Perhaps you already have some coaching experience and want to upgrade your qualifications to be an accredited Masters Club Coach.
Our coaches are a club’s greatest asset. They are often the reason swimmers join a Masters club.
Whatever your background, becoming a Club Coach can be a rewarding personal experience and a valuable contribution to the swimming community.
The Masters Swimming Australia (MSA) Club Coach Accreditation Program provides trainees with the basic coaching knowledge and skills of swimming to enable them to be effective Masters coaches. The course has an integrated learning structure which allows for flexible transition from theory to practice through self-paced online learning and assessment and practical pool deck experience and mentoring.
This course is accredited with Sport Australia in line with National Sporting Organisation Quality Assurance guidelines.
Code of Behaviour Agreement
Coaches are required to agree to the MSA Code of Behaviour Individual Agreement Form for registration in the Masters Club Coach Accreditation Program.
Time: Agreement signed online at registration.
Verification of Hours Observing an Adult Squad
Depending on your entry pathway, you may need to observe an adult swim squad and demonstrate a basic understanding of coaching principles and practice in an adult swimming environment.
Time: 5 hours
Sport Australia Community Coaching General Principles online course
For those with no prior coaching experience in any sport, this free online course covers a range of general coaching topics including; the role and responsibilities expected of a coach, planning, safety, working with parents, communication, group management and inclusive coaching practices.
Time: Allow 2-4 hours (for those with no prior coaching experience only).
Swimming Australia Development Coaching Online Course
The Swimming Australia Development Coaching Online Course covers promoting participation in swimming and how to plan, prepare, conduct, monitor, evaluate and adapt training programs to enable swimmers to compete at various levels. It is self-paced interactive modules, including case studies, practical scenarios and a quiz.
Time: Allow approximately 8 hours.
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Unit
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Topic
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Competency
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Module 1
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Understanding Your Swimmers
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Coaches will learn the different reasons swimmers are engaged in the sport and how to cater for each individual in their charge.
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Module 2
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Coach and Swimmer
Self-Awareness
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Coaches will understand their roles and responsibilities as a coach; develop an awareness of effective coaching styles; create their own personal coaching philosophy and learn how to evaluate their own performance as a coach.
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Module 3
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Swimmer Engagement
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Coaches will learn specific coaching approaches, techniques, tips and teaching and learning methods when working with swimmers across a range of abilities and developmental stages.
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Modules 4,5,6,7,8
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Foundations of Swimming: Freestyle, Butterfly, Breaststroke, Backstroke & Common Errors
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Coaches will know how to coach swimmers in efficient stroke development of the four competitive strokes, starts, turns and finishes. Coaches will also know how to identify and correct common errors in technique.
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Module 9
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Skills and Fitness for Competition
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Coaches will have the skills and knowledge to prepare their swimmers for training and competition, with a focus on physical aspects of development, monitoring performance and progressions and tailoring training to suit swimmers developmental needs.
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Module 10
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Program Design and Management
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Coaches will know how to set goals and prepare training plans for swimmers across a range of physical developmental stages, technical abilities, swimming aspirations and psycho-social needs and demands.
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Masters Swimming Australia Online Club Coach Workshop
The Masters Online Club Coach Workshop is self-paced structured learning modules, experience based self-reflection and mentor coach assessment.
The Workshop covers Coaching Philosophy, Inclusive Coaching and Goals, Planning, Training Principles and Session Structure, Stroke Fundamentals, Faults and Corrective Drills and Adaptive Swimming.
Time: Allow approximately 8-12 hours.
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Module 1 – Coaching Philosophy, Inclusive Coaching and Goals.
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Unit
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Topic
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Competency
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Topic 1
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Being a Coach
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Trainee can identify and document their own coaching philosophy, individual strengths as well as strategies for improvement and methods of self-reflection.
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Topic 2
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The Role of the Masters Coach
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Trainee has the ability to organise, observe, analyse, communicate, improve and evaluate performance.
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Topic 3
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Coaching Adult Swimmers
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Trainee understands the motivations and barriers for adults joining Masters and the differences with age-group swimmers.
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Topic 4
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Inclusive Coaching
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Trainee understands how to modify a session for those who have restrictions in their current ability and adapts coaching practices to ensure participation for all.
