level 1 Athletic coaching course

banjobongo

hi guys, I help out with our local Athletic club (Emerald) as my kids are members in int and I like to get involved and help out...as part of this I have signed up for the next level 1 Athletic coaching course which is starting this evening. Has anybody else done this course, any hints as to what is covered, any feedback as to how good it was?

thirtyfoot

It depends on your experience but I reckon generally the courses are good and cover all aspects and will give you practical ideas and tips and maybe the confidence to take a group of kids and coach them.

You will basically go through all events and get an idea on the basics and how to coach from scratch. It may also give you an insight into some events that you might not have considered as a coach. Its good to get on the coaching ladder.

helpisontheway

Tingle wrote: »

It depends on your experience but I reckon generally the courses are good and cover all aspects and will give you practical ideas and tips and maybe the confidence to take a group of kids and coach them.

You will basically go through all events and get an idea on the basics and how to coach from scratch. It may also give you an insight into some events that you might not have considered as a coach. Its good to get on the coaching ladder.

As you said above it depends on your experience really,im in the middle of doing my level 2 and finding it very basic and 5 or 6 others in the group have the same view where as it is totally over the head of 5/6 more in the group.Some kind of pre assessment might save alot of time.I again along with others are really disillusioned as to how the latter 5/6 people will have the same certificate as us!! Especially when every question they ask is in relation to their child-"My Mary doesnt jump high enough,how do i fix that?":eek: Drives me mad!!!:mad:

RoyMcC

You'll always have the problem that some attendees are from an athletic background and others are willing parents with children in the sport. To the former, much of the stuff will be basic and self-evident, but it needs to be delivered in case people don't know it.

If (say) Sonia O'Sullivan was to wish to coach in Ireland she would find herself sitting alongside Mary's Dad listening to a talk on drills

You will learn 90% of your coaching skills by (1) watching other coaches and (b) just doing it and learning from your mistakes. Not from the (necessary) courses.

What annoys me is people getting a basic qualification for their CV, getting put on their club's list of coaches, then doing feck-all coaching.

Oh, and coaches swanning around telling everybody how much better they are than everybody else because they've just got their Level whatever :mad:

There, feel better now

helpisontheway

RoyMcC wrote: »

You will learn 90% of your coaching skills by (1) watching other coaches and (b) just doing it and learning from your mistakes. Not from the (necessary) courses.

I couldnt agree more with that! Of course there is need for theory to improve knowledge but putting that into practice is the hard part!

I believe some kind of assessement to decide what course you need would save alot of time and hassle.Take this level 1 in Limerick,the coaches were there last night and all day today and some will then spend the day in Tramore tommorow and then they have another weekend in December,thats an awful lot of time to have to give up! Thats two weekends away from their families,possibly time off work on Friday or Saturday aswell and Christmas coming!!

The RDOs had serious problems filling these courses because of the timing of them and the fact that alot of coaches dont believe they will learn anything! Im lucky that im young and freee so have the time and i will look at the bigger picture in having to do the courses to progress to the next level which may be beneficial to me.

ss43

I didn't find the level one course much use but as I had done more indepth stuff before. It probably would have been useful for people with no prior experience. The only thing I got from it, is that I can do the level 2 course now. Whether that will be of benefit remains to be seen but I can then go on to do level 3 and hopefully 4.

To be a good running coach you need:
A basic understanding of physiology - you don't get this at level 1
An understanding of how people learn - this is touched on
To know how to organise sessions i.e. layout, progressions - I think this was pretty good in the Level 1 course.
to be able to relate to your athletes - can't really teach that.

The level 1 course covers track&field, cross country and race walk. I was only interested in running (mainly distance, small interest in sprints) so I didn't take much from learning about shot putt etc. It only takes four days so can't go into much detail on anything.

For someone who has been involved in competitve athletics the big benefits of a level one course are 1) getting the cert which means you can go further and 2) learning how to structure drills etc. The rest you'll have to pick up yourself.

If you haven't been involved in competitive athletics you'll need the course and a lot more.

