So I’ve got another 7 months left on my current coaching “license”. I have yet to see any benefit from being on any of the coaching list serves any of the education and frankly the only way the insurance is going to cover you is if 3 i’s happen to be dotted and their corresponding t’s crossed. That is the “jist” of the plan as i’ve reviewed it. I know of other coaches who have gone out and gotten their own policies under written.
So why should i invest countless dollars to attain the CEU’s necessary for re-upping my cert’s for another year? Open to any and all input. The entire structure of USAT coaching courses needs to be re-evaluated. Not to mention how our HP is governed.
the usat recert may allow you to lure the wallets of morons whod end up squandering their cash on TI, PCs, chi/pose/ running, newton/vibram shoes, or vampire “lactate testing” coaches that increase FTP of their athletes from 160->170watts.
in all seriousness, you answered your own question.
Does the USAT brand bring any value in identifying you to potential clients? If you are coaching elites only then probably not, but if you want to work with more novice athletes then I don’t see many other ways of establishing your bona fides to potential clients.
In the financial planning world in which I work, there is no license required to call yourself a financial planner. Into this vaccuum the CFP designation became the brand standard to establish at least minimal study and competence in the field. That said, it and the USAT card are just the beginning of establishing your expertise and reputation in your chosen field.
Maybe you can tell me, how long has USAT been issuing the coaching credential? What could they do to make the brand more valuable to you?
No.
Level I cert is a joke. They don’t teach about power at all, don’t think they included HR into it, at best it lets people know that hey I went to a course and don’t know shit.
of course there are so many coaches out there, that it might be something that separates you from other coaches, but I doubt it.
I found the new certification program to be very well done, with access to many of the olympic coaches. Of course, I also heard that the old cert system was very weak, so I think they are trying to beef it up. I learned quite a bit, but even more in the studying I did afterwards.
As far as re-cert, that’s your call, depending on what your clients or potential clients feel. If you take the CEU classes that enhance your knowledge base, then it will always benefit you. They do have some exceptional presentations and classes, and perhaps the cert system is their way of ensuring that coaches try to stay current in their knowledge. It’s the same problem schools have with teachers who don’t continue their education and coast through. It’s never bad t learn new things from varying sources.
USAT has been issuing the cert for at least 10 years.
AS far as establishing credentials, I’m extremely confident that if someone was just certified by USAT as a coach and that was the bulk of their coaching knowledge base, I’d not get coached by them.
The price of entry into coaching is knowledge about power levels, USAT didn’t even cover how to set HR zones in level I. According to the instructor when I took the class that was “too advanced and something for your level II certification course”. Give me a break. You can get just as much info, wrong or right, from reading a Joe Friel book.
To make the brand more valuable, they should pass more stringent requirements to become level I. They are doing a disservice to coaches and athletes by having such low standards. The standard means nothing it doesn’t even declare competency in the field. To add value they should make it mean something. It’s like 2 cars. You could get a BMW 7 series or you could get a Kia.
I’ll share my “non-coach” opinion. When I first started the sport 2 years ago and considered a coach, one with a USAT cert was more desirable than one that didn’t have it.
You guys have to think about who the consumer is. The average triathlete isn’t on Slowtwitch, doesn’t know there is anything wrong with USAT (as so many believe here), etc. USAT is the governing body and I would argue that the majority of people out there would trust USAT - I know I did, and honestly, still do (I’ve never had a bad experience).
Whether it is right or wrong, at the time I would never have hired a coach without a USAT certification. I might not even do it now unless I had some very strong recos from athletes I respected.
As a noncoach I agree with ahaberkorn. There is a lot of truth in
what he says. Most triathletes don’t even know this site or others like it exist
but they do know about the USAT site and all it’s buttons.
I think just like any organization it is up to the members to
maintain and/or improve standards in said orginization.
the first coach I was with was through CTS and he was a level I USAT
cert. but he didn’t talk about w/o’s (time, distance etc)
He wanted to know what equipment I had to utilize and he talked about HRM pwr
meters etc. So it’s an individual think even more than the organization
He has since in a very short time ascended to level III(among the many other
certifications he has held for years) and is coaching oly
and top ITU athlete’s at present along with common everyday people like myself
Ian Murray (posts on ST) teaches the power portion of the USAT Level I during some of the cycling sessions as well as HR zones or at least he did during my clinic. Good introduction, I had all my power training through Ashburn/Strauss/Lakerfan/wattage group but its a decent place to start as an introduction.
Where do you get your client base from? Personal recs or random peeps of the internet? Are you drawing a more experienced crowd or rank newbies?
What’s your market, specifically? The more newbie and unknown your client base, the more the USAT makes sense. The more personal and interactive with experienced folks, the less that matters and more how you conduct yourself with them does. Just my $0.02. Good luck.
Not replying to anyone in particular but any discerning athlete (the type i want to work with) is going to look to the results of the athletes that a coach has worked with. NOT at what certs they have. The L1 didn’t tell me anything i didn’t already know and there was some information in there that was incorrectly explained. It’s more like Bad Triathlon 101. You’d learn more (and better) from picking up triathlon mythbusters (Doc Phil’s book). The guys from the sports science blog would have lost their lunch on a few occasions.
The only reason i got the L1 in the first place was for the insurance…and we’ve already hashed out that fallacy.
FWIW I’m not impressed with L2s or L3s for that matter. Education is best taken upon through working with athletes…not books. It’s the way i feel about lots of professions. Results, it’s all that matters.
Not replying to anyone in particular but any discerning athlete (the type i want to work with) is going to look to the results of the athletes that a coach has worked with. NOT at what certs they have. The L1 didn’t tell me anything i didn’t already know and there was some information in there that was incorrectly explained. It’s more like Bad Triathlon 101. You’d learn more (and better) from picking up triathlon mythbusters (Doc Phil’s book). The guys from the sports science blog would have lost their lunch on a few occasions.
The only reason i got the L1 in the first place was for the insurance…and we’ve already hashed out that fallacy.
FWIW I’m not impressed with L2s or L3s for that matter. Education is best taken upon through working with athletes…not books. It’s the way i feel about lots of professions. Results, it’s all that matters.
Respect
Maturity
Professionalism
Just a few cornerstones of a successful triathlon coaching business, covered in the L1 USAT coaching certification clinic. You might think about those words while recovering from your overtraining/injury/illness. Not incidentally, they covered such basics as overtraining/injury avoidance too, though nothing on power meters. I guess they know their audience well.
PS. I visited your website to see if there was any info about your athletes and their progress. I didn’t find anything there about any athletes, except in the abstract, maybe I missed it, or maybe the discerning athlete just has to ask? The website was a very nice tribute to your own acomplishments and I will congratulate you on those…they are impressive.
My personal opinion is that practical knowledge outweighs book knowledge. If you know it you know it if you dont you dont. References are huge to me way more than certs. What I’ve found in my work industry of IT is that usually the guys with all the letters after their name are the ones that don’t know jack about what they are working on because the situation they are in wasnt written down in the books they read and they dont have the practical knowledge to know what to do. There are highly respected coaches out there that are not USAT certified. I dont see why you couldnt be one of them. Hell you are certified now so they can never take away the fact that you were if any of your clients were to ask. You can always tell them all these great reasons why you didnt re up.
I knew finance well from a book stand point but was only a marginal practitioner of it. I’d defer to a dude with no degree but a plush portfolio and track record any day.