BC Coaching Course – Help with homework please

As part of the Southern4X and Freespace 4-Cross stuff I am creating I have agreed to do the basic British Cycling off-road coaching course.

So far it has been really simple stuff – plan, listen, realise different people are different etc – but this week we have been asked to talk to a number of other people about what they would want from a Coach, coaching session and coaching in general.

I tried to do this for myself but obviously need other, independent, examples so please tell me :

When being coached on off-road cycling I would like my coach, and their coaching style to …

… explain how a technique should feel using a variety of different reference points.

I’ve found that people who can tell you things like ‘if you’re getting the position right you’ll feel the saddle on your thigh’ or ‘if you’re getting it right you’ll hear your tyres’ is much more helpful than ‘look at me, this is how you do it’.

Be engaging – provide useful feedback with suggestions on what I need to change. Make the session good so that the rider(s) want to return and do more. Make sure you can demonstrate the technique (might not be required) – visual demos are much better than listening to someone saying you just do this and this and then that. Break the technique down to simple steps and then focus on the steps i.e. instead of saying ‘Look up’, use ‘Look where you want to go’.

Be relatable – if I’m not a high-performing racer, then don’t be telling me about stuff that will help my racing, but make it relevant to the kind of riding that I do.

Be aware that everyone can have an off day – if people are struggling with getting something, change the task and coaching to something else.

Be aware that skill levels differ between riders – so make sure the coaching session has an ‘easier’ method, a ‘medium’ method and a ‘harder’ method – riders should be challenged to help them progress, but they are unlikely to be at the same level. Make sure you are encouraging and progressing every rider.

Be flexible with your coaching – some riders will respond differently to your coaching style, so make sure you can adjust and adapt your style to encourage all riders.

Ask for feedback – once the session is ending, ask for feedback to see what could be improved or what worked very well – be aware that kids won’t tend to tell you bad stuff, so you need to listen to the feedback and look at body language.

Hopefully that helps a bit – it most definitely isn’t the only way of coaching, but it is what I try to do in all my sessions. I’m sure there will be many more suggestions as well.

be human, approachable and not position themselves as a riding god/goddess. Leave the ego at home.

be enthusiastic and have an ability to break skills down into manageable progress chunks.

be organized, prepared and at the right place, right time.

be able to manage expectations downwards from fantasy to reality. Some things are just not achievable in one session/afternoon.

be sympathetic with their clients struggles and failures. Not everyone gets it first time but spot and praise teh small wins.

I’m a BC coach and teach kids from 4 to 16 years old

I’ve also been on a MTB Coaching course to try and improve my cornering !

All the above is great – but the best bit is

Be flexible with your coaching – some riders will respond differently to your coaching style, so make sure you can adjust and adapt your style to encourage all riders.

I’d also say that its good to be shown how something is done and I’m guessing in the case of 4 cross with jumps you may need to be able to ‘tow’ someone into a jump section with the correct speed.

Fully engaged in the course – not on their phone.
Appropiate language is also important – ability to break a movement down in words a younger child may understand compared to a junior or adult.

Humor – Its all just riding bikes. Make it fun. There is always another day to practice.

When I did a skills days – there were 3 of use ( all 40+ years old ) . All with a high ability.
But the coach made us do a lot of repatition of the same thing – which did not seem to be workign for any of us.
It got a bit dull, yes repitition is good, but you have to be able read the clients and adapt.
I took some good points away, but I did not feel like the day was worthy of the time spent and the cost and I could have got the same from a days practice on my own and youtube.