You may have been asked to mentor a trainee but are not sure what you should do to help in this course.

Firstly, thank you for stepping up to this role as you are an important support for your trainee.

Click on the  Full course outline, costs and time requirements  +  tab on this page for a detailed outline of the competencies covered and the time & cost requirements for each step of accreditation. Note that not all steps will be necessary for all pathways.

Refer to the coloured table in the  Pathways to Accreditation  +  tab on this page.

Each coach trainee needs support and encouragement.

Their prior experience and skills will determine how much support or guidance they will need from you as mentor.

Being an open and accessible resource for them will be invaluable in their enjoyment and success in their journey to becoming an accredited coach.

Most trainees need to complete this step.

You will need to verify that the trainee has an adequate understanding of adult swimmers and has a basic understanding of coaching principles and practice.

Note that they do not have to demonstrate any level of skill or expertise in stroke evaluation or correction. This course is designed for trainees and most are at the start point of their training.

These include being able to listen, absorb new information, reflect on experience, and communicate effectively with other adults in an aquatic environment.

As their Mentor Coach, you will need to verify that they have spent 5hrs observing/helping or facilitating an adult swim squad.

Those holding a Swimming Australia Development Coach licence (formally Bronze) or higher and have coached adults before do not need to do 5 hrs observing but do require you to verify their understanding.

Many have already spent some time observing or even helping on pool deck before they make the decision to do the Coach Accreditation.

These five hours can be used towards their 30hrs of pool deck experience required for full accreditation.

Yes, Sport Australia has designed an Essential Skills course as a starter for anyone in any sport who has never coached before.

It is hosted on the Swim Aus Learning Centre and is a FREE course that is very manageable for anyone to complete on their own.

They can click on the link https://www.sportaus.gov.au/coaching/course, sign up through the Swimming button and create their account on the SwimAus site. (They will use this same access when they need to do the Masters Development Course as part of their Accreditation requirements.)

Note that this is a separate login to the dita platform that hosts the Club Coach Accreditation course.

The Masters Development Course is a requirement for accreditation if you do not already hold a Swimming Australia Development licence (or higher).

This course is a copy of the SA Development course with modules relating to adolescents removed and Masters sections inserted.

The course is comprehensive and interesting even though the content is based around age-group swimmers. There is a wealth of coaching information, videos and interviews that cover the basic coaching principles in swimming. A full outline of the competencies covered can be found under the  Full course outline, costs and time requirements  +  tab on this page.

Masters Swimming does not host this portion of the course at this stage. It is hosted on the Swimming Australia Learning Centre.

Your trainee will need to pay $95 to access this course. This is a separate registration and login process.

Your trainee will then be able to download their Certificate of Completion at the end of this course which can be uploaded into your Accumulated Training Record (ATR on the dita platform after enrolment) as evidence that they have completed that step in their accreditation pathway.

Hopefully, you will have already been discussing the course with your trainee and are aware of any issues or areas of concern for them.

The workshop is self-paced and is a mix of structured learning, audio/video content, multiple choice questions and assessment tasks.

The multiple-choice questions are automatically marked, and the trainee cannot progress until the answer is correct.

The assessment questions are marked by the Branch Coach Educator once the module is completed.

The trainee will get feedback on their answers and any that are not deemed to be satisfactory will be automatically returned to the trainees TO DO list with a comment on what was missing or needs more clarification.

They can have multiple attempts to submit and the Branch Coach Educator may suggest that they discuss any problem areas with you in order to progress.

Module One of the Workshop covers Coaching Philosophy, Inclusive Coaching and Goals – this requires the trainees to reflect on their own coaching approach and experience as well as a case study on two swimmers and their goals.

We encourage the trainees to speak with their own voice and draw on their experience in having been coached themselves if they are novice coaches.

Module Two covers Planning, Training Principles and Session Structure – this is the most comprehensive module and the most important for trainees to be working with you as mentor coach. They will be writing a session plan for a squad covering all the elements so helping them with an understanding of the club annual plan will assist them complete this task.

Module three covers Stroke Fundamentals, Faults and Corrective Drills and Adaptive Swimming – this is mostly a direct instruction module covering all strokes and some basic drills for correcting common errors. Drills and stroke correction are an area where you can help them the most on pool deck.

Yes, every coach trainee is individual and will want to progress at their own pace.

It is important that you work with them to determine a schedule that best suits you both.

Working with you as coach mentor will be vital to them developing relevant skills within your own club environment and feeling supported in their learning journey.

Trainees are required to do 30hrs hours coaching adult swimmers under the supervision or guidance of a Mentor Coach.

Any hours done observing/assisting an adult swim squad as part of this program can be counted in those 30hrs with your verification.

