Getting into Coaching

Have you thought of volunteer coaching at a local college? It could be a nice segue into coaching as a profession (on the college level). It sounds like youŕe motivated.

Your next step should be getting a USATF Level 1 certification. Working with a local youth club can give you more exposure to the community and not just one high school.

Old Man 2 Lapper wrote:

Your next step should be getting a USATF Level 1 certification. Working with a local youth club can give you more exposure to the community and not just one high school.

Agreed. The certification helps and is marketable to a degree.

Karl Hungus wrote:

Old Man 2 Lapper wrote:

Your next step should be getting a USATF Level 1 certification. Working with a local youth club can give you more exposure to the community and not just one high school.

Agreed. The certification helps and is marketable to a degree.

It is almost completely unmarketable and teaches you only things you should already know if you are actually interested enough in this sport to read a few things on your own.

Ssfssfsdffzdfsfsdff wrote:

Karl Hungus wrote:

Agreed. The certification helps and is marketable to a degree.

It is almost completely unmarketable and teaches you only things you should already know if you are actually interested enough in this sport to read a few things on your own.

Level 1 gives a nice general overview of all events. Helpful if you're only experienced with distance running. Also great networking with other classmates and instructors.

Ssfssfsdffzdfsfsdff wrote:

Karl Hungus wrote:

Agreed. The certification helps and is marketable to a degree.

It is almost completely unmarketable and teaches you only things you should already know if you are actually interested enough in this sport to read a few things on your own.

It depends on who you're marketing to.

If you're marketing to your more ambitious runner, then they're not going to give a carp about any meaningless almost mail order certification. All they're going to care about are the coach's times (what they've achieved), and to a lesser extent what type of training philosophy the coach follows (high mileage, cross training, Hansons, etc).

If you're marketing to your average Instagram marathoner who runs because they want to post a pic of every Disney finishers medal, then get the certification.

Good luck! I'd ask you to coach me if I didn't have a coach.

My point was a way into coaching. Is the certification meaningless? Most are but it exposes you to college AD's who are looking for it and gives you a certification for youth athletics as well. Not everyone with a personal trainer or yoga cert is good, but you'd probably choose one with a cert over someone who doesn't.

If you're looking for a formal certification for the hobby joggers, you can get one through the RRCA. It won't necessarily teach you much, but it allows you to claim certification.

You might also want to go to your local YMCA. Many have running programs and their hiring standards are pretty flexible. If they don't have a running program, you can offer to help them start one. That is where I got my start coaching (I was a member of the club and took over coaching when the prior coach decided to move on).

I believe in educating coaches not just about the what to coach but how to coach.

Coaching involves more than just writing workouts IMHO.

That's the truth. I have a fairly small group that I coach on a one on one basis. About 10 athletes, half paying, the others are friends or people I'm coaching for free because they will get me future referrals. The bulk of my coaching time is spent getting people through their bouts of self-doubt, their aches and pains, their changing schedules and the like. The training plans take some time up front (and requires adjustment throughout if you're coaching right), but the hand holding/confidence building/goal setting takes much more time. If you don't think you'd find that part interesting, don't get into coaching.

luv2run wrote:

I believe in educating coaches not just about the what to coach but how to coach.

Coaching involves more than just writing workouts IMHO.

I agree.

I was fortunate to have a high school coach who was all about goal setting. At the end of the day being able to do the hand/holding and the goal setting is what I find interesting about coaching. In my experience the best coaches I have had have been the ones who focus not only on the performance side of coaching but have also been good teachers and have helped their athletes strive for greatness in pursuits outside of athletics.

I also agree with the comment about education. I am young, (23) so and the moment I plan on getting the certifications needed to market myself as well as continuing to pursue my racing goals. I still plan to race at a decently competitive level for a few more years before I dive into coaching more. As I said before, my pr's are modest and I think there is still a lot of room to improve still.

I appreciate the comments from everyone!