When the Master Becomes the Student: UPA’s Coaching Workshop Comes to Austin
by Cindy Stowell
If you are currently coaching an ultimate team, or are thinking about coaching in the near future, come check out the coaching clinic coming to town. UPA is holding a Level I coaching clinic Feb. 27, 2010 in Austin. The exact location is in the process of being confirmed, but it will be held within city limits.
This clinic is suitable for those coaching youth, college, and club ultimate teams where there will be players new to the sport. The clinic is split into two sessions. The morning session covers coaching ethics, insurance and liability, and how to teach self-officiating. The afternoon session covers teaching skills to new players, fitness, and running an effective practice.
The clinic is especially useful for experienced players who’ve been playing for several years and are out of touch with what it is like to pick up the sport. Need more encouragement to show up? Last year Colleen Conrad attended the sessions and raves, “As an experienced coach, I felt that the clinic was extremely informative and useful. The instructor provided new drills that I was able to introduce to my team immediately, and he shared a number of helpful coaching strategies and team-building exercises. The environment at the clinic was collaborative and constructive, and the instructor was approachable and professional.”
In addition to getting the warm feeling deep in the cockles that only comes from being certified, you will also get some pretty cool items from UPA and sponsor Five Ultimate.
To register for the coaching clinic, go here: http://www.upa.org/coaches/clinics . You’ll need to have your UPA membership up to date, and pay the registration fee. The fee for the ethics only workshop is $45, while the fee for both the full day combined ethics and coaching performance workshop is $75. For Austin-area coaches: If you attend the workshop and volunteer to coach at two youth or college events afterwards, UPLA will reimburse half your fee. Additionally, rebates are available from UPA for female coaches or for people coaching female players.
The deadline to sign up is Feb. 17th, 2010, so get on it!
