Choosing a Coach Developer

Choosing a Coach Developer is an important decision, whilst this article is aimed at learners working towards a Performance Coach Qualification the advice is applicable to us all

What is a Coach Developer?

Coach Developers can have a variety of roles and support your development in many ways. Observing your practice, giving feedback, stimulating discussion or supporting your technical understanding are just a few of the roles they could play.

Coach Developers are usually subject experts who can support and challenge you to embrace long-term learning and development.

How do I find a Coach Developer?

As part of your Performance Coach journey you will select a mentor to support you through the (minimum) 4 mentor sessions. Your mentor will be well connected in the paddlesport community and will likely be a good source of possible Coach Developer contacts.

Your National Association can also help you connect to a coach developer.

We would encourage you to consider what you want your Coach Developer to focus on first and use this to steer the type of expertise or experience you want the coach developer to have .

As part of your Performance Coach journey you will be required to complete at least one ‘touch point’ with a Coach Developer prior to assessment, although you can choose to arrange as many of these as you wish.

What is a Coach Developer Touch Point?

A touch point will typically take place during a normal coaching session with your learners. You will meet your Coach Developer before the session and spend time with them after, exploring how the session went, how you progressed against your objective for the session.

Do I need to pay them?

No, your delivery centre (who you are registered with) will pay the Coach Developer, you will pay a set fee to the delivery centre, this will include any travel, accommodation costs for the developer so you will not need to pay them anything else. The Coach Developer Session is not included within the Registration Fee. We recommend you clarify the costs with your deliver centre before commuting to the session or a specific developer (some one geographically near to you will be more cost effective for example).

Can my Coach Develop also be my Mentor or Assessor or Both?

This is entirely up to you to decide. There will be benefits in separating the roles:

• To get a variety of input and experience.
• Keep a clearer distinction between the two roles.

But there are benefits to combining such as:

• Joined up conversation based on observations of you coaching.
• More time with the same person.

Tell me more about the Performance Coach?

Becoming a Performance Coach can have a huge impact on your professional and personal life.

You can find out more here in our article: Start your journey towards the NEW Performance Coach

Our on the course pages here: Performance Coach

Or read the course guide here: Performance Coach Course Guide