Coaches log on
Issue: Volume 29 Number 4
Over 8000 community coaches across Australia have enrolled in the Beginning Coaching General Principles online course since it was launched in January 2007.
Director of National Sports Programs at the Australian Sports Commission, Greg Nance, said the Beginning Coaching General Principles course had been designed for community coaches who may be short on time and have difficulty accessing face-to-face coach training sessions.
'Volunteer coaches contribute their valuable time and energies to grassroots sport in this country and it is essential that they are supported in their efforts.
'The ASC is subsiding this course as part of our commitment to assist them and more broadly, to provide a safe environment for all sports players by improving general coaching standards.' Nance said
Coaches need not be a computer expert to undertake the course, which is designed for ease of use and for completion at their own pace. It includes case studies, templates for how to build a game or training session, risk management processes and skills development.
As a parent who coaches junior soccer, Mount Hutton’s Debra Carlin thought she had seen pretty much every behaviour she was likely to ever encounter on the soccer pitch or from the sidelines.
Over a period of two years, Carlin coached a team of six-year-olds, and such was the demand from spectator parents that she treat each child equally that Carlin had to resort to using a stopwatch and keeping copious notes during matches about how long each player had been given to play.
As a result, she hardly saw her own child play over those two seasons.
Then this year Carlin became one of 4000 people across the country to complete the ASC's online coaching course and realised that what she had seen only scratched the surface.
'The course has given me insights into how to deal with parents as spectators and the fact that there is a section in this course really opened my eyes to how widespread the issue is,' she said.
'When you’re out there without any training you just sort of go into survival mode. There’s probably nothing I could have done differently to change that situation, but after [doing] the course I now know to make sure that everyone knows what’s going and how things are going to be run before I start training and before the kids get onto the park.'
These days Carlin no longer coaches club soccer, but twice a week runs sessions for girls and boys at Mount Hutton Primary School.
She said the online coaching course has helped her with planning sessions and making sure she gives a 'fair go' to everyone who plays.
As a merchandiser for a bread company, Carlin said she’d had little exposure to web-based courses prior to completing the online coaching course. 'The nearest I’d come was a safety induction course as part of my employment'.
She said it was an enormous advantage to be able to log in and log out whenever she had a spare hour. A self-confessed 'non-reader', she added that the course involved a lot of information but she discovered it was easier the further she went.
'There was a lot around appropriate dealings with kids that I’d already pretty much been through because of my involvement at school, but it still made me think that if kids know me pretty well and want to give me a hug during a session, I still have to be a bit careful about that sort of contact and I really have to concentrate on what my role is during training.
'Safety was another thing that surprised me. I mean it sounds like commonsense, but the idea of making sure that nothing is on the ground that can hurt them or there’s nothing they can run into. They’re important points that can get lost when you’ve got a lot of kids geared up to run around on the park and you’re trying to get some order going.'
The 40-year-old started playing football herself at the age of 10 when the sport wasn’t offered in schools and she was fortunate to have a local club cater for both boys and girls. These days she still runs around the park once a week in competition and cheers on nine year old son Ben when he plays. Her 12-year-old son Joshua had been an avid soccer player but recently discovered the delights of rugby league.
Carlin said she would recommend the coaching course for anyone who was looking at coaching children in sport. 'It really gives you a good heads up. In fact, I’d recommend that most club coaches do it. Clubs certainly don’t put you through any training to that degree and it’s a great resource.'
The course provides the first step towards accreditation as a coach within the National Coaching Accreditation Scheme. It can also be used as part of the training for coaches within the Active After-school Communities Program.
Interested coaches must have an Australian postcode to register. Visit https://learning.ausport.gov.au for more information and a sample of the course.
