Community coach development
Community coach development courses are a tool regional coordinators can utilise to help up skill coaches within their regions. Any of the courses listed below may be used as a ‘refresher course’ and form part of a coach's re-registration with the Active After-school Communities (AASC) program. Alternatively they may simply be used for additional professional development for any community coach requiring it.
Generic AASC refresher course
(Incorporating an update on the AASC and key messages, resources and a practical session)
The aim of this course is to refresh coaches on the AASC program’s outcomes and the philosophy behind the Playing for Life approach. Regional coordinators are encouraged to use this opportunity to showcase the Playing for Life kit, AASC Companion Books and online resources that coaches should use on a regular basis. Regional coordinators may also use this workshop to look at common behaviour management strategies.
This session should be promoted as an opportunity for all coaches who feel they would like some assistance with their coaching, not just those requiring re-registration.
Behaviour Management course
Regional coordinators might feel they have a number of coaches who need assistance with managing children and particularly large groups of children. This course may look at:
- different ways to effectively work with children
- behaviour management strategies
- transitional ideas to keep kids on task
- effective planning and game development.
Sport Specific course
These courses may look at one particular sport or number of sports with similar attributes/objectives i.e. invasion sports (netball and basketball) or net/court sports (badminton and tennis). The format of the course may vary significantly however the main purpose of these courses would be to share a number of different games pertaining to the specific sport/s that are not in the Playing for Life kit. Community coaches or regional coordinators may both share different games they use or have seen. Regional coordinators may use this opportunity to explore with the participants the Playing for Life resources. Up Skilling
This course would be similar to the sport specific course and could be offered to up skill different multi sport or specific sports coaches in another sport. An example of this may be a number of multi sport coaches participate in a circus skills session so that they can then use the games and ideas from the session in conjunction with the companion books to deliver circus skills in the program.
One-on-One Meetings
These courses may be an option where coordinators in regional areas may not have the opportunity to run sessions with large numbers, or metro coaches may not be able to get to courses within their area. Coach development can still happen at one-on-one meeting with regional coordinators, or even experienced community coaches. These meetings may take many forms but could cover numerous topics such as:
- behaviour management issues
- Playing for Life ideas
- game development strategies
- ideas for new and exciting games
- planning and session development
Other
Regional coordinators may feel there are other areas of need or development and may construct a course or practical sessions to assist their coaches with their delivery and coaching. Alternatively, external development opportunities may be presented to community coaches for consideration.
