Advanced Coaching Course - Gymnastics

Advanced Coaching Course

Assessment Tasks

Mentor handbook

Coaching framework

Coaching Course pathway

Advanced Course Mentor

A coach in training for an Advanced Coach Accreditation will need a mentor to support training in the workplace.

The aim is to have them as an additional resource to work through the activities and assessment tasks throughout this course. For some activities or workplace tasks you will need specific assistance from your mentor to complete the tasks. The role they need to take on will be explained clearly for them. Ideally you should utilise them to discuss various topics as you progress through the course.

Advanced Course Mentor

The mentor should:

•Hold an Advanced Coach Accreditation or above and where possible this should be relevant to the Gymsport •Provide supervision and guidance for the trainee Advanced Coach, but does not need to provide direct supervision on a daily basis •Assist with and undertake workplace assessment tasks with the trainee Advanced Coach •Ensure the trainee Advanced Coach works within their level of competence •Exercise a duty of care to the coach and participants.


The mentor is to assist and guide the candidate throughout the Advanced Coaching Course process

Online Advanced Coaching Principles Course

There are 2 online mentors in the course

Advanced Coaching Course Assessment

Advanced Coaching Course Assessment

External LMS assessment LMS Activities Online Quiz

Face to face assessment


Upload to LMS External assessment

Upload to LMS

Online assessment task 90% success


The major external assessment tasks are marked in bold

Assessment Task Summary

Unit Task Title Type of Assessment 2 2.1 Junior Coach Project Workplace Assessment Task 2 2.2 Spotting Log-book

Assessment Task Workplace Assessment Task

2 2.3 Unit Assessment Online Assessment Task 3 3.1 Unit Assessment Online Assessment Task 4 4.1 Unit Assessment Online Assessment Task 5 5.1 Physical Preparation

Project Workplace Assessment Task

6 6.1 Self Analysis Assessment Task

Workplace Assessment Task

6 6.2 Unit Assessment Online Assessment Task 7 7.1 Annual and Seasonal Plan


Unit Task Title Type of

Assessment GS GS 1 Skill analysis

5 Gymsport skills Assessment Task


GS GS 2 Unit Assessments Online Assessment Tasks

Unit Task Title Type of Assessment

F2F F2F 1 Coaching Performance (inc. salto) Assessment

Face to Face Course Assessment Tasks

Online Advanced Gymsport Coaching Course

Upload to LMS External assessment

Online assessment task 90% success

Online Advanced Gymsport Coaching Course












5 Gymsport skills Assessment Task


GS GS 2 Unit Assessments Online Assessment Tasks

Gymsport Advanced Face to Face Coaching Course

Face to face course assessment

Face to face course assessment

Gymsport Advanced Face to Face Coaching Course












5 Gymsport skills Workplace Assessment Task

Online Advanced Coaching Principles Course Specific Mentor requirements

Below is a list of workplace assessment tasks requiring assistance from the candidate mentor in the Online Advanced Coaching Principles Course:

2.1 - Junior Coach Project

2.2 - Spotting Log Book Assessment Task

5.1 - Physical Preparation Project

6.1 - Self Analysis Assessment Task

7.1 - Annual and Seasonal Plan Assessment Task

A brief outline of the task and the mentor role is outlined in the following slides.

2.1 Junior Coach Project

Candidate information

Coaching, observing and assisting others is often an opportunity to reflect on some basic coaching skills and the ability to pass on your expertise and knowledge to those with lesser experience than yourself.

In this assessment task you are required to work alongside and assist a junior coach in your gym for an individual training session. The aim is to observe them coaching a training session, work with them and complete an assessment on their performance. You are asked to meet with them after the training session, identify and discuss some areas of their coaching where there are some weaknesses and provide them with feedback and guidance to improve their coaching performance.

Upon the completion of this you need to complete a self-reflection report on the activity and upload this to the LMS.

The mentor’s role is to facilitate this project for the candidate

2.1 Junior Coach Project - Task overview Candidate information

This task involves three components.

Part 1: Pre-class discussion Part 1 requires you to meet with your junior coach to discuss the task and their lesson.

Part 2: Observation and assistance Part 2 requires you to observe the junior coach in action and assist where able / necessary.

Part 3: Post-class discussion Part 3 requires you to meet with your junior coach following the lesson the discuss the session and provide them with positive feedback.

Part 4: Reflection report Part 4 requires to complete a reflection report on the task.

