techeros,
I've been a full time triathlon coach for 20 years. I'm an experienced as a coach. I'm familiar with certifications. Here are some thoughts.
"I want to be a...certified coach, how do I do this?" That part's easy.
Pick a certification that you respect, sign up, go through the course, and acquire the cert. Sure some are better that others and my outlook, my perspective allows me to say this: you can learn to be a better coach in the check out line at the grocer, by having your taxes done at a chain store, while getting your teeth cleaned - if you know where to look and how to evaluate your experience.
I've been leading USAT Coaching Education for nearly a decade and what we pack into the 2 day Level I provides a really solid start. You've had experience as an athlete and you've been coached so I suspect you'll have three common responses to the information that gets delivered: 1) wow, I didn't know that, that's helpful. 2) yeah, I know that, that's obvious, can we move on. 3) I always suspected that, it's nice to have that confirmed. The USAT Level II courses are smaller, required a greater time commitment, and there's lots more interaction called for while you're in the room. The USAT Level III is monster, it's a week, you're evaluated during every step, it's stressful, it's hard, people fail during the week and you can see it happening. I beta tested IM's thing. ITU Level II is more international than USAT (we have coaches from other National Federations come through USAT but fewer), it's several days, it requires great communication and cooperation with other coaches - it leans towards DL (draft legal) and development. Slowtwitch Coaching is my baby. We're all about "more practical, less powerpoint". You will be taught to how to coach/teach and then you will, moments later, coach a real person. We give 2 days to one subject - swim, run, bike skills, power. USA Cycling's Level 3 (this is their newby level, they count backwards) is, or at least was, last I checked, an open book (open internet) exam. USAC's Level II is a bit of physiology and some on-bike skills. It's designed by Kevin Dessart who's great. US Masters Swim has some value. The Bill Woodul Race Mechanic's Course has surprising value. Becoming a bike fitter can be super rewarding as a coach. USA Track & Field has value - you can even draw quality knowledge from the non-run stuff; javelin, shot, etc. etc. All of these also have redundancy too - as you should expect, after all we're dealing with the human body performing physical effort.
Your education as a coach will never end but it has to begin somewhere.
"I want to be a great.... coach, how do I do this?" That part's harder.
I'm going to suggest some pieces here than can help the process.
1) Time - becoming great at stuff that matters takes time. Be okay with this as there's no way around it.
2) Communication Skills - You've got to learn to listen so well that you hear the stuff that's NOT said, what's left out, what's between the lines. You've got to build trust and then know how to probe for the deepest truths - some the athlete doesn't even realize themselves. You've got to get your point across IN A HURRY - not 'cause there's a rush (although in some instances time is a factor) but because athletes get full quickly and you can't fill 'em up with useless bullshit - because then they'll miss valuable nuggets you needed them to retain later on.
3) Focus on your limiters and sustain your strengths - oddly, this is at the core of how you'll help many athletes in the future. Turn that same approach on yourself as a coach.
4) Take lessons periodically in sports where you're an absolute beginner, where you're mediocre, where you're pretty good. Never played tennis, golf, skate ski, alpine ski? - take a private lesson or small group and have a note pad and pen handy after the class. You will love and hate pieces of it and you should note all those down
5) Position yourself where you can work with a lot of athletes - assist or lead coach in some single sport or tri program: high school, Team in Training, AARP, woman's program, a first timers program at a local sprint.
Triathlon is a seriously complicated sport. Being a great swim coach is hard. Being a great cycling coach is hard. Being a great run coach is hard - we want to be great at all three AND that includes: psychology, nutrition, logistics, physiology, safety/injury prevention, strength, technology....there is no end.
You're post alone says a great deal about the type of person you are. Being a teacher or a coach is great calling. I urge you to purse it; leading athletes to be their best is a joyous way to live a life.
Hope we meet not too far down your path.
Ian
Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan
I've been a full time triathlon coach for 20 years. I'm an experienced as a coach. I'm familiar with certifications. Here are some thoughts.
"I want to be a...certified coach, how do I do this?" That part's easy.
Pick a certification that you respect, sign up, go through the course, and acquire the cert. Sure some are better that others and my outlook, my perspective allows me to say this: you can learn to be a better coach in the check out line at the grocer, by having your taxes done at a chain store, while getting your teeth cleaned - if you know where to look and how to evaluate your experience.
I've been leading USAT Coaching Education for nearly a decade and what we pack into the 2 day Level I provides a really solid start. You've had experience as an athlete and you've been coached so I suspect you'll have three common responses to the information that gets delivered: 1) wow, I didn't know that, that's helpful. 2) yeah, I know that, that's obvious, can we move on. 3) I always suspected that, it's nice to have that confirmed. The USAT Level II courses are smaller, required a greater time commitment, and there's lots more interaction called for while you're in the room. The USAT Level III is monster, it's a week, you're evaluated during every step, it's stressful, it's hard, people fail during the week and you can see it happening. I beta tested IM's thing. ITU Level II is more international than USAT (we have coaches from other National Federations come through USAT but fewer), it's several days, it requires great communication and cooperation with other coaches - it leans towards DL (draft legal) and development. Slowtwitch Coaching is my baby. We're all about "more practical, less powerpoint". You will be taught to how to coach/teach and then you will, moments later, coach a real person. We give 2 days to one subject - swim, run, bike skills, power. USA Cycling's Level 3 (this is their newby level, they count backwards) is, or at least was, last I checked, an open book (open internet) exam. USAC's Level II is a bit of physiology and some on-bike skills. It's designed by Kevin Dessart who's great. US Masters Swim has some value. The Bill Woodul Race Mechanic's Course has surprising value. Becoming a bike fitter can be super rewarding as a coach. USA Track & Field has value - you can even draw quality knowledge from the non-run stuff; javelin, shot, etc. etc. All of these also have redundancy too - as you should expect, after all we're dealing with the human body performing physical effort.
Your education as a coach will never end but it has to begin somewhere.
"I want to be a great.... coach, how do I do this?" That part's harder.
I'm going to suggest some pieces here than can help the process.
1) Time - becoming great at stuff that matters takes time. Be okay with this as there's no way around it.
2) Communication Skills - You've got to learn to listen so well that you hear the stuff that's NOT said, what's left out, what's between the lines. You've got to build trust and then know how to probe for the deepest truths - some the athlete doesn't even realize themselves. You've got to get your point across IN A HURRY - not 'cause there's a rush (although in some instances time is a factor) but because athletes get full quickly and you can't fill 'em up with useless bullshit - because then they'll miss valuable nuggets you needed them to retain later on.
3) Focus on your limiters and sustain your strengths - oddly, this is at the core of how you'll help many athletes in the future. Turn that same approach on yourself as a coach.
4) Take lessons periodically in sports where you're an absolute beginner, where you're mediocre, where you're pretty good. Never played tennis, golf, skate ski, alpine ski? - take a private lesson or small group and have a note pad and pen handy after the class. You will love and hate pieces of it and you should note all those down
5) Position yourself where you can work with a lot of athletes - assist or lead coach in some single sport or tri program: high school, Team in Training, AARP, woman's program, a first timers program at a local sprint.
Triathlon is a seriously complicated sport. Being a great swim coach is hard. Being a great cycling coach is hard. Being a great run coach is hard - we want to be great at all three AND that includes: psychology, nutrition, logistics, physiology, safety/injury prevention, strength, technology....there is no end.
You're post alone says a great deal about the type of person you are. Being a teacher or a coach is great calling. I urge you to purse it; leading athletes to be their best is a joyous way to live a life.
Hope we meet not too far down your path.
Ian
Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan