There are no typical or fixed training schedules for World Class Programme across the sporting system – instead, each sport has its own schedule based on the needs of the sport, resources available and the intentions/knowledge of the coaching team.
Some sports are known as ‘de-centralised.’ This means its athletes are located across the United Kingdom and may come together for camp-based training, as well as completing training at their own home base. The volume of training for de-centralised sports varies.
‘Centralised’ sports have their own base at a particular location. This could be Bisham Abbey (close to London), where GB Hockey are based, or Sheffield EIS where sports such as para table-tennis or boxing are based. A centralised programme typically requires an athlete to relocate to that area in order to train regularly at the base.
All other sports follow a decentralised programme. They may attend camps at the above locations.
APAs are administered by UK Sport. APAs are a National Lottery-funded grant aimed to enable athletes to pursue medal success in the Olympic or Paralympic Games and in other major championship events.
APA funding is designed to allow athletes to fully engage with their high-performance programmes and meet the demands associated with progression towards the Olympic and Paralympic podium. APAs are not designed to support athletes that could be considered professional – ie: athletes that have secured an income via professional or semi-professional contract, through prize money, endorsement, or related income streams that enable them to operate independently. APAs are therefore subject to a financial needs assessment.
An athlete’s (or Performance Support Personnel’s) eligibility to receive an APA is subject to them meeting, and continuing to meet, the criteria set out in the UK Sport Eligibility Policy. Podium APAs (A+, A and B level, the highest amount of funding) are designed to support athletes whose profile indicates a strong prospect of achieving/contributing to a medal at the Olympic or Paralympic Games within the cycle and who are already achieving/contributing to international results within the medal zone.
The ‘Paris Potential’ award is provided to support athletes that have been in receipt of a Podium level award, do not meet the competition outcome standards to retain an A or B award, yet remain a strong medal prospect for Paris.
Podium Potential APAs (C and D level) are designed to support athletes who have been identified and confirmed as having the potential to bridge the gap to Olympic and Paralympic medal success and have made the commitment to pursue this goal.
Entry Level APAs are designed to support athletes in their first 1-2 years of inclusion in high-performance programmes, to provide a period through which the potential of the athlete is explored and confirmed.
Athletes in receipt of APA funding will remain eligible to access their full APA (subject to means testing) for the duration of their pregnancy. This will be at their APA level at the time of becoming pregnant and for up to nine months post-childbirth.
Transitional funding (ie: funding once an athlete has left their programme) is offered at the current level for 1-3 months depending on how long an athlete has continuously been on their programme. This additional transitional funding is provided as follows:
Each NGB will be asked to submit their athlete nominations on the UK Sport Athlete Nominations Portal. UK Sport will review the nominated athletes and will either accept or challenge these nominations. If agreed (and after the sport has communicated the outcome of selection to the athlete), the athlete will be contacted directly by UK Sport to initiate a process after which an APA offer is made. As a guiding principle, UK Sport prefer to see a commitment to 12-month APAs following the selection of an athlete.
Athlete Financial Need Assessment Means testing is applied to all APA awards to ensure UK Sport only targets resources where there is evidence of financial need.
Athletes aged between 16 and 18 years of age and vulnerable adults can choose whether their APA is paid into their own bank account or to a suitable nominated individual (eg: a parent or guardian). Where this is the case the APA documentation (Income Assessment Form and Terms & Conditions) must be completed and accepted by the parent or guardian on their behalf. Athletes under 16 years of age must have their APA paid to their parent or guardian.
It can get a little tricky keeping up with all the acronyms in high-performance sport. Keep track of them all below.
AMS – Athlete Medical Scheme
Medical insurance scheme which covers the costs of healthcare for funded athletes who are members of Olympic and Paralympic sports’ World Class Programmes.
APA – Athlete Performance Award
National Lottery-funded grant aimed to enable athletes to pursue medal success in the Olympic or Paralympic Games and in other major championship events.
BEAA – British Elite Athlete Association
The independent athlete representative body, providing support, representation, and community. Responsible for giving you confidential guidance and ensuring you’re represented in high-performance system decisions.
BOA – British Olympic Association
National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom.
BPA – British Paralympic Association
National Paralympic Committee for the United Kingdom.
CMO – Chief Medical Officer
Medical professional to deal with all medical sporting needs.
HPS – High Performance System
All the organisations and funding systems in place to support Olympic and Paralympics sport in the UK.
IF – International Federation
IFs establish the rules that govern their sport and ensure they are applied. They are responsible for the technical aspects of their sport at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
IOC – International Olympic Committee
Serves as the overarching governing body of the Olympic Games and the leader of the Olympic Movement.
NGB – National Governing Body
An organisation that governs and administers a sport on a national basis.
