Yesterday I handed in the final post-course work for my Swimming Coach (what used to be the Level 2 Coach) qualification. It’s been a very tough journey for me and one that I’m not sure I’d have started had I had a better understanding of what would be involved. Not that I haven’t enjoyed it and learned a huge amount that has definitely improved my coaching, but the course was perhaps not designed with those people such as myself who do not have a background in competitive swimming in mind. In many parts of the course there seemed to be a reliance on, well, not so much “assumed knowledge”, but perhaps “assumed experience” is a more accurate way to put it.
It’s also taken a long time to get through everything. Partly this was down to internal strife at the club, partly because some of the skills required by the course were largely assumed when I didn’t really have them and needed time to learn, but also lack of time generally for getting through the paperwork. Actually being on the pool deck coaching three evenings a week with occasional coaching at weekends and attendance at competitions combined with working for myself and all the usual guff that goes with having a couple of children at secondary school just doesn’t leave a lot of time or energy for doing anything else. On those rare free evenings I’d often sit down to try to get through some of the work but had reached the point where I couldn’t find the clarity of thought to do it to my satisfaction.
Anyhow, it’s all over now. I just have to sit back and await the outcome…