becoming a badminton coach

[Flashtastic]

Just thought id get people's opinions on becoming a badminton coach. I'm currently playing for warwick university so I am at a decent standard. I enjoy teaching players in the club at the university and have recently set up a coaching session for people at the university.

However i havent got any qualifications as yet and was wondering whether it is worth getting a level 1 qualification. I was looking at becoming more qualified to aid myself in becoming better whilst also increasing other peoples ability to get some better games.

Basically i guess im looking for some info from people who have done the course or know some1 who has that could tell me the level of knowledge they pass on and whether it is worth £195 if i dont continue to become a fully qualified coach.

regards

p.s. does anyone know any good clubs around the stansted area. I had a look on the essex badminton website and the closest club was in epping.

[Gollum]

However i havent got any qualifications as yet and was wondering whether it is worth getting a level 1 qualification.

...

Basically i guess im looking for some info from people who have done the course or know some1 who has that could tell me the level of knowledge they pass on and whether it is worth £195 if i dont continue to become a fully qualified coach.

I've never been on a Level 1 course, because I completed my qualifications under the old system. I don't know how much the course has changed, but the cost has certainly increased a lot -- mainly because of UKCC overhead, I suspect.

My Leader's Award (equivalent to Level 1) cost about £30 and lasted one day. It was a very basic course -- just a foundation course for coaching, not a coaching course proper. It wasn't until Coach Part One (equivalent to Level 2) that the content got interesting.

It's possible that the new course is much better than the old one. Without having attended one, I can't know.

Here's what I think, though. I think the red tape of UKCC-approved qualifications has created a huge increase in cost, without a corresponding increase in quality.

The standardisation process of moving to UKCC has made the new coaching qualifications directly comparable among different sports, and has no doubt introduced some rigorous best-practice stuff, expanding on topics such as duty of care, child protection, legal issues, health and safety, and so on.

Unfortunately this comes at a price. £195 is a ridiculous amount of money to charge for a non-qualifying course. The cost of Level 2 has also increased: Coach Part One was £250, whereas Level 2 is £350. So you need to invest £545 before you get qualified.

I'm going distinctly off-message here, but my personal opinion is that Level 1 is a waste of money unless you're planning to do Level 2 shortly afterwards.

To reach Level 2 is expensive, but I believe worthwhile if you're at all serious about coaching. But the good stuff is in Level 2, not Level 1.


A note on being qualified:

As you've mentioned, the Level 1 qualification does not qualify you for independent coaching: it only qualifies you to assist a coach.

This is something of a formality, in the sense that you don't legally need any coaching qualification before you can offer coaching (although some employers require one). If you are taking payment, however, then bear in mind the insurance issues; since you will not have Badminton England's coaching insurance, you should check that you're covered by some other policy.

[chris-ccc]

Just thought id get people's opinions on becoming a badminton coach. I'm currently playing for warwick university so I am at a decent standard. I enjoy teaching players in the club at the university and have recently set up a coaching session for people at the university.

However i havent got any qualifications as yet and was wondering whether it is worth getting a level 1 qualification. I was looking at becoming more qualified to aid myself in becoming better whilst also increasing other peoples ability to get some better games.

Basically i guess im looking for some info from people who have done the course or know some1 who has that could tell me the level of knowledge they pass on and whether it is worth £195 if i dont continue to become a fully qualified coach.



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IMHO, when BWF (IBF back then, in the 1970's) wanted to promote 'Better Badminton', they thought it's best to introduce 'proper coaching programs' to all players/members in all National Associations under their wings. I believe that BWF funded the coaching programs in many countries, including here in Australia.

I was fortunate to be in the first batch doing our Coaching Courses in Australia, because it was free.

But now, I think BWF is no longer providing funds to some National Associations, but allowing them to manage the courses themselves.

Regarding the costs, you have to realise that your National Association is to pay for:
(1) The hiring of courts
(2) The printing of coaching materials/manuals
(3) The shuttlecocks required at sessions, and
(4) The fees required to be paid to organisers/instructors

Each National Association, if to meet these costs, is now charging fees to participants wishing to become qualified coaches

On this note, I personally think that some of the charges are just too excessive, in a way it is discouraging good potential candidates to become involved in Badminton coaching.
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[stumblingfeet]

I remember getting part of my level 1 and 2 coaching certs paid for by my head coach, which was rather nice. However, the really nice deals came with my level 3 coaching certification: the usual 200$ theory course was reduced to only 25$ and the 325$ fee for the technical course was covered as part of a promotion to train more competitive coaches. This was with the Canadian national coaching certification program, which I imagine is probably similar to the one you guys are talking about.