NOC – National Olympic Committee
Is the British Olympic and Paralympic decision and policy making body.
PAA – Performance Athlete Agreement
Sets out requirements, expectations, and obligations of athletes and their National Governing Body on all matters relating to participation in the World Class Performance Programme.
PD – Performance Director
Closely monitor core aspects of the programme such as training and competition activity, delivery of athlete support, and development of team culture and the daily training environment.
PDA – Personal Development Award
Financial award to support WCP athletes, continue to develop as a person as well as a performer while on the WCP.
PL – Performance Lifestyle
Every funded current and transitioning athlete on the WCP is entitled to receive Performance Lifestyle support – a practitioner that provides holistic support to athletes.
PSP – Performance Support Personal
All practitioners that work within the WCP or high-performance system.
S&C – Strength and Conditioning
Coach who plans, delivers, and reviews the physical and physiological preparation of athletes aligned to specific sports performance outcomes.
SRUK – Sport Resolutions UK
Independent, not-for-profit, dispute resolution service for sport. It operates globally and offers arbitration, mediation, tribunal, investigation services among others.
TMA – Team Membership Agreement or Athlete Agreement
Sets out requirements, expectations, and obligations of athletes and their National Governing Body.
UKSI– UK Sports Institute
The largest single provider of science, medicine, technology, data, and engineering services within the sport sector to Olympic and Paralympic sports in the UK.
WCP – World Class Programme
Multi-agency and multi-disciplinary support for athletes in Olympic and Paralympic sports.
The Athlete Medical Scheme (AMS) is a medical insurance scheme which covers the costs of healthcare for funded athletes who are members of Olympic and Paralympic sports’ World Class Programmes.
National Governing Bodies – funded or unfunded – may also purchase places on the AMS at a cost agreed by UK Sport to provide medical cover to athletes not on a World Class Programme.
The aim of the AMS is to drive an efficient and effective medical scheme to develop athlete health and wellbeing. UK Sport pays an annual premium to cover the costs of claims and, subject to approval and conditions of cover, the athlete receives healthcare. It is a free service to athletes and no costs are recharged to their governing bodies.
When your funding comes to an end you are covered for three months for existing concerns as part of your transition support.
FAQs below or you can contact the BEAA's support team for more information.
Cover is usually provided by Bupa.
Athletes should have access to cover through their team doctor or physio. Any communication that BUPA have will go directly to you, so ensure your medical staff at your sport are up to date with the latest information.
You will be given a booklet in your welcome pack that is your Bupa membership guide. The typical cover is for muscles, bones and joints as well as mental health. Your programme medical staff will be able to provide further details.
Cover for pre-existing conditions lasts for three months after you have left the World Class Programme. No new injuries can be covered in this time.
Non-sporting medical issues can be covered if they have an effect directly on your sporting training or performance.
An athlete commission, also known as an athletes' commission or athlete advisory committee, plays a crucial role in representing the interests and well-being of athletes within sports organisations and governing bodies.
These groups typically consist of active or retired athletes from various disciplines. The primary purpose of an athlete commission is to serve as a link between athletes and their governing body, advocating for athletes’ needs, concerns, and rights.
Commissions often work on issues such as athlete welfare, health and safety, doping prevention, fair competition, and overall athlete experience. They provide valuable insights and feedback to sports organisations, contributing to the development of policies and regulations that directly impact athletes' lives and careers.
Athlete commissions are essential representative bodies to ensure athletes have a voice in the decisions that shape their environment, promoting transparency, fairness, and athlete-centred initiatives.
Sporting associations such as the British Olympic and Paralympic Association have their own athlete commissions. More information on those can be found here:
The British Elite Athletes Association is the independent representative body for elite British athletes. We provide support, representation and community to Great Britain’s elite athletes.
We provide independent and confidential case management support; ensure the athlete voice is collated, heard, and advocated forin decision-making; and unite the athlete community across sports and generations.
We also work in collaboration with National Governing Bodies to support the World Class Programme by running athlete-led workshops, review selection policies, act as independent observers at selection meetings and regularly visit high-performance centres and training camps to build relationships with athletes and programme staff.
Our support is at the heart of what we do. With a dedicated team of expert staff to provide confidential and independent advice and guidance, we help elite athletes throughout their careers, during good times and bad.
We provide, confidential and independent support to our members with any support query, including mental health, selection and appeals, complaints and disciplinaries, classification and anti-doping.
We have direct contact with the athlete community through our direct support, and by canvassing opinion in surveys and regular conversations. We also have the Athlete Advisory Forum that represents Britain’s elite athletes in high-performance system policies, as well as the strategic direction of the BEAA itself. We also support the nomination and recruitment process of Athlete Representatives.
Our networks provide a safe space for athlete parents and LGBTQIA+ athletes to come together, share their experience and ask for guidance.
