Community Coach Course Overview

This course is designed to teach basic archery coaching skills.  Coaching differs from instructing, though you must be able to instruct to be an effective coach.  Instructors are expected to impart knowledge of archery technique to students and supervise their practice to a certain level of perfection.  Coaches are responsible for the overall development of an individual or group of archers into athletes.

Instructors must have a basic knowledge of the sport, rules of the archery games to be played and physical and biomechanical requirements to safely enjoy shooting a bow.  Coaches understand the mental aspects of archery skills development as well as the physical demands.  Coaches work with their archer athletes to set and reach short, medium and long range goals.  Coaches understand that training is more than just shooting arrows and incorporate an overall fitness plan into the training regimen.

A well-developed athletic training program follows training cycles.  Coaches understand that these cycles must be timed to coincide with planned competitions.  When training for competition, maximum effort over maximum time does not equal maximum results.  Good Coaches understand that athletes have good days and bad days.  There are reasons for both and they can be predicted.

Most importantly, Coaches make a commitment to continue to study the sport and keep the learning process active for themselves and their athletes.  They develop a Coaching Philosophy and use it in developing their own Coaching Style.  Coaches understand that the principles and disciplines required to gain a mastery of archery, “The Sport of Kings”, can also be applied to achieve successes in other areas of our personal lives.

Coach Lee, the United States National Head Coach lists these as necessary traits for coaches: ¹

¨       Excellent people and communication skills

¨       A solid grounding in biomechanics, anatomy and physiology

¨       Clearly defined coaching philosophy

¨       A sound understanding of sports psychology

¨       Experience of failure

¨       The ability to coach at all levels

¨       Patience, persistence and optimism

¨       Honesty and credibility

¨       Sound judgment

This course presents you with proven coaching techniques and methods of training which allow you to coach your athletes more effectively and help them to reach their full potential much sooner.