Want to become a sports coach but dont know how to get started?
The Active Surrey Sports Partnership
have put together guidance and support for people wanting to get
into sports coaching. There are many things to
consider when starting out your career in coaching and we hope
this will give you the information needed to get you
started.
It will also offer you additional
information and guidance to become the best coach you can be
through alternative training and development opportunities,
highlighting the importance of key areas such as the player
pathway, multi-skills and the Long Term Athlete Development
Model.
By reading this information you
should be able to be confident enough to make the first steps to
becoming a qualified coach. Information will
include:
Getting Qualified
Professional Development
Coaching is one of the most rewarding aspects of sport, without quality coaches we will not have successful sports people
Qualifications
There are minimum standards of
qualifications and training that Active Surrey recommend coaches
obtain if they want to offer a coaching service to the
community. Not only is it important to obtain
the appropriate National Governing Body qualification but to
compliment the sport specific knowledge there are a variety of
generic training workshops you should also look to
undertake:
Sport Specific
Qualifications
Within the UK Coaching Certificate a
level 1 coach is defined as being able to assist more qualified
coaches, delivering aspects of coaching sessions, normally under
direct supervision. sports coach UK
recommend that direct supervision should be provided by a
higher level coach.
To be able to coach unsupervised it is
recommended that coaches attain the UK Coaching Certificate (UKCC)
level 2 or have a current Level 2 Governing Body
qualification.
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Level 4
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Advanced/Master
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Plan, implement, analyse and revise
multi-annual coaching programmes.
Demostrate advance coaching competence,
innovation and leadership.
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Level 3
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Senior Coach
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Plan, implement and review annual
coaching sessions.
Demonstrate advance-coaching
competence.
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Level 2
|
Coach
|
Prepare for, deliver and review coaching
sessions.
Demonstrate basic coaching
competence.
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Level 1
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Assistant
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Deliver coaching sessions and aspects of
coaching sessions under direction/support.
Acquire and practice basic coaching
competences.
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Leadership
Awards
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Sports Leader
|
Develop understanding of sport-specific
environment. This may include assisting with the organisation
of competitions, games and training sessions as well as officiating
and basic committee roles.
Assist more qualified coaches delivering
aspects of coaching sessions, always under
supervision.
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To access a qualification in your chosen
sport you will need to contact the appropriate governing body, for
example if you wanted to become a football coach you would contact
either the Football Association (FA) or your local office, i.e.
Surrey FA. PLease visit
the sports section of this site to find out Surrey caontacts for
most sports.
However, whatever the
recommended ratio of adults to participants is, a minimum of two
adults should be present as it ensures basic cover in the event of
an incident/accident. An
inappropriately qualified coach who is deployed could mean that
there are insurance implications.
Generic
Qualifications
Although an NGB sport specific
qualification is important to have and will teach you the technical
and tactical aspects of a sport, there is a wide variety of generic
training opportunities that will look to improve individuals and
make you the best coach you can be!
There are 7 parts to being a coach and
should be considered when looking to make coaching a
career:
Safety
Tactical
Technical
Physiological
Psychological
Health & Fitness
Craft Knowledge
To access training workshops is the most
easiest and convenient way to improve knowledge, however this is
not always the best way for individuals. Other ways
include:
o
Observing higher level / more confident
coaches
o
Identifying a mentor that will help you progress your skills
and experience
o
Watch other coaches from other sports; everyone has different
techniques you can use
in you sessions.
o
Asking athletes to give you feedback about your sessions,
young people tend to be
honest and will let you know what was good and not
so!
To access coach education workshops is
simple, sport coach UK (governing body for sports coaching) run a
wide variety of generic workshops just for
coaches. There are 5 minimum operating standards (MOS)
workshops that are recommended to obtain to compliment the
sports specific qualification:
To view the comprehensive list please visit www.sportscoachuk.org on a more local level The Active Surrey Sports Partnership deliver these workshops locally. To find out the nearest workshops to you please visit www.activesurrey.com
For further information and advice please contact Sarah Williams, Coaching Development Officer on 01483 518957 or email sarah.williams@surreycc.gov.uk.
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