This assessment task will need to be uploaded to the LMS.

2.2 - Spotting Log Book Assessment Task Candidate information

As an Advanced Coach you will not only be coaching higher level skills, with greater risk, but you will be coaching independently and required to undertake more complex spotting tasks to shape or facilitate the development of increasingly difficult skills. Spotting takes practice, and inevitably provides a potential risk to both the athlete and coach, particularly if you are not confident or have little practice with assisting athletes perform tasks. Being confident to spot or support athletes will require assistance from a more experienced coach, and often this can be aided when you practise with athletes who can already perform the skill so you can ‘feel’ the skill movement and where assistance can and should be provided.

2.2 - Spotting Log Book - Task overview Candidate information

Over the course of your learning throughout both Advanced online courses (particularly the Gymsport Course) and coaching in the gym with your mentor, you will learn and practise how to spot / support athletes with specific skills at the Advanced level.

This task requires you to develop your spotting skills and record these in a log book. Attached is a log book of the skills you are required to spot / support / assist your athletes in learning at the Advanced level.

This assessment task will need to be uploaded to the LMS.

2.2 - Spotting Log Book

Mentor notes

•It is recommended that the mentor and or a senior coach in your club develop a plan to assist the candidate to learn and practise the spotting of these Gymsport specific skills. This can be undertaken in various ways.

•Some suggestions are: Hold regular sessions to practise spotting with all junior coaches to gain confidence in

assisting others. These sessions are ideally led by a senior coach using athletes who can already perform the skills. Arrange for the Advanced candidate to ‘mirror coach’ alongside you on a regular basis to practise assisting with the spotting of specific skills. Arrange to come and assist the Advanced candidate with their own classes and work with them to build their capacity to spot skills confidently. Arrange for the candidate to assist at various holiday camps or clinics your club or region hosts. Essentially spotting athletes to gain skills requires confidence and more practice opportunities will assist. The mentor must sign-off on the Spotting Log Book to complete the assessment tasks required for the Online Advanced Coaching Principles Course.

5.1 Physical Preparation Project


As an Advanced Coach you will need to design, develop and implement physical preparation programs that are specific for your training group and the individuals within it. Prior to developing a physical preparation program you will need to assess the current status of your group of athletes (as a group and as individuals) and the physical preparation requirements to perform and develop the skills for their particular Gymsport.

5.1 Physical Preparation Project - Task overview Candidate information

This task involves three components.

Part 1: Planning and implementing your physical preparation test Part 1 requires you to conduct (and design) a physical preparation test for your athletes, specific to your sport. You will use the results of this task to develop and implement a specific physical preparation program in Part 2.

Part 2: Physical preparation program design and implementation Part 2 requires you to design and implement a physical preparation program with your athletes over a 4 week period.

Part 3: Physical preparation post-test and report Part 3 requires you to conduct the same physical preparation test from Part 1 with your athletes and complete a review of your project.

This assessment task will be assessed externally via the Learning Management System (LMS) by an online assessor. The results will be returned to you following the assessment. Refer to the marking guide for assistance.

5.1 Physical Preparation Project

Mentor notes The candidate is required to conduct physical preparation testing on a group / squad of Level 3–6 gymnasts. The ideal scenario for this learning task is to have the candidate working alongside the mentor, coaching a group of Level 3–6 gymnasts. This will enable the task to be a more realistic learning experience. This assessment task requires the candidate to follow through with this group of gymnasts; to design and implement a physical preparation program and then conduct a post-test assessment on the same group. The role of the mentor is to facilitate the situation in the gym to maximise the learning opportunity for the candidate. Should the candidate need assistance to adapt the testing format for their Gymsport then mentor should assist where able, or perhaps provide an alternative testing program.

6.1 - Self Analysis Assessment Task


During this assessment task you are required to video yourself coaching and observe and reflect upon your performance. It is an opportunity to observe, monitor, evaluate and establish plans to improve upon your performance as a coach.

How good are you at managing the class, teaching and communicating the skills that you have planned to teach?

Video self-analysis is a critical tool for you to see yourself in action and to be able to use in the future as you advance in your coaching career. Further, should you not have constant support or mentoring on a daily basis in your gym, self-analysis can become an invaluable tool for you.

6.1 Self Analysis Assessment Task - Task overview Candidate information

This task involves 5 components.

Part 1: Video your training session This involves videoing an entire training session or class.

