While coach certification and licensing dominate the professional development landscape, perhaps the best opportunity for growth is the coach's own environment which provides a breeding ground for learning and development.
Leveraging this breeding ground assumes the coach recognizes the need for learning, has the motivation and independent skills to learn and is appropriately supported in the field to design and make sense of their own learning.
The Coach Mentor is possibly best placed to assume this learning support role. However, the Coach Mentor is one of the most important yet least developed roles within the coach learning and development space.
In a bid to support the growth of the Soccer Coach Mentor workforce, e.t.c coaching consultants in partnership with MiMentor have designed and led the delivery of a Coach Mentor program for United Soccer Coaches. The program offers access to world-leading mentoring concepts and tools using the MiMentor learning platform and successful completion leads to the achievement of a United Soccer Coaches Diploma.
The Mentoring Soccer Coaches program is built into learning blocks, delivered over 6 weeks and adopts a blended approach using on-line courses and webinars to provide coaches with access to:
An introduction to Mentoring
Coach Profiling and Supported Practice in the Field
Reflection and Development
Launched in the Fall of 2021 the Coach Mentor program has had a global reach, welcoming coaches from across the USA and as far afield as Iceland and India.
Feedback to date has been supportive and positive highlighting how the program has:
'...helped introduce a culture which priorities coach learning and maximizes mentoring relationships in the soccer environment to help coaches grow.'
We are excited to lead our fourth cohort in the Fall, starting in September 2022. To find out more contact James Baker, Co-Founder of Mi-Mentor.
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