Anyone coach an after-school club?

[Clarabel]

I am doing my assistant course at the moment but my ultimate aim is to have an after-school club. Problem is that the focus of the coaching course is supporting and holding the gymnast but in my area you are only allowed to touch children at school if they are in immediate danger. Their idea of immediate danger doesn't include the fact that the child is balanced on a beam and might possibly fall off, the danger must be IMMEDIATE, ie. the child must be in the process of definitely falling off and the place they are falling to must be of significant danger, so you wouldn't catch them if they were falling on safety mats, only if they were falling onto the floor.

Does anyone else have this problem? Can you realistically run a gymnastic club without touching gymnasts or do you have to avoid so many moves it just stops you doing anything? Does anyone have a school club where they are allowed to support and hold as they would a non-school club?

Thanks for your help.

[Gingerheid]

Dunno about gymnastics, but if it was trampolining I'd say you couldn't realistically offer safe coaching within those guidelines, and I wouldn't want to get involved. Instinct could get you into a lot of trouble - if you saw someone falling you (hopefully!) wouldn't stand there and spend a few moments analysing the guidelines to consider whether or not ...

Pity - it's because of rot like that there's no fun in life any more:(

It seems you can't do anything now.:mad: I saw today that 34 schools in my county have been told they can't use their swimming pools incase somebody drowns. I always thought schools taught swimming incase somebody drowned, but maybe that's just my warped mind :rolleyes:

[Sue]

I coach an after-school gym club and no one has ever made any comments about supporting of the kids in the gym club. I am a qualified coach and I am CRB cleared and the club is held in a public place ie the school hall. Teachers regularly come through the hall and may even stop and watch for a while and parents can also sit and watch. For gymnastics to be safe the coach must be able to support. I have found that some of these children need support to do even a forward roll in the early stages and that it may be impossible for them to work out how to do it without being shaped and supported but once they learn to do them by themselves they are so proud of themselves! Recently the school's headmaster commented that he had taken a PE class that included children in the gym club and he really noticed how physically confident they were and how much they had progressed - and that is just from 1 hour a week over 4 or 5 week sessions!

I have also been involved in a Talent Identification program with British Gymnastics where we held taster and testing sessions in dozens of schools and only a couple of teachers made any comments about moves or supports and those were along the lines of whether it was safe to teach a forward roll in case the child hurt their head or neck. There was never any suggestion that children should not be supported if necessary for moves they were doing.

If coaches are properly qualified, suitably checked out and working in a suitable environment (ie not alone) then I would hope that schools could accept that it is necessary to support for safety as well as effective learning.

[Clarabel]

I spoke to the course instructors who said they are now hearing this all the time with courses they run for teachers. It is sad because the children are missing out. The whole reason I want to run the school club is for those who can't go to clubs for financial or logistical reasons (surprising how expensive it gets once you add up training, a club leotard, a club tracksuit, travel to all those competitions, a new leo for the advanced squad, etc.). Maybe I can just wear giant padded gloves!!

Funny actually, my school PE teacher never touched me but she was very verbally abusive to children who weren't as physically co-ordinated (like me - I may as well have had 3 legs) and when I first got asthma she made me carry on swimming cos she said I was just unfit and it turned out I was dying! Eliminating physical contact doesn't eliminate abuse of children in sports and nor does touching children make abuse. I don't get it. I will find out if BG have any leaflets I can send to the authority and just tackle the authority policy head on. Will let you know how it goes...

[Mike]

You will only be able to coach an after school club if you are under the supervision of a club coach as you dont have the qualifications or insurance cover as an assistant coach. The only way you will be able to coach by your self is if you qualified as a club coach. This should have been explained to you by the tutor on your coaching course.

[Vivien Gourlay]

If it were me, I would get the parents to sign an agreement that you are allowed to coach gymnastics as instructed on your courses and that this means supporting and shaping children in order for them to safely execute the progression of skills you are coaching. Surely they would rather know that their child was learning gymnastics in a safe environment and would have it explained to them that support will be given when required in order for gymnasts to become independent and capable of executing the skills required of them.

If you have your Club Coach award you will be a full member of the BGA and therefore covered under the insurance system that goes with this. As long as the group you are working with is registered with the BGA and that they agree that the venue is suitable, then this should be okay. I would check this out.

I cannot believe that, with all the hype of children requiring to be more physically active etc etc, any authority would be so narrowminded. I think it is time for parents to take a stand, otherwise their children will never enjoy or excel in any sporting activity except tiddlewinks - or might that be too dangerous because the counter might flik up and hurt them?

What is the world coming to?

[Clarabel]

You will only be able to coach an after school club if you are under the supervision of a club coach as you dont have the qualifications or insurance cover as an assistant coach. The only way you will be able to coach by your self is if you qualified as a club coach. This should have been explained to you by the tutor on your coaching course.

That would be covered by the original post quote "ultimate aim" ie. in 3 years when I have completed both my club coach and my teaching qualification. I am quite aware of this, just I was told by many (even withtin BG!) that supporting is history now and the coach stands on the side and shouts, so I was surprised to see so much supporting on the course.