Table Tennis England The Winning Edge Issue 7 | Page 5

A NEW LEVEL
“ T
he Level 1 and 2 are courses to pass,”
began Stuart Laws, a Norwich-based
coach fresh from taking his Level 3, “but
this requires you to explore different
ways to coach, to think about your athletes’
needs and experiment.”
Learning as a coach is, as Laws puts it, “a continuous
journey,” and TTE have designed this Level 3 with that
journey front and centre.
“I have always tried to think outside the box, to take
ideas from other sports and business disciplines. I feel
the Level 3 gives you more confidence and freedom to
run with these ideas. It has created an ongoing mindset
that you must continue your own development and
not wait for the next course.”
Lecturer Paul Garner, who delivers one module of the
Level 3, narrowed its innovation down to where the
focus is.
“Level 2 courses are generally about what the coach
needs to deliver, about content. It’s the professional
knowledge. Whereas this Level 3 looks at how we build
relationships, communicate and understand ourselves.
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“For anyone who really wants to make a difference, this
would be really helpful and give them another string to
their bow.
“A coach needs a good balance of professional
knowledge, interpersonal skills and intrapersonal skills
- knowing your own strengths and weaknesses. We try
and marry those three things together on this Level 3.”
While much of this may sound like common sense –
of course you need to be a good communicator to be
a great coach – Garner explained that this Level 3 is
actually one of the first of its kind.
“What we teach here should be universal across all
sports, but it’s not yet. This is the only Level 3 I know
of which brings the interpersonal and intrapersonal side
of things into it. Most coaching courses, including the
TTE Level 2, focus on professional knowledge across the
board. They touch on interpersonal things but don’t go
into any detail.”
For Garner, success with this course isn’t about being
better at any one aspect of coaching, it’s having a more
balanced understanding of what good coaching means
– a holistic approach.
“I’d like to see coaches come away from this course
with a heightened level of self-awareness, in terms of
what’s happening in their own practice. So perhaps
they leave here thinking about their body language or
tone of voice. Perhaps they leave here with a better
realisation of the importance of interpersonal and
intrapersonal skills.
“Instead of focusing on what drill they can do to
improve a player, they may realise that it could be a
problem at home that’s impeding their progress, and
have the confidence to help the player in that aspect
of their life.”