|NEWS| COACHING EDGE
OPINION
As part of a regular feature within Coaching Edge, we asked Dave Turner to send us
his latest blog about life as a coach and what drives him on.
BLOG
By Dave Turner
MY DEVELOPMENT
AS A COACH
sports coach UK Development
Lead for Children and Schools
F
or my latest blog I thought it would be nice to
write about how I personally became a coach and
the huge positives this has brought me over the
past few years. Now this might sound like a sales
pitch at first! But please bear with me as I hope to use this
blog to also dispel a few of those myths about coaching that
seem ever present.
By the end of my time competing in athletics I was quite disillusioned
by the sport. The inevitable injuries, and the realisation I’d be doing it
for half of my life, among other things, all contributed to the need for a
break. But the most important factor was that there was no one to
coach me when I returned home after four years at university.
I can’t pinpoint a day or event where I decided to begin coaching, so
the trigger was probably a combination of things: realising there is
more to life than work and Game of Thrones, seeing that a lack of
javelin coaching in my home town 15 years ago had turned into a
complete absence, my waistline. Whatever it was something clicked
and I decided now was the time.
The first two things I did on my journey were to approach my former
athletics club, who surprise, surprise, were desperate for a new coach.
I then got in touch with an old friend and training partner and offered
to do some training with her. I was just beginning to developing my
coaching skills and trying to remember what all the coaches I’d
worked with had taught me! Working with an old friend in this way
turned out to be a really useful way to ease my way into coaching
after completing my Level 1 qualification with the governing body.
My club offered to pay for my Level 1 qualification, but I said let me
pay and if coaching is right for me I’d be very grateful if you could
help me out with my Level 2 qualification. I can’t promise that all clubs
and sports will be able to help, but you don’t get if you don’t ask and
there is also information on funding oppo