Coaching young people and adults in sport can be hugely rewarding for both for yourself and those that you coach. There are many different routes that bring people into coaching, but whether you have played sport or watched from the side you can become a great coach. And if we are to succeed in increasing the number of people regularly participating in sport, their enjoyment ofsport and provide the opportunity for them to develop to their full potential we need more quality coaches throughout sport - and you could be one of them!
Coaching West Yorkshire has produced a simple guide to getting started as a coach - Get into Coaching booklet
Sports Coach UK has a series of short video clips aimed at parents and carers who are interested in becoming sports coaches. The short films provide real life information and advice on how to become a coach and what the next steps are. The clips can be found on the sportscoachUK YouTube channel
If you are thinking about becoming a coach, why not contact a local club and volunteer to assist an existing coach. By observing and helping out you'll get a better idea of what is involved in being a coach, start to understand the skills you'll need and the experience will help you when go on your coaching course.
You should also think about who you want to coach - some of the skills you need to develop to coach children and young people successfully are very different to the skills needed to coach adults, or high performers.
The next step is to gain a National Governing Body (NGB) coaching qualification for the sport you want to work in. In most sports you would start by taking a level one coaching award, see our page for an overview of the coaching qualifications structure. Full detail of the qualifications available and dates of course can be found on the for the sport you are interested in. Dates of courses running in West Yorkshire can be found on our calendar. You will also need to develop your experience of coaching, for most coaches this is done through a local sports club. To help you understand where to start see:
Introductory Guide to Coaching and Leadership Awards - West Yorkshire Sport's guide to initial qualification to lead and coach a range of sports
Coaching Qualifications - an overview of the levels of coaching awards available
National Governing Body website - details of each sports coaching awards
Also available is a guide to UKCC level 1 Coaching Awards is available. This sets out to answer the questions a new coach, or a current coach thinking about embarking on a different UKCC level-1 qualification might have, such as: What are the pre course requirements? What is the length of the qualification? What the qualification might lead to?
Each sport's National Governing Body should be able to advise you on getting started as a coach.
Running WY - West Yorkshire has the great opportunity to support more people to start running. Support is available to qualify 180 Leaders in Running Fitness. Once qualified these leaders will be supported by the local delivery partners to set up and register running groups and have a positive impact on motiviting and creating healthy active communities.
There is a wealth of information available on the Sportscoach UK website - you will need to sign up for free to get this information which includes a two guides 'How to Become a Coach' Guide
For advice on getting started as a volunteer in sport or coaching in your local area contact your local Volunteer in Sport Co-ordinator:
| District | Contact | Telephone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bradford: | Joanne Wherrell | 01274 522 750 | joanne.wherrell@bradford.gov.uk |
| Calderdale | Sian Smith | 01422 284417 | sian.smith@calderdale.gov.uk |
| Kirklees | Claire Howe | 01484 234082 | claire.howe@kirklees.gov.uk |
| Leeds | Julie Lewis | 0113 395 0614 | Julie.Lewis@leeds.gov.uk |
| Wakefield | Simon O'connor | 01924 302511 | so'connor@wakefield.gov.uk |
Once you have completed your coaching qualification and have started coaching there are many opportunities to develop your coaching through additional training, working with more experienced coaches, or working with different groups of participant. See Developing your Coaching for more details.
There are opportunities for people to make a career out of coaching, either employed as a full or part-time coach, or as a self employed coach delivering sessions to a variety of organisations. To be paid to coach you will need to meet the minimum standards of the organisation employing you, which will includ hold at least a Level 2 coaching qualification or equivalent.