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Topic 5
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Being SMART with Goals
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Trainee demonstrates an understanding of swimmers individual motivators and how to use the SMART framework to manage their response to training in a positive and encouraging way.
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Topic 6
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Goals Case Study
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Trainee can document a swimmers background, goals, risks and challenges as an individual case study.
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Module Two – Planning, Training Principles and Session Structure.
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Topic 7
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Planning for the Year
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Trainee understands the concept of periodisation and the principles of training.
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Topic 8
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Training Phases
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Trainee understands that an effective training period or phase allows a swimmer to benefit from adaptations the body makes as a result of training.
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Topic 9
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Training Cycles
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Trainee understands the benefit of training cycles so the body has time to work in intervals, respond to the training stimulus, improve through muscle adaptation and recover effectively.
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Topic 10
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Understanding Training Effort
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Trainee understands how to measure response to training and how this affects individual training effort.
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Topic 11
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Session Planning
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Trainee develops a focused session plan, bringing all elements of the training together in line with the goals of the annual plan.
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Topic 12
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Elements of a Session Plan
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Trainee demonstrates an understanding of the elements of warmup, drills, main-set and cooldown.
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Topic 13
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Training Equipment
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Trainee demonstrates an understanding of the use of a particular piece of equipment at any given point in the training program.
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Topic 14
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Rest Intervals
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Trainee understands how the effort required of each set is achieved by the use of rest intervals.
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Topic 15
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Writing a Session Plan
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Trainee can write a simple session plan for a specific squad based on the planning framework and using all the elements of session planning.
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Module 3 – Stroke Fundamentals, Faults and Corrective Drills and Adaptive Swimming
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Topic 16
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Fundamental Principles of All Strokes
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Trainee can identify the basic stroke dynamics that are fundamental to each of the four strokes in adult swimmers.
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Topic 17, 18, 19, 20
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Fundamentals of Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly &
Common Errors and Drills
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Trainee can coach freestyle stroke fundamentals and build a program that incorporates drills for both simple stroke correction and stroke development in adult swimmers.
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Topic 21
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Adaptive Swimming in Masters
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Trainee understands how to modify the way a stroke or skill is performed to allow swimmers with an injury or limited range of movement to continue to perform the skill to the best of their ability.
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Practical Pool Assessment
This is a practical 30-60 min pool-deck session with a minimum of 4 adult swimmers of varying abilities where trainee coach is assessed on ability to modify and adapt the session plan, assess swimmers’ basic abilities and communicate clearly to make the session flow.
Time: Allow approximately 1-3 hours including preparation time.
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Unit Assessed
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Competency
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Plan and conduct a swim session
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Trainee can plan and conduct an appropriate and safe workout session.
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Assess each swimmer’s ability
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Trainee can appropriately assess an adult swimmer’s physical condition/capabilities and can provide relevant feedback on stroke faults to the swimmer.
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Communicate effectively
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Trainee can effectively communicate the session plan and outcomes with the group.
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Modify to include all swimmers
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Trainee can effectively modify the session plan to fit with the session timing, pool environment, lanes and equipment available for the assessment.
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Respond to feedback, self-reflect & work effectively with others
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Trainee can work effectively with others, self-reflect on session outcomes and respond appropriately to feedback.
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Promoting fun, fitness and friendship
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Trainee provides an enjoyable and inclusive session for all involved.
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Coaching Hours on Pool-deck
Coaches are required to undertake supervised hours coaching adult swimmers, for a recommended minimum of 30 hours being conducted under the supervision or guidance of a Mentor Coach.
Time: Allow between 2-6 months to gain 30 hours of pool deck experience, depending on your club sessions.
CPR Certificate
Masters Club Coaches are required to demonstrate they are competent in CPR and provide evidence of a current cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certificate from a Registered Training Provider.
Time: CPR certificates must be current at the time of application and renewed each 12 months.
Accreditation and Continuous Improvement
Coaches have 12 months from registration to complete the above course requirements to apply for accreditation as a Masters Club Coach. Once accredited it is expected that coaches undertake continuous improvement activities to enable re-accreditation.
Time: Accreditation is valid for 3 years.
