As a strength & conditioning coach, multi-skills coaching is something you have to learn very quickly because you work with so many different sports. For this reason I think new coaches should go on a multi-skills coaching course, to give them the tools to apply their knowledge to different sports and populations.

I’ve worked with athletes from over 30 different sports, that’s 30 different communities/populations you have to learn to work with, 30 different sets of politics and sport specific languages to learn, so essentially it’s 30 different cultures you have to adapt to, to work in. This can be the same for a community coach who in one day could work with a wide range of populations, all with different needs and requirements.

As a coach, in particular community settings and grassroots sports coaching you will be required to fulfill many roles for athletes. These roles could be outside your remit and skill base, but nevertheless coaches must support the athlete or players as best as they can. This may include performing administrative tasks, safeguarding players, cleaning for safety or signposting players to specialists.

The beauty of a multi-skills coach is that they can adapt and deliver quality sessions in a wide range of environments and settings, this comes with its own set of challenges, some you may not be able to fulfil. If you don’t have specialist expertise to support the needs of an athlete, knowing, or finding out who can do that role in your local area, or sport is part of your job as coach. Having a network that you can use for information and knowledge sharing helps you to be a more supportive coach. All coaches have their strengths and weaknesses and knowing and developing yours is part of your coaching journey.

The emphasis of a multi-skills coach is something Sport England and UK Coaching are looking at in more depth as they understand it’s significance, especially with the new Sport England strategy coming out in January 2021 and UK Coaching producing their own multi-skills coaching qualification.

Have a great weekend, Dave

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