Liverpool Canoe Club Core Coaching Course January and February 2024
As part of LCC’s commitment to support the training and progression of its volunteers and club members, the club organised a British Canoeing ‘Core Coach Training’ course. This course is a prerequisite for all BC Coaching Qualifications.
The course can be delivered either in person over 2 full days, or online with 4 x four-hour sessions. Our course was online, and our Coach Chris Brain helped to ensure the online sessions were as engaging and interactive as possible with the use of ‘Jam Boards’ (online post-it notes) for the whole group to share ideas.
One of the group’s Jam Boards.
The course went deep into the theory of learning and how we acquire skills, comparing the effectiveness of Coach-led instruction versus Paddler-led development, experimentation and practice. We considered observation methods for assessing paddler technique and identifying areas for improvement.
We considered different approaches to session planning such as ‘IDEAS’ (Introduction, Demonstration, Explanation, Activity, Summary) and the more responsive ‘WASP’ ‘Watch, Analyse, Set Goals, Practice). We all had homework to develop a short session plan, and some of us were able to put these into practice at LCC sessions.
We finished the course with each of us discussing our aims for the future and some good explanation from Chris on the multiple Coaching and Leadership avenues British Canoeing offers.
The course was useful to step back and think about different approaches to developing paddlers, and I would think it would be of use to any LCC volunteer regularly running or supporting club sessions.
LCC will support active volunteers with Bursary Payments to contribute to the cost of courses and assessments to help them in their development and achieve formal qualifications. Click for more information….
If you would like more information or wish to support club sessions by volunteering to become more involved with leading and coaching please visit the coaching and leading pages on the club website. If you cannot find what you are looking for please contact coaching@liverpoolcanoeclub.co.uk for more detailed advice.
If, like me, you are confused by the possible Coaching and Leadership pathways, James G’s article explaining the system is a good place to start.