Coaching Assistant

Industries: Community sport

Overview and responsibilities

Coaching Assistants help to improve an individual’s experience of sport and physical activity by providing support to coaches in the delivery of activities. They may also deliver part of a coaching session under supervision. They help with the preparation, delivery and review of activity sessions, and have an inspirational effect on the individuals, groups or communities that they work with.

Coaching Assistants help to ensure that the culture and environment they are supporting sessions within is designed to meet the individual or group’s needs and that it allows them to achieve their goals and aspirations. This includes tailoring the experience to the individual and taking an inclusive approach.

They regularly work alongside coaches and other coaching assistants, volunteers and parents to ensure that each individual’s experience is the best that it can be.

Working hours

Coaching Assistants regularly work during weekends and evenings. In addition to delivering sessions, they will spend time planning sessions, completing administration tasks and liaising with parents, volunteers and coaches.

Education

To be professionally recognised as a CIMSPA Coaching Assistant Practitioner, we ask that Coaching Assistants provide us with evidence of holding a relevant CIMSPA-endorsed qualification, degree or apprenticeship certificate issued by a CIMSPA Awarding Organisation Parter or Higher Education Partner or the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE).

If you have a qualification or degree that is not endorsed by CIMSPA or is over five years old, or if you have an international qualification, we still encourage you to apply for professional recognition. We may, however, need to ask you for additional evidence of other training you have undertaken as part of your application.

Achieving this level of qualification demonstrates that a Coaching Assistant is able to maximise participant experience and prepare, deliver, and continuously evaluate and review coaching activities as well as demonstrate a good understanding of legislation and professional practise.

Once practitioners have gained a coaching qualification, they often seek out further qualifications to enable them to work with specialist populations, such as children or those with medical conditions, or to deliver in a school environment.