So I’m thinking about doing some coaching/guiding quals but I’m a bit confused.

As I understand it I don’t need to be a member of a club – just BC.

Guiding I can see how this would work – I do the course, organize and log some guided rides and book an assessment later on to demonstrate what I’ve learnt etc.

How does it work with coaching?
I’d need to do the Level 1 basic coaching before the Level 2 MTB.
If you aren’t an active member of a club how do you demonstrate you have effectively delivered coaching to student?

Reason I’m interested in BC instead of MIAS is there is potentially an opening at my Sons school to run the MTB & bike maintenance club – but I would need to be BC qualified.

Thanks

I guess it’s the same as doing football coaching – you do the BC workshops and theory stuff of your own bat but have to be attached to a club to demonstrate that you can deliver it?

When I looked at Bikeability it was the same – I could do the training, but then had to find someone I could deliver some training through to get signed off

Just don’t let them loose your portfolio not once but twice (on email and a hard copy *roll eyes*) and move the date of an assessment without telling you, so you travel across the country to find an empty training room, or indeed then defer you with the feedback “that’s the best session I’ve seen in a long time. Well done. However we asked for a 20 minute session and you did 17mins 53seconds. So that’s a fail.”

Utterly frustrating as a volunteer.

(And this from someone who has MBLA certificate No. 14)

Anyone knows if the PMBIA coaching certifications have any validity in the UK?

With the coaching qualifcation, you would need to complete coaching course Level 1 then level 2, before then doing Level 2 Mtb. So three courses in all. Level 1 you could complete without much difficulty as the coaching is delivered to the people within your course. However the Level 2 coach award requires you to deliver to the coaching course group and also to an external group of riders. Think it may be 5 sessions at an external club and these have to be signed off by another coach. It’s then the same format for the Level 2 Mtb. Your best bet is to find a local GoRide group, coaching children, if you’re really keen on the coaching route.

The courses I’ve always found to be really informative and good fun. Working with coaches both experienced and new has always improved the coaching I subsequently have delivered. Courses have a good mix of on bike and classroom stuff but the BC approach can be very regimented.

However it does work out very expensive. I was able to do my Level 1 and Level 2 as a combined course where you just had to prove you had some experience in sport, which I did both from my local GoRide club and a previous job. BC however now no longer run a combined, as far as I’m aware.

Having done the above I then completed the Level 2 Mtb, Level 2 Road & TT before carrying on to Level 3. A hefty outlay but I did get some small funding from my GoRide club.

Can’t comment on the guiding route but it would be worth checking that it would be a suitable qualification for running a school club from an insurance point of view.

Another route is the BC Go Ride for schools courses if you search the BC website.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/zuvvi/media/bc_files/go_ride/2017/HSBC_UK_Go-Ride_for_Schools_2017.pdf

Whatever you decide I’d be inclined to find out if there is a local club you can help out at as a first step, the BC website can be searched for nearby kids clubs.

Happy to answer any questions you have.

Thanks for the info.
Yeah looking like £1k for coaching 1, 2 and MTB 2 😮
Guiding seems to be around £300 for the training and assessment.
Have found local Go Ride club and will drop them a message to see if they want anymore volunteers.

L2 + L2 MTB coach here.

I’d recommend aligning with a local club. Most clubs are desperate for volunteers and you may find will foot your training bill in exchange for a commitment from you to coach for a period of time. This is what I did with my own club and as I don’t plan to stop any time soon, I’ll just keep doing more qualifications.

I very much enjoyed the experience and the personal development aspects of it. I mostly coach kids, but at the hungrier (i.e. keener) end of the spectrum, so they are often easier to coach than adults as they are willing to take on new ideas, especially if it helps make them go quicker! I now coach weekly as part of a team of coaches, and still enjoy doing it.

You mentioned above, but there’s a specific requirement that you must coach a series of regular sessions to a group of riders in your specific discipline (or any, if doing the standard L1 / L2 qualification) in order to qualify. This is much easier to do if you can hook up with a local club that does regular coaching sessions already.

Have BC changed the requirement to make L1 before L2 mandatory now? If so, it’s a shame (more expensive, more time!), but probably a good thing as there’s a lot of material in L1 that’s well worth getting familiar with before moving onto the more in-depth L2 topics. If they have changed it (they were talking about it last year), then you’ll need to do L1 -> L2 -> L2 MTB in that order. Three courses, three qualifications. L2 MTB is only a weekend plus coaching sessions, so it’s not that time consuming to achieve. Once you have L2, you can then pick any specialisms and complete them – e.g. CX, track, road, BMX etc.

For me, I’ve got my eye on an MTB leader qualification, and L2 road next… 🙂

You also need 2 day outdoor first aid for the guiding on top of the £300, repeated every 3 years (which reminds me I’m 6 months overdue).

BC Level 1 and 2 and L2 MTB and Track, and L2 MBLA. All done as part of local club, GlasgowRiderz, who I have coached with for past 4 years or so. Great fun and superb life experience. Have just booked my outdoor first aid refresher too !

Yeah first aid is booked anyway as always a good thing to have.