Inclusive coaching course opens minds and doors
Issue: Volume 28 Number 2
Sydney parents and their children drive for over an hour to participate in one of the city’s special-needs soccer programs; a sad reflection on the lack of coaches who cater for children with disabilities in sport.
David Howard, father and local soccer coach, runs a special needs program at St Ives Soccer Club. The program involves over 60 children, ranging in ages from 5 to 12 years, who travel from as far as Liverpool in the west and south of the Harbour to attend this very successful program.
Prior to starting his program, David participated in the Inclusive Coaching course offered by the Australian Sports Commission’s Disability Education program. St Ives now arranges for the course to be run locally for parents and coaches. The three-hour course is specifically developed for sports coaches and sporting organisations to gain a better understanding of coaching people with disabilities. David found the course to be a mind opener and confidence booster.
‘From the course I became more aware of what I could and couldn’t do in terms of coaching the children; it has given me more confidence both in coaching and implementing new ideas. Furthermore, I now have a clearer insight into the kind of things to expect when coaching kids with disabilities.’
The special needs program was started two years ago, after David’s search for an outdoor activity for his autistic daughter failed. ‘I just couldn’t find any outdoor sports program that she could participate in,’ he said. David approached his local soccer club, where he was already involved, and with their blessing, started the special needs soccer program.
The St Ives program is focused around children with an intellectual disability, but does not exclude anyone. David initially designed his course around his daughter’s needs. ‘I thought that’s what other children in similar situations needed, and found it worked very well’. While searching the Internet, David discovered the Inclusive Coaching Disability Education program module and signed up for the next available course.
The Inclusive Coaching module reinforces the notion that inclusion is nothing more than best practice in coaching, and shows that by adopting inclusive practices, significant value is added to mainstream coaching.
The principles covered are applicable to all sports coaching. Apart from the broad nature of inclusion, the course takes into consideration such things as the use of language and how to adapt the learning of skills and training conditions where necessary.
Although David now only coaches children with disabilities, he believes the course and its inclusive principles would be beneficial to anyone involved in coaching. It is a helpful introduction, or addition, to sport-specific coach accreditation programs.
Having an autistic daughter means David has had a lot of exposure to children with disabilities and their needs. However, the course has given him the knowledge and inspiration to implement ways to modify rules and levels of difficulty to allow everyone to participate on a somewhat level playing field.
‘The course gave me a greater awareness of the different approaches you can use when coaching. Thinking outside the box is an approach that is really emphasised. There are hundreds of different ways to modify or change programs and activities to suit the children. The course gave me more confidence to do what I love doing.
‘When adapting something you have to remember that each child is different and you work with that principle in mind to end up with a positive outcome. Once you have an inclusive program operating it is easy to adjust for newcomers and different needs.’
This coaching module helps any coach add to their general coaching knowledge and provides many practical tips that are not necessarily covered in general principles of coaching courses. The course is not sport-specific, but shows how to make your sport inclusive, and covers inclusion of people with disabilities in both disability and non-disability specific sport.
‘One of the main highlights of the course was the opportunity to meet and share ideas with other coaches who have similar interests and goals. The networking really helped me understand the whole module and reinforced that the methods I have been using are concurrent with inclusive coaching principles.’
David’s advice to coaches considering including athletes with disabilities in their programs is, ‘Include them! Just do it. You think it’s going to be hard work but it’s not. You just need to make small modifications to a new or existing program and the rewards are great.’
David was so impressed with the course he organised one at his club. The course was attended by all the coaches, parents and volunteers of the club. ‘It was a huge success, so much so we plan to run another one in the near future’, he said.
An Inclusive Coaching course involves four core units and outcomes:
- Overview and structure of the Disability Education Program — understanding of the structure of the program and how it fits within the national and state systems
- Discovering attitudes to disability — understanding of how people with disabilities can be disadvantaged in sport and physical activity; awareness of the broad nature of inclusion; and introduction to a model framework (TREE) for inclusion
- Inclusive coaching practice — understanding of the issues surrounding inclusive practice, including a basic understanding of classification
- Individualised coaching: adapting for all — ability to define how to modify to include all
For more information on Disability Education Program training courses and resources
