Our great sport offers many valuable experiences and opportunities for gymnasts and participants. Our sport requires people with the desire and motivation to make a real difference - by choosing to coach. Whether you are thinking about becoming a coach, or looking to build on your existing skills and expertise, British Gymnastics offers a comprehensive range of opportunities that will enhance knowledge and understanding at every level.
Becoming a Coach
There are many routes into coaching; as an enthusiastic parent, as a gymnast, as a teacher, as a young leader through our My Academy Programme or simply someone inspired to be that person to make a real and positive difference. Whichever way you come to gymnastics, as a coach, you will have the satisfaction and pride in knowing you have helped others to participate, achieve and excel.
There are a number of great starting points for your coaching career, for example;
Helper courses: These courses are aimed at anyone interested in learning more about how to effectively help in a gymnastics and trampolining session. It focuses on the key skills needed to support your Lead Coach in delivering effective and participant-centered sessions.
For each gymnastics discipline, we offer UK Coaching Certificate (UKCC) courses. Starting at Level 1 Assistant Coach, these set you off through the coaching pathway of your preferred discipline.
We also now have a number of part-funded places on selected UKCC Level 1 and 2 courses. To learn more, please see our Coach Development Fund page.
The Journey of a Coach
Quite often a coach will follow the prescribed coach education pathway for a particular discipline, developing sport-specific knowledge and expertise along the way. However, in order to provide as broad a programme of activity within a club, other coaches seek to enhance their knowledge across disciplines and activities.
Our programme of education course continues your development in both types of journey, with additional opportunities to learn and update/refresh knowledge always in development.
Part of your journey may well include acting as a mentor – someone who helps, advises and supports developing coaches. Click here to read more about being a mentor coach.