ASC Home
>
Sports Coach >
Coaching role and responsibility > A boost to a professional coaching career
A boost to a professional coaching career
Issue: Volume 27 Number 3
The Australian Sports Commission, in conjunction with the University of Queensland has developed a series of coach education programs for high performance coaches. These programs arose from the need for ongoing education of Australia's top sports coaches and the development of future high performance coaches.
Zoltan Shepherd was preparing Queensland state teams for the national rowing championships, Shannon Roy trained club divers in the United States - two successful former competitors in their respective sports were taking the traditional road into coaching.
Tradition ended for both when they learnt of scholarships being offered in the high performance coaching program run by the Australian Sports Commission and the University of Queensland. Both agree it has changed their lives.
Roy was probably the most fortunate as he was a long way from home and the World Cup, World Championship and Commonwealth Games diving medals he won in 1997-98. ‘After that I spent five-and-a-half years studying at the University of Tennessee, dabbling in coaching before I retired as an athlete in 2002,’ he said. ‘I was lucky that my former coach in Australia, Valerie Beddoe, thought to get in touch with me when these scholarships came up. Right away I could see it was a fantastic opportunity and a week later I was on the plane back to Australia.’
Hungarian-born Shepherd, who came to Australia in 1989 after failing to get to the Seoul Olympics, was already making a name for himself at State level when he was urged to apply for a scholarship. There have been times when he wondered if he had done the right thing.
‘I had my Level One and Two coaching badges but this is altogether different,’ he said. ‘Coming from a Hungarian background and never having studied in Australia, I found the computer work to be the hardest part of the course, but I got plenty of support and have never had to ask for an extension on any assignment.’
Shepherd and Roy are both based at the South Australian Sports Institute and do the academic side of their work via the Internet. While Roy has had few problems returning to study – ‘I was really only out of it for about eight months in the US’ – he was surprised at the demanding schedule.
‘The biggest shock was the amount of coaching I was supposed to do outside the classroom,’ he said. ‘Most days there would be 6am starts and I was getting home around 7.30pm, so the last thing I wanted to do was pick up a book and do more study. ‘At first it was a real time management issue, but I am getting it all under control.’
Shepherd said that having Roy on hand to bounce ideas off was a big advantage. Otherwise the flexibility of working via the Internet suited him. ‘I was worried about the isolation at first, but the scholarship holders have been brought together twice for meetings at the AIS in Canberra, so I have got to know the other people on the course. We have conversations by e-mail and I have a couple of telephone numbers if I really need to talk about something.’
After a year’s work he has completed his graduate certificate and is now working for a graduate diploma. ‘I am lucky because here at the institute I have my own squad of rowers, so I can immediately put the things I have learned into practical use,’ he said.
‘One of the great differences this program has made is that I know exactly why I am coaching in a certain way, whereas before I was doing it simply because it was what my head coach had done when I was an athlete. ‘I now have the confidence to tell my guys ‘if you follow this exactly I can almost guarantee you will finish in the top three’. We had a junior competition in July, and with what I learnt I was able to lift a team that had not made the finals the year before to an outright win.’
Both agreed their study of biomechanics had been one of the most valuable aspects of the program. Roy, who is only in his second semester, said it had already made him a better coach. “The biomechanics is not only giving me a better understanding of my sport of diving, it is helping me to explain things I knew before but wasn’t able to get across,’ he said.
The pair are now looking forward with confidence to a career in full-time coaching, with a feeling the sky is the limit. Shepherd said that before it had just been a case of ‘getting some kids together, having fun and maybe getting to the nationals’.
‘Now I am looking to build up my international experience and maybe work overseas at some point. It has been hard because I have never studied at this level before, but I have got through because of the support I have here, and if I can do it then others can.’
Roy said he now had a driving ambition to reach the top in his sport. ‘Maybe a head coach at one of the state institutes and ultimately at the AIS,’ he said.
‘I also have the option of returning to the US to build up my coaching experience, for the simple reason there are so many more opportunities there, while in Australia competition is stiff for the few jobs available. I would feel confident in the US because I know the system, both as a competitor and a coach, but the ultimate would be to be back in Australia at some time in the future, preferably as head coach of the national team.’
|
The professional qualifications in sports coaching developed by the Australian Sports Commission in conjunction with the University of Queensland are:
|
Further information can be obtained from: Cliff Mallett, School of Human Movement Studies, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072. E-mail coaching@hms.uq.edu.au
Information on National Coaching Scholarships in 2005 is available from: Coaching and Officiating Unit, Australian Sports Commission, PO Box 176, Belconnen, ACT 2616. E-mail : coaching@ausport.gov.au, Website:http://www.ausport.gov.au/coach/scholarship.asp