We also connect Athlete Representatives with one another across the sports so they can learn and develop from each other’s experiences.
We provide a space for our current and former members to come together. By running the British Elite Athletes Alumni platform – the first digital service to connect Britain’s elite athletes across sport – we allow active, retired, and transitioning athletes to catch-up, find one another based on shared interests, and access opportunities in their daily life.
Classification is the cornerstone of the Paralympic movement; it determines which athletes are eligible to compete in a sport and how athletes are grouped together for competition.
In Paralympic sports, athletes are grouped by the degree to which their impairment limits their activity. This, to a certain extent, is similar to grouping athletes by age, gender or weight.
Different sports require athletes to perform different activities, such as: sprinting, propelling a wheelchair, rowing and shooting. As sports require different activities, the impact of the impairment on each sport also differs. Therefore, for classification to minimise the impact of impairment on sport performance, classification must be sport specific.
Classification aims to minimise the impact of the impairment on athletes’ performances so that sporting ability alone determines who wins. Ensuring that athletes are classified before competing is crucial to safeguarding the integrity and credibility of competition.
ParalympicsGB explain the classification process below.
ParalympicsGB explain the classification process below (audio described).
Classification is carried out by a group of classifiers. Each International Federation (IF) trains and approves classifiers to conduct athlete evaluation in its para-sport.
Athlete evaluation takes place several days before international competitions begin.
Depending on the type and severity of the impairment, or in the case of a junior athlete or an athlete with a new impairment, an athlete may be classified several times in their career.
Click here to read the IPC Athlete Classification Code and its International Standards.
Classification of Sports | International Paralympic Committee
Alpine skiing
Para Alpine Skiing Rules & Classification (paralympic.org)
Archery
Classification | World Archery
Athletics
World Para Athletics Classification & Categories (paralympic.org)
Badminton
Classification | BWF Corporate (bwfbadminton.com)
Boccia
Canoe
Classification | ICF - Planet Canoe (canoeicf.com)
Cycling
Para-cycling classification | UCI
Dance Para sport
Para Dance Sport - Rules and Regulations - Classification (paralympic.org)
Equestrian
Football 5-a-side
Classification - IBSA International Blind Sports Federation (ibsasport.org)
Goalball
Classification - IBSA International Blind Sports Federation (ibsasport.org)
Ice hockey
Para Ice Hockey - Classification Rules & Regulations (paralympic.org)
Judo
Classification - IBSA International Blind Sports Federation (ibsasport.org)
Nordic Skiing
Para Nordic Skiing - Classification Rules & Regulations (paralympic.org)
Powerlifting
Para Powerlifting - Classification Rules & Regulations (paralympic.org)
Rowing
Para-Rowing Classification - World Rowing
Shooting
Shooting - Rules and Regulations - Classification - Master list (paralympic.org)
Sitting volleyball
Classification > World ParaVolleyWorld ParaVolley
Snowboard
World Para Snowboard classification (paralympic.org)
Swimming
World Para Swimming Classification & Categories - SB9, SM8 (paralympic.org)
Table tennis
ITTF Para Table Tennis Classification (ipttc.org)
Taekwondo
Triathlon
Wheelchair basketball
Classification - IWBF - International Wheelchair Basketball Federation
Wheelchair curling
Competitions - World Curling Federation
Wheelchair fencing
Classification: for athletes and teams - Wheelchair Fencing (wheelchair-fencing.org)
Wheelchair rugby
The Game – Classification – WWR (worldwheelchair.rugby)
Wheelchair tennis
Tennis Rules and Regulations | ITF (itftennis.com)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a government department that oversees sport in the United Kingdom. The DCMS is responsible for sports policy – helping people play sport from an early age and encouraging them to keep playing sport throughout their lives.
The DCMS also works with and provides funding to UK Sport, the national high-performance sports agency, to help elite athletes achieve their potential.
Funding goes towards continuing to identify our best athletes and help them train, while also giving them more opportunities to compete in the UK to qualify and prepare for Olympic and Paralympic Games.
In total, £1.5bn of National Lottery funding has been invested into elite sport – with over 6,800 individual elite athletes having been supported to chase their dreams since 1997. UK Sport is one of the 12 official National Lottery distributors. Elite sport in Britain is primarily funded by them and the DCMS (which distributes taxpayer money).
Since National Lottery funding for Olympic and Paralympic sport started, British athletes have won over 1,000 medals.
UK Sport’s investment is made to National Governing Bodies through four-year awards that focus on the future.
The process involves UK Sport working with sports as they approach each Olympic and Paralympic cycle. Sports are supported by UK Sport to build ‘a case for investment’ against a set of criteria and requirements. Sports submissions are then evaluated on both an individual and system-wide basis.
Investment is provided at several different levels, including: