bev ward

Part of the Sport Collective team working on commercial and marketing projects for NGBs and sports organisations. Clients supported include England Netball, Badminton England and Intelligent Health.

Provided copywriting services for Virgin Active's new Beyond Movement launch of Reformer Pilates, sports massage and physiotherapy services in three flagship gyms - Barbican, Fulham and the Strand.

Developed and implemented a four-year volunteer strategy for British Tennis, seeing an increase in positive satisfaction among club volunteers in year one. This included launching a recognition programme, volunteer recruitment training for tennis venues, recruitment campaign, copywriting a web-based toolkit and establishing a communication programme.

Provided copywriting support and advice to England Squash and Racketball as the National Governing Body relaunched its website in line with its new brand guidelines and focus on driving more participation. Additionally, edited a sponsorship guide for England Squash's member county associations.

As the Marketing Manager for The FA's £200-million National Game Strategy, I led a major rebrand and communications programme. I introduced a new communications programme to grassroots football, including a research study with 37,000 participants and providers to ensure The FA delivered what the game wanted and took The FA's positive rating from 45% to 70% in just two years. I project managed the Respect good-behaviour programme to launch and won a Sports Industry Award for Best PR Promotion in Sport in 2009 for the Respect/Ray Winstone viral films. I brought Tesco in as a partner to The FA, funding the multi-million pound Skills Programme. I led the brand creation and launch of this award-winning programme, which has now trained over two million 5-11-year-olds in core football skills. I also launched The FA's first YouTube channel and TV advert to tackle the drop-out from men's 11-a-side football.

Specialising in sports development, marketing, copywriting and commercial strategy, I have worked for national governing bodies, healthcare providers and brands in the leisure industry. Clients have included The Football Association, Sport Collective, Badminton England, Intelligent Health, Decathlon, Lawn Tennis Association, England Squash, Spire Healthcare, Virgin Active, local leisure trusts and Optima-life.

Project managed The FA's winning bid to stage UEFA Women's EURO 2021, working with UK Sport, local authorities and stadiums on an open-bid process. After being awarded the bid, I project managed The FA's planning for the event including the management of all Host City and Host Stadium relationships, and working with UEFA on the framework for delivery.