Part 2: Reflecting on your training session This involves completing a report and reflecting on your coaching performance.

Part 3: Consulting and planning This involves consulting with your mentor and gaining feedback on your performance and designing a plan for improvement.

Part 4: Implementing your plan This involves implementing your improvement plan into a training session.

Part 5: Follow up and reflect This involves completing a report and reflecting upon your final training session.

You will be required to upload your completed report into the Learning Management System (LMS).

6.1 Self Analysis Assessment Task

Mentor notes

Ideally the mentor is the best person to video the session.

This will allow the mentor an opportunity to observe the coach in action and perhaps focus on previously identified areas that you may have been working on from previous observation sessions.

The mentor is an invaluable resource to assist in this assessment task.

7.1 Annual and Seasonal Plan Assessment Task Candidate information

•As an Advanced Coach you will need to design, coach and review not only a seasonal (or term) plan, but also an annual training plan for your squad or group. The plan must be based on goals or key outcomes for your particular group and specific to the group and individuals’ needs within the group. •Many experienced coaches can write and develop a very strong plan, but a key quality of the best coaches is the ability to effectively implement, monitor and review a plan. This process must be undertaken as an ongoing process, working towards the completion of the season or year. •The actual plan you write will obviously be specifically written for your Gymsport, but in every plan there are some key common principles. •This task is designed for you to demonstrate your ability to develop, implement and review an annual and seasonal plan for your Gymsport. You will be required to insert your information into a template and upload this for external assessment. •Ultimately the templates used in this assessment task will be able to be utilised by you in the future.

7.1 Annual and Seasonal Plan Assessment Task - Task overview Candidate information

This task involves 4 components.

Part 1: Designing an annual plan Part 1 requires you to identify the goals for the year, the key competitions and events throughout the year and to design an annual training plan for your squad.

Part 2: Design a seasonal plan Part 2 requires you to design a seasonal plan for the pre-competition component of your plan. The focus for this season will be to build combinations in preparation for up-coming competition season.

Part 3: Design a weekly plan Part 3 requires you to write a weekly plan for your group. This sample weekly plan needs to contain an overview of how you set out your training week, a specific weekly plan for at least 3 apparatus or events of training, the physical preparation program for your week and the warm-up and cool-down for your squad / group for the week.

Part 4: Review your plans Meet with your mentor once you have completed the entire planning task to gain some feedback about your plan before submitting this.

This assessment task will be assessed externally via the Learning Management System (LMS) by an online assessor. The results will be returned to you following the assessment.

7.1 Annual and Seasonal Plan Assessment Task Mentor notes

•The Online Advanced Coaching Principles Course provides the candidates with the content and assistance to undertake this task. •However, the assistance from a senior coach or mentor will be invaluable for the candidate when developing their annual plan. •Not only does the mentor already plan for their athletes, but they know the training environment, the coach and the athletes in the gym. •The role of the mentor in this task should be to guide and assist the candidate to undertake their annual plan and seasonal plan. How this is undertaken is completely up to both the candidate and the mentor, but a series of meetings to discuss the plan as it develops is recommended.


Uploading tasks to the LMS Assessment

External LMS assessment LMS Activities

Refer to LMS Support to understand how to upload assessment tasks to the LMS. Click here to go to the

GA website

http://gymnastics.org.au/page.php?id=1018

Some key qualities of a good mentor are….

•The ability to understand and focus on the coaching process and not the athlete’s performance. •A willingness to assist in the development of another individual and create a positive environment. •Strong, positive communication and feedback skills. •Current technical knowledge and experience with specific gymnastics skills and regulations. •Flexible and open to new ideas. •Strong networking contacts with others in the gymnastics community. •Trustworthy and able to maintain confidences. •Ability to manage conflict. •Sufficient time to commit to building a relationship and to be accessible for the mentee.

The benefits of mentoring

There are many benefits of mentoring for both coaches and judges. •It enhances and encourages the skill development for trainee coaches (the mentee). •It can reduce the cost of ongoing external training programs. •It provides career development for both the mentor and mentee. •It provides leadership development opportunities for mentors. •It provides networking opportunities for both coaches and judges. •It can build self-confidence in both the mentor and mentee. •It can motivate and encourage both the mentor and mentee. •It improves communication. •It improves productivity. •Coaches who have been mentors often become better people managers.

Documents

Advanced Coaching Course - Gymnastics