Joanne's career in sport development began in 2003 and since then she has progressed through a number of roles, all of which involved Clubmark.

As Hockey and Basketball Development Officer within the Herefordshire and Worcestershire County Sports Partnership, her primary role was the development and delivery of the Active Sports Programme with a key element of supporting clubs in achieving Clubmark.

Following this, Joanne joined Active Gloucestershire as a Club and Volunteer Development Officer where she was the lead officer for Clubmark, supporting clubs across a number of sports to work towards and achieve accreditation. She was also Deputy Child Protection Officer for the Partnership and assisted with the implementation of policies and procedures within the organisation and provided guidance to local clubs and volunteers in the area.

Nine months into this position, Joanne was promoted to Lead Officer for National Governing Bodies where she facilitated NGB engagement at a local level through sport specific delivery plans, which included raising the number of Clubmark Accredited Clubs within the County.

Joanne's present role is National Clubmark Administrator for British Judo Association (BJA). Her duties include the ongoing monitoring of the programme and assessment of files. She also undertakes a Regional Development Officer role which involves increasing the number of accredited clubs across the West Midlands and improving the number of young people involved in Judo through club development, quality school to club links and initiating that drive in participation.

As well as an obvious keen interest in sport within the work environment, outside of work Joanne competes competitively in the England Hockey League. Alongside being a player she is Vice Captain and Assistant Coach and is a Clubmark assessor for England Hockey and has been involved in numerous ClubsFirst assessments over the past six years.

Joanne's opinion on Clubmark is

"Clubmark is fundamental to the development of clubs and ensures that effective planning and quality delivery is brought to the forefront of committees and the volunteers within them. We have a new generation of clubs that are playing a key part in growing and sustaining participation in sport."