Run Leading and Coaching
Unfortunately, UK Athletics is not running coaching courses
at the moment due to social distancing rules, but once they are will be very keen to get
more volunteer coaches.
Coaching is a great way
to increase confidence and develop a rounded skillset, both within athletics
and away from sport, whilst at the same time giving back to the club.
We're keen to promote as much volunteer coaching as possible.
Our aims as
a club are:
- To increase the depth of
knowledge about running at all levels within the club.
- To give as many people as
possible the chance to enjoy the benefits of volunteering, with the option
to progress as a coach if desired.
- To give ill and injured
athletes a way to continue to contribute to the club as they recover.
- To develop a large team of
coaches and run leaders to ensure the long-term success of the club.
- To become self-sufficient as a
club through fully trained, volunteer coaches.
Organization
Coaching in
the club is organized as follows:
- The Coaching Coordinator (John
Armstrong) coaching@chaser.me.uk:
is responsible for ensuring that we have a schedule of sessions for
Thursday nights and that we have people signed up to lead Thursday
sessions. They keep the list of coaching roles and qualifications on
the who's who up
to date.
- Beginners Lead (Laurie Boult)
beginners@chaser.me.uk:
is responsible for deciding when the next beginners session starts,
ensuring the beginners programme is advertised and handling enquiries from
new beginners. This is done using the Beginners Admin page.
- Beginners and Thursday Coaches:
Anyone in the club can volunteer to help with coached sessions on
Thursdays or with Beginners on Tuesdays. See the who's who for
the current list of volunteers. See How to
help with Beginners and How to
help with Thursday Coaching below to find out more.
- Tuesday Run Leaders: If you
know the route you can lead a run! We rely on people volunteering to lead
runs each week. If you are leading a run all you need to do is to find out
who is new on the run and keep a head count at turns in the run. Leading
runs at your own pace or helping lead beginners runs are both great ways
to help the club.
How to
help with Beginners
- Contact coaching@chaser.me.uk and let
them know you are interested. They'll sign you up to the coaching mailing
list and you will be able to edit the rota.
- Volunteer using the coaching rota.
- Read the rota for an idea of
what sessions the beginners should be doing this week.
- Be aware that we have emergency contact details
available for all beginners on the website. First aid kit is available at
Talacre.
- Report any accidents or
incidents to our welfare
officer.
- Advertise and promote
Beginners. The Beginners Lead will choose the start date of each beginners
programme and will advertise this in the newsletter and on Facebook. But
if you can think of any ways of communicating this to potential beginners
then please do so, and let us know your ideas.
- (Optional) Sign up for the
Leader in Running Fitness course to become qualified and insured
(see Qualifications below).
How to
help with Thursday Coaching
- Contact coaching@chaser.me.uk and let
them know you are interested. They'll sign you up to the coaching mailing
list and you will be able to edit the rota.
- Volunteer using the coaching rota.
- When you lead a session, check
the schedule to
see what is on this week and post about it on Facebook.
- Be aware that we have emergency contact details
available for all members on the website. First aid kit is available at
Talacre and at the track.
- Report any accidents or incidents
to our welfare officer.
- (Optional) Sign up for the
Leader in Running Fitness course to become qualified and insured
(see Qualifications below).
Sign up for Coach in Running Fitness to take things further
Qualifications
If you
would like to qualify as a Leader in Running Fitness (this just requires a one
day course) then the club will normally pay your fees. Contact coaching@chaser.me.uk if you are
interested in doing this. Qualifying as a leader in running fitness means that
anyone you take out on a run is insured, so it is good for us to have qualified
run leaders. It is particularly useful if you want to help out with the
beginners or Thursday sessions, but by no means essential.
If you wish
to take things further and qualify as a Coach in Running Fitness, the club will
usually be happy to pay for your training. Just let the committee know why you
want to qualify as a coach and what you plan to do with your knowledge once you
have qualified.
To find out
when run leading and coaching courses are available visit the England Athletics
Website.