Alexandra Moore is Sport England's new Head of Volunteering. Previously Alexandra has worked for Greater Manchester Sports Partnership as Development Director where her responsibilities included workforce development, education and skills.

Prior to Greater Manchester Sports Partnership, she spent six years in Leisure Management and two years as a Senior Consultant for a Sports and Leisure Consultancy.

In 2001, Alexandra moved from South East London to Manchester and joined her local tennis club in Sale, having found that tennis offers great competitive opportunities but also the opportunity to quickly make new friends when moving to a new area. Within a year she was an active volunteer, captaining the ladies tennis team and organising the tennis sections social events.

Alexandra's tennis club is part of a multi sports club and since 2009, she has sat on Sale Sports Club's main committee as Overall Development Officer. Hence, she has a thorough insight into club development and the role that volunteers play in the development and delivery of sporting opportunities.

Given the multi sport nature of the club, Alexandra has first hand experience of the various Clubmark stages across a number of sports. At present, the Hockey and Cricket sections have achieved accreditation and have reaped the benefits of the sports development process of as well as the benefit of being ‘Clubmark accredited'. She said,

"The growth in junior participation, school club links and investments in facilities as well as good management and development of volunteers has been remarkable."

Through her volunteering, Alexandra has become no stranger to the struggles that clubs face, in particular those with an aging club house and facilities in dire need of renewal. Alexandra's own experience had led her to champion Clubmark as she has seen how her club has taken a more business focused approach to its management, is working with the third sector and exploring other business opportunities as well as working closely with their relevant NGB's to develop the club. Alexandra's own tennis section is working towards Clubmark and is facing challenges around the junior player pathway in terms of coaching so she is certainly experiencing things first hand!

Alexandra looks forward to being able to bring her experiences in sport to her new role and given the volunteering role she takes in her spare time it will not be hard to keep the sports volunteer at the heart of all her team's work.