SKILLS4COACH (Developing Coaching Skills through Innovative Methods)

"Developing Coaching Skills through Innovative Methods"

Background

Sports coaches play a central role in promoting sport participation and enhancing the performance of athletes and teams. In accordance with internationally recognised and domestic sporting codes, coaches guide the participation of children, players and athletes. Across 27 member states, it is estimated that up to nine million coaches—volunteer, part-time paid and full-time paid—deliver an array of sporting opportunities to hundreds of millions of participants. In addition to their core role, coaches contribute to the development of athletes as people, to the creation of cohesive teams and to the building of communities with a shared interest. Coaching can also contribute to social aims by promoting activity and health; coalescing citizens behind a common cause; and generating economic activity through employment, education, purchase of equipment, use of facilities and attendance at events.

Europe has always been at the forefront in recognizing and promoting quality coaching and coach education. Through work plan 2021-2024 for sport, the European Commission emphasises the importance of preparing a suitably trained coaching workforce to meet the needs of athletes and participants

In a survey conducted by the European Observatoire of Sport and Employment (EOSE), a total of 3,812 responses were collected from sports employers from all over Europe Respondents were asked to identify the most important skills and attributes they considered for sports coaches, but also to indicate those they considered as the weakest.

The top 5 most important skills for coaches identified by respondents were:

1. Sport-specific knowledge and skills
2. Clearly communicate instructions
3. Ensure health and safety of participants
4. Plan coaching sessions and programmes
5. Ability to work in compliance codes of practice/ethics

The top 5 weakest skills for coaches identified by respondents were the ability to:

1. Work with people with disabilities
2. Use Information/Communication Technology (ICT) skills
3. Use the right marketing and selling skills
4. Organise activities and events
5. Work with different participants

The project objectives were determined in line with the specific objectives of the call, within the framework of the needs analysis regarding coaching and the identified gap/issue in the sports sector.

The overall objective of the project:

The project aims to support the strengthening of sports coaches skills and profiles, increasing their employability and making them reach new job opportunities by developing innovative training materials and creating a coaching network.

The specific objectives of the project are to:

• increase the technology literacy levels of coaches and strengthen their adaptation to technological tools
• develop the planning, management and organizational knowledge and skills of coaches (25 coaches);
• strengthen the adaptation of coaches to work with people with disabilities 25 coaches);
• ensure that coaches have a roadmap for their development by self-assessment (25 coaches);
• enable coaches to interact and share experiences through the coaching community (200 coaches will be included in the community);
• develop new and innovative approaches for sports coaching training (Coach Training Boot camp Curriculum, Self-Coach Assessment Tool, A guide for training with disabled athletes) 4 approaches);
• provide the opportunity to make collaboration of institutions that perform field in the sports sector, companies that include actively in different socio-economic sectors, public authorities, non-governmental organizations, ( 3 workshops);
• raise the accordance of coaching training for the sports sector with the labour market (To enable 10 unemployed coaches and 10 clubs to interact through the coaching community);
• encourage to start of sport’s innovative experiences about coaching training by supporting open resources, open and flexible learning and other innovative methods (5 open resources);
• enhance the capacity of the institutions that provide the coaching training act in the sports sector (20 institutions).

The work packages planned within the scope of the project and the desired outputs are as follows:

WP-1: Project management and coordination

WP-2: Development of a Coach Training Bootcamp Curriculum

WP-3: Development of a Coach Self-Assessment Tool, Training Modules and Guide

WP-4: Development of a Gamification-Based E-Learning Platform and the Coach Community Pilot Scheme: Web Platform and All E-Learning Materials

WP-5: Impact and dissemination

The outputs of the project:

• Coach Training Boot camp Curriculum
• Self-Coach Assessment Tool
• Training Module for Developing the Planning and Management Skills of Coaches
• Training Module for Improving the Technology Literacy Skills of Coaches
• A Guide for coaching athletes with disability
• Technology Focused E-Learning Platform and Coach Community