Woddle

I'm just home from UL after doing the first weekend and although it is very basic in theory I really enjoyed learning about the throws and jumps and I have a new appreciation for these events. My highlite of the weekend was meeting Rob Heffernan, he was brilliant and although he didn't convert me from running to walking, I now now also have complete admiration for these guys and maybe walks should be included in the marathon/triathlon forum as his training is unreal and his times would put alot of mid pack runners to shame. We where also lucky enough to have 2 emerging youngsters in the throw and it was great to hear from them.
On the downside I did find alot of the questions that were asked by the people in the course to be very basic and if I'm being honest they should know the answer to these questions if there in a level 1 course and maybe athletics leader would be more beneficial, but I'm looking forward to next weekend, I prefer middle to long distances but it's great to have an understanding now of the other diciplines.

helpisontheway

Woddle wrote: »

I'm just home from UL after doing the first weekend and although it is very basic in theory I really enjoyed learning about the throws and jumps and I have a new appreciation for these events. My highlite of the weekend was meeting Rob Heffernan, he was brilliant and although he didn't convert me from running to walking, I now now also have complete admiration for these guys and maybe walks should be included in the marathon/triathlon forum as his training is unreal and his times would put alot of mid pack runners to shame. We where also lucky enough to have 2 emerging youngsters in the throw and it was great to hear from them.
On the downside I did find alot of the questions that were asked by the people in the course to be very basic and if I'm being honest they should know the answer to these questions if there in a level 1 course and maybe athletics leader would be more beneficial, but I'm looking forward to next weekend, I prefer middle to long distances but it's great to have an understanding now of the other diciplines.

Met Rob for the first time at the Munster squads last week.Its fantastic that such a high profile athlete gives so much back to the sport and hes still a full time athlete!! I was amazed at how small he was though.:D
He really inspired alot of my athletes especially when he talked about what a late developer he was and that if you persevere what can be achieved.

You said you enjoyed learning about the jumps and throws but do you think you will now start coaching those events?

Woddle

I was very surprised at his height aswell because when you see pictures of him or video footage in full flow he looks quite tall, he was the best thing on the night and it's a shame we didn't get longer with him and yes I can see myself coaching the jumps and throws down the line, for the moment my focus is boards AC(adult) but I will offer my services to my daughters primary school and see if the principle would be willing, I get on quite well with her but maybe theres a bit more to it than just getting the principles permission, but yes I def see coaching as my new calling.

helpisontheway

Woddle wrote: »

I was very surprised at his height aswell because when you see pictures of him or video footage in full flow he looks quite tall, he was the best thing on the night and it's a shame we didn't get longer with him and yes I can see myself coaching the jumps and throws down the line, for the moment my focus is boards AC(adult) but I will offer my services to my daughters primary school and see if the principle would be willing, I get on quite well with her but maybe theres a bit more to it than just getting the principles permission, but yes I def see coaching as my new calling.

I coach at 7/8 schools and once you have your insurance sorted principals are generally happy! Id advise knowing your code of ethics inside out also! After that once its fun and offers variety the kids and teachers will be happy.I started in the 07/08 school year in 6 schools and this year rugby was dropped from 2 schools to facilitate extra athletics,swimming from one and even Gaa football from one and im in Kerry!!! The kids and teachers generally love it because its so different.

RoyMcC

Woddle/Helpis that is great that you're getting into the schools. That's not really practical for all of us but that's where the revival in the sport must begin. Isn't it mad though when athletics is considered a 'novelty' sport?

Keep up the great work.

helpisontheway

What were the final toughts on the course banjobongo?
I heard Gary Ryan did the sprints segment and was obviously very impressive!

banjobongo

Overall I thought the course was excellent. Really enjoyed it, learned a lot from it, thought the instructors were excellent and yes Gary Ryan on the sprints was great, he really hammered home the point that even at the highest level that the basic drills are essential. Met some great people on the course also. Well worth doing.

helpisontheway

Personally ive always found the people you meet on courses very important.No club has coaches for every single event so meeting people who can do you a favour now and again is great! Hopefully the new coaches association will complie a list of coaches who are willing to give a hand to clubs every now and again,would be fantastic!