World class racing sailors keen to share their expertise through coaching have been making the most of RYA opportunities to gain the necessary skills for success.
Sailor to Coach camps at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy have offered members of the British Sailing Team – and those who may be transitioning either into or out of the Olympic classes – a chance to complete the RYA’s Race Coach Level 2 course.
The qualification enables sailors to begin their coaching journey with the know-how for providing safe, enjoyable and effective sessions, and courses are available at venues across the country throughout the year for racing sailors aged 16 upwards.
To find out more about upcoming courses or register for a place, visit the RYA Race Coaching hub. We caught up with our ‘Sailor to Coach’ participants to find out more!
Campaigning
ILCA sailor and European champion Michael Beckett, who attended the most recent Sailor to Coach camp at WPNSA, enjoyed the relaxed learning environment and the chance to ask questions.
He said: “I signed up to allow me to do more coaching alongside my sailing and so that I can be better at helping other people improve their sailing. The best coaching methods depend massively on the sailors in question – their age, ability, experience and so on – so being able to assess the group and make a good learning plan is important.
“I’ve learned about how best to combine the admin of running a session, such as mark laying and communicating the plan, with the actual coach role of observing and giving feedback to the sailors.”
Already an RYA Dinghy Instructor, Micky is looking forward to applying the skills gained from the Race Coach L2 course – which he feels has given him “a large range of tools to run an effective session” – and to scheduling work as a coach around his own campaign commitments and training at 2024 Olympic sailing venue Marseille.
University
Also at the Sailor to Coach camp was 470 sailor Alex Hughes, who was a training partner for Tokyo Games team Luke Patience/Chris Grube and is juggling university with Olympic class campaigning.
Having previously gained RYA Dinghy and Senior Instructor certificates, the Race Coach Level 2 qualification will now provide further opportunities for Alex to work in the sport alongside his sailing.
Commenting on the course, he said: “I really enjoyed the fast fire nature of running lots of sessions in a short period of time both on and off the water. I learnt a lot about the role of a coach outside of purely teaching sailing, and also the best ways to self-evaluate myself when coaching.
“The most useful part will be the coach process as it provides a structured framework to build any kind of session around. I’m interested to do more coaching CPD and further qualifications and I’m looking to do more youth squad and youth level coaching in the future.”
Windsurfing
iQFoil windsurfer and fellow course attendee Andy Brown is also building Marseille venue knowledge over summer, and likewise signed up to enable him to coach alongside his own sailing and Olympic campaigning.
Key practical elements of the course which Andy found useful included a look at risk assessments and how “risk can build up on the water very quickly with only a few changes to circumstances”.
Another key aspect of the course he will be taking forward into his coaching to support sailors will be the technique of “encouraging and leading self-analysis primarily through questioning”.
Andy explains: “The course really gave me some insight into my own review process as well as a good structure to take my first steps into the coaching world. I enjoy coaching so it will be something different to break up the training. It is also very positive for your own sailing to reflect and analyse from a coach perspective.”
Olympian
Triple Olympian Ali Young did the Race Coach Level 2 course at a British Sailing Team camp at WPNSA in autumn 2021 with the aim of transitioning into a full-time coaching career.
Ali has since worked with aspiring ILCA 4 sailors in the RYA Midlands and North Regional Training Group and will again be working with the RTGs this winter, coaching both ILCAs and Toppers.
Ali says: “The Race Coach Level 2 course is applicable wherever you’ve come from in the sport. Having knowledge is one thing but being able to help other people to learn is very different, so this qualification definitely provides very good foundations for that.
“For me it’s been useful for how you think about structuring your session and the teaching elements that you need in the junior space. It’s also useful for looking at safety, risk assessments and all the other aspects of working around young people and planning those in.”
Like many top-level coaches, Ali is now making full use of the opportunities for Continuous Professional Development provided by the RYA, including working with one-to-one coach developer, Karen Falcon, and participating in group skills sessions for coaches. There is also an RYA Learning Network with videos and resources.
Ali signed up for a winter/spring series of live virtual sessions for coaches from a variety of backgrounds, from club level coaches to those in the junior programme, and also joined a day recently for British Youth Sailing coaches.
As Ali explains: “Just getting different people’s views on how they’d run a session was valuable, and it’s useful to share and bounce ideas off each other. I’ve also used the online resources that are available which provide different exercises for coaching sessions and lots of information. I’d recommend tapping into all of these kinds of opportunities.”
Find out more
To find out more about becoming a race coach, visit the RYA Race Coaching hub, which has lots of information about qualifications and all the latest bookable RYA Race Coach Level 2 and 3 courses. For RYA Home Countries, visit RYA Northern Ireland, RYA Scotland and RYA Cymru Wales.
For existing race coaches and instructors, there is an Improve My Coaching hub with more information about the RYA Learning Network. This includes a digital library of training exercises, videos and ideas for coaches to view and download to build into their own sessions, plus a Connect with Coaching programme providing online CPD workshops. You can register for free with the RYA Learning Network by emailing: coachingdevelopment@rya.org.uk
