Why become a rowing coach
People decide to coach rowing for many reasons. Perhaps you have a child who is interested in rowing and you want to get involved. Maybe you’re keen on encouraging young talent generally. Or you might simply want to give back to your community.
Whatever the case, you can coach rowing via a number of different routes, from simply helping out a qualified coach to gaining your own qualifications.
What does a rowing coach do?
Coaches are there to help rowers in a number of important ways including:
- Making sure they are safe on the water
- Organising equipment
- Helping rowers into and out of their boats
- Teaching and improving technical rowing skills
- Improving fitness and speed on the water
In short, your goal is to help each rower get the most out of each session and to progress to achieve their personal goals, whether that’s enjoyment or competing.
Coaching qualifications
It’s not essential that you have a qualification in order to coach rowing in a support capacity. Most clubs and teams are grateful for volunteers of all kinds. However, we do offer a number of coaching programmes if you’d like to improve your skills or become a lead coach.
Session Coaching - British Rowing Level 2
Accreditation: UKCC (UK Coaching Certificate)
Age: 18 plus
Hours: 20
Cost: £249
Focusing on the three core areas of safety, session planning and skills development, this programme will allow you to independently plan, deliver and review individual rowing sessions.
Club Coaching - British Rowing Level 2
Accreditation: UKCC (UK Coaching Certificate)
Age: 18 plus
Hours: 36
Cost: £499
This more in-depth course is designed to help you plan, deliver and evaluate full rowing training programmes. As well as safety, session planning and skills development, you’ll also learn about coaching principles, technique development, equipment and set up, and warm up / cool down techniques.
Informal training
Welsh Rowing also offers an informal course aimed at parents of children who row and is intended for complete beginners and non-rowers. You’ll learn things like how to move a boat and how to help someone on and off the water, giving you a chance to get more involved in your child’s sport.
Other ways to volunteer
As well as coaching, there are a number of different ways you can volunteer to support rowing in Wales on a regular or one off basis.
