Well tonight I delivered a evening coaching workshop for instructor from the Beacon Climbing Centre mainly aimed at showing these instructor that they already use ‘coaching behaviours’, and that with a little thought they can hopefully start focusing on its use in a more conscious and deliberate manner. Rather than trial and error method that most climbing instructors have used to get to there current good teaching practices.
We basically looked at the component parts that make up up Effective Coaching, so covered topics like coaching models, VAK learning pathways, How the brain learns, Observation and correcting faults, Effective practice and the use of Self-Efficacy as a coaching tool. Basically in the time frame of a couple of hours it was little more than a whistle stop tour of what coaching is, however they all found it useful. For me it was a great use of the skills I have learnt on my MSc in Sport Science, especially after delivering a How to Teach Navigation course at Plas Y Brenin the previous weekend.
If your climbing or outdoor centre would like a short CPD course in coaching in either climbing, or teaching navigation then contact me via my website.