New appointment to England Touch Association Board of Directors

In the week of International Women’s Day, England Touch has taken another step forward in making the Association’s Board more representative with the appointment of a new Non-Executive Director.

Amy Gardner will bring extensive experience from top level sporting organisations onto the Board, having been the Head of National Delivery at British Cycling for the past 18 months, with a further two years at British Cycling and four years at the Lawn Tennis Association before that.

At British Cycling, Gardner is responsible for leading a department of around 60 people, formulating and executing regional delivery plans to grow participation targets, building capacity and scale, and managing partnerships with local authorities across the country.

She was a lead project manager within British Cycling’s recent work to re-purpose the organisation and set out its future vision, along with developing projects to be funded by Sport England, and it is this experience which ETA Chair Mark Croston believes will be an asset to the Board.

“I am delighted to welcome Amy to the Touch community,” he said. “England Touch continues to attract the highest calibre into its workforce and we were particularly impressed with Amy’s professional experience in areas of focus such as regional growth, stronger relationships across sport and government departments.

“Of course Amy will provide an excellent sounding board for [National Development Officer] Sammie Phillips, combining experience from other sports with our own expertise and knowledge of the Touch community.

“Both will provide crucial leadership across our 2020s Vision, developing our inward investment pipeline to support our growth in participation and engagement.”

Gardner is looking forward to the opportunity within a sport that is enjoying rapid growth at all levels ahead of England’s hosting of the 2022 European Touch Championships.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to use my experience as a leader in sports development to grow and diversify the engagement in such an inclusive and accessible sport,” she said.

“I’m looking forward to working with those on the Board, as well as the team who are putting the programmes in place to grow and develop a sport for all, especially at grassroots level.”