairman of Parkour UK and a Board member of Active Essex, the County Sports Partnership for Essex.

Now self-employed, Mitch works with several sporting organisations on initiatives related to people and learning. He is the Founder at Sporting People, Co-Founder at Sport for Confidence, and Trustee for Switch the Play Foundation.  

What is the podcast about?

In the episode, we:

• Find out how Mitch has connected with so many ‘top performing’ people in the industry over the past 30 years.
• Discuss his experience in outreach and private education projects in South Africa and the foundation this gave him.
• Hear what Mitch believes are the key traits of a leader and how to develop them.
• Make comparisons to high performing organisations outside of our industry such as the customer-centric Metro Bank.

In the penultimate episode of this series, hosts Paul Griffiths and Luke Johnson are joined by Anderson Hirst.

Who is Anderson Hirst?

Anderson is the Founder and Director at Selling Interactions, an international sales consulting and training organisation based in Birmingham. He is a passionate researcher of sales best practice, splitting his time between sales research and hands-on delivery.

After switching from an initial career as a brewer, Anderson started out in front line technical sales before moving into the field of sales training and consulting where he sold, designed and delivered multiple international sales improvement projects. 

In 2005, Anderson studied an MBA at Warwick Business School and used his research into sales process to build the foundations of Selling Interactions. He also founded The Kojo Academy to help clients accelerate their sales capability.

What is the podcast about?

•  Anderson’s love for running, yoga, cycling and skateboarding
• How physical activity is his way of recharging his batteries
• The three key steps to delegation
• Anderson’s three top tips for organisations looking to work with more schools

In this week’s episode of The Active Code, hosts Paul Griffiths and Luke Johnson are joined by Independent Educational Consultant, Andy Heald.

Who is Andy Heald?

• Andy has spent over 20 years in the children’s activity space, starting out as a coach and moving on to roles as an educator, business owner and company director.
• Andy has a passion for workforce development and his roles have led him to implementing a high-quality coach development programme and solution to drive success on a national scale.
• Andy currently acts as Vice Chair of the Community Professional Development Board for the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA). 

What is the podcast about?

In the episode, Andy:

• describes his childhood spent playing sports in the street with his friends and explains how it inspired him to work to provide similar opportunities for as many children as possible.
• tells us how he and a large group of children broke a Guinness World Record for the largest fencing lesson ever delivered.
• explains why vision, values and transparency led to the fast growth of his franchise.
• talks about how regular exercise impacts on his mental health and wellbeing and how he incorporates ‘Tiny Habits’ into his day. 

In this week’s episode of The Active Code, hosts Paul Griffiths and Luke Johnson are joined by Eddie Ray, Founder and Managing Director at Progressive Sports.

Who is Eddie Ray?  

Eddie is an entrepreneur, franchiser and investor. He set up Progressive Sports in 2006 and has been 

supporting schools and communities ever since.

Progressive Sports’ mission is to inspire, engage, empower and encourage children to lead healthy active lifestyles and they achieve this through providing a range of programmes to support PE and Sport in schools and also the wider community.

What is the podcast about? 

In the episode, Eddie:

• talks about who has influenced him throughout his career.
• explains why, as a leader, it is important to be humble, empathetic and accountable.
• discusses why he believes failure is just a process and a great learning opportunity.
• shares the reasons for franchising Progressive Sports.

In this week’s episode of The Active Code, hosts Paul Griffiths and Luke Johnson are joined by Will Atterbury, Founder & Managing Director at Active Me 360 CIC.

Who is Will Atterbury?

Will is a keen sportsman and a business enthusiast. He has been a sports coach for many years and has worked in the Active Leisure, Sport and Physical Education sector in a range of roles. Will is based in Hampshire, but has also spent time working as a Special Constable for the Metropolitan Police in London. 

In 2019, Will founded Active Me 360, a company which aims to change lives through physical activity, sport and education.

As a Community Interest Company (or Social Enterprise), Active Me 360 reinvest profits they make back in to their local community to enable social change.

For a new company, which had only been going for a year when the pandemic hit, Active Me 360 has been very successful, winning a Marathon Kids award in 2020-21 for running the most attended park events and being nominated for the Winchester Business Excellence Awards 2021.

What is the podcast about?

In the episode, Will:

• elaborates on his journey from sports coaching to managing his own company.
• explains how Active Me 360 works to enable social change.
• shares the reason culture plays a huge part at Active Me 360, and why it drives everything they do.

In this week’s episode of The Active Code, hosts Paul Griffiths and Luke Johnson are joined by Gary Laybourne, Chief Executive Officer at Coach Core.

Who is Gary Laybourne?

Gary is an experienced sports coach and former triathlete whose mission to better the lives of the young apprentices he works with stems from his own life experiences.

As a coach, Gary has worked with various organisations and people from all walks of life over the last 20 years. Since 2012 he has worked with Coach Core and is now CEO.

Coach Core targets 16-24 year olds who are not in education, employment or training and uses sport and apprenticeship training as a vehicle to drive social mobility.

Gary and his team at Coach Core have helped grow the organisation to work with 600 apprentices in 15 locations in the UK and Gary has also created a strategic relationship with the Royal Foundation.

What is the podcast about?

In the episode, Gary tells us about:

• what physical activity means to him, and how it’s a part of everyday life. 
• his belief that no matter who they are or where they’re from, every person has the right to access high quality physical activity.
• how he strives to ask for and take on board 360 feedback from his team.
• the successful strategy he implemented over the pandemic to bring together his remote team.

In the second episode of this series, hosts Paul Griffiths and Luke Johnson are joined by Alex Wallace and Katie Smith from The Mintridge Foundation.

Who is Alex Wallace?

Alex is the Founder and Managing Director of The Mintridge Foundation, a charity that uses the power of positive role models to impact lives.

Her passion is to give all young people equal sporting opportunities, and Mintridge achieves this by working with Olympic, Paralympic and elite athletes to deliver unforgettable experiences to children and young people.

Alex has been recognised for her achievements by several high-profile organisations, including being awarded the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year award in 2018 in the grassroots category.

Who is Katie Smith?

Katie is Operations Director at The Mintridge. Foundation. She has a background in education, physical activity and health, being a keen netball and lacrosse player. 

She is a qualified PE teacher and netball coach and has led of a range of sport participation programmes across the country, working in challenging environments and with people of varying ages and abilities. 

Katie is using her skills and experiences to help the development of mentoring programmes at The Mintridge Foundation. 

What is the podcast about?

• Alex shares her experience of failure at a young age and how it planted the seed for her to support young people.
• Katie talks about how such a diverse range of athletes allows them to inspire many children, compared to the few role models in the spotlight when she was growing up.
• We discuss how encouraging children and young people to celebrate successes and failures equally is key to lifelong participation in physical activity.