Work with your trainee to determine a structure that suits their experience and confidence, fits in well with your squad and other coaches and allows them to have as much exposure to different coaching techniques as possible.

Sit down with them and go through the club’s annual plan, explaining the training goals, phases, cycles and session goals and how it works for your swimmers.

Every club is different, and each coach brings their own “flavour” to their coaching.

Talk with them about what skills they have that may work with your session plan. E.g., they may have a good understanding of exercise physiology, they may be an accomplished competitive swimmer themselves, they may have a teaching background and be excellent at managing a group.

Maximise their attributes when sharing the session with them so they can build on their natural abilities and contribute from day one.

For an absolute new trainee, you may start with a plan such as:

Hours 0-5: These hours would usually already have been done observing/helping or facilitating with the squad prior to commencing their theoretical work.

Hours 5-10: Introduce the trainee to managing the warm-up and/or the cool-down components with your guidance. This could incorporate some activation exercises and explaining the purpose of these to the squad.

Hours 10-20: Trainees should now be confident enough to write or co-write a simple set based on the training goals and cycles in the annual plan. Work with them to ensure that they can answer the questions below:

What is the goal of this session?

What is the technique that we need to focus on to achieve the training goal?

What warm up routine will get our swimmers ready for today’s set?

What drill sequence will activate the right muscles and reinforce the technique focus?

Do the drills lead into the main set? (Drills can be done at any time in the training session as long as they are connected to the training goal).

What energy system are we training today in the main set?

How will we structure the rest intervals to ensure that we are getting the right training outcome?

How will we modify the distance and timing to suit each lane?

Have we allowed enough time for the full set for each lane?

What equipment will our swimmers need and how long will this add to each repeat?

Based on the effort of the session, how are we going to ensure that our swimmers have cooled down before hopping out?

Hours 20-25: Progress to them writing the session plan on their own and have them explain to you what the goal of the session is, how the timing will work, how they are modifying it for each lane and what role they would like you to have in the session.

Give them whatever guidance and feedback that encourages them to “own” what they are doing and develop a rapport with the swimmers.

They should now be able to manage communicating the session plan to the squad. It is a good principle to keep the squad together as a whole rather than divide and allocate the “slow lane” to the trainee. This keeps the social cohesion of the squad and allows the trainee to develop techniques to manage the whole squad with confidence.

Hours 25-30: By this stage, your trainee should be comfortable enough to be writing and running the sessions on their own and you will be aware of any areas that they still need developing and guidance.

We don’t all want to be clones of each other, so encourage their personal flair and individual approach and seek feedback from them and your swimmers for constant improvement.

Each trainee will require a different degree of supervision. The important thing is that they feel supported, encouraged and valued.

Address any areas of concern as they arise so that they are able to manage sessions without you being there for the whole set at some stage in their 30hrs.

The trainee will download the Practical Pool Assessment Tool for you to use as the formal documentation framework for this task.

They will need to prepare a 30-60 min simple session plan and have you observe them with a minimum of 4 adult swimmers of varying abilities.

They are not to be assessed on their stroke correction knowledge nor on their knowledge of drills.

You can mark them as competent if they have demonstrated the competencies in the table below.

Bear in mind that many trainees are just starting their coaching journey and will skill up in time. As their Coach Mentor, you are looking for current competency and future potential.

No, the CPR Certificate needs to be current at the time they apply for accreditation at the completion of all the steps in their Pathway. The CPR certificate must be from a Training Provider registered with the Australian Resuscitation Council.

Coaches have 12 months from registration to complete the requirements to apply for accreditation as a Masters Club Coach.

Trainees can request an extension of time in any extenuating circumstances.

Accreditation is valid for 3 years, in line with Swimming Australia and coaches are expected to undertake continuous improvement activities to enable re-accreditation.

Please do! The value of learning is that it is continuous.

Hopefully, you and your trainee will have developed together and learnt from each other.

Having a club plan for continuous improvement for all the coaches will provide a structure that helps everyone learn, share, reflect, adapt, and improve.

This helps keep the joy in coaching and your club thriving.

Yes, Sport Australia provide a Sport Specific Training resource for coaching. The aim behind coach development activities and programs is to upskill those people who will educate and prepare coaches.

Traditional’ training for coaches, like accreditation, along with newer methods like online courses are valuable.  

But research shows that coaches, particularly at the community level, want personal support from an experienced coach.

This ‘experiential’ or on-the-job learning is important to both improving the quality of coaching and the motivation of coaches.

Click on the link Coach Developer Resources to view/download these resources:

Tips for the Coach Developer

How coach developers can build rapport and trust with coaches

Before the session chat

During the session

The post-session review

After sales service