| RE: A good coach....
It used to be 2 years shooting experiance before taking a coaching exam, I'm not sure what it is now.
The important thing is to realise what coaching will do to your own shooting.
Once you take up coaching your time at the club is no longer your own, and you will not be able to practice as you do now. Your own shooting will suffer and you will not be able to compete at the level that you would otherwise be capable of. You must be prepared to accept this before becoming a coach.
The other thing to consider is what level do you want to coach at. You need to start at the bottom, which is club coach, teaching beginners, and intermediate shots. Do you want to take it further and coach future champions? If so you have a long hard path ahead of you, and I admire you for it. I am happy as a club coach, and will help people up to county standard, that's enough for me.
As for how good do you need to be as an archer to coach, that is another argument altogether. I believe that your understanding of technique, anatomy and teaching methods is more important than your abillity to hit the 10 ring, and that you do not need to be a good shot to be a good coach. I know that there are others here who feel differently. When I was shooting competitively I got to the stage where I could beat my coach easily, but he continued to help me improve to a level way above that which he had achieved, he was a good coach, yet not a top archer.
I hope my ramblings here are of some help, if you want more details of what's involved feel free to ask any questions, and I'll do my best to answer them
Daniel  |