Following the resounding success of the I COACH KIDS conference held recently at ATU Donegal in association with Sport Ireland Coaching, Donegal Sports Partnership has organised a series of coaching workshops that will be rolled out over the coming months.
The series will be delivered by Sport Ireland Coaching and will focus on physical literacy, coaching children in sport and coaching teenage girls in sport. The workshops are open to all coaches, volunteers and teachers from all sports clubs, community centres, and schools with various levels of experience.
The first of the workshops, which will discuss physical literacy, will be delivered on Tuesday, October 4th. This session will last two and a half hours and will cover the origins, definitions, elements and importance of physical literacy, while identifying where and how physical literacy can be developed and by whom. The cost for this workshop is €10.
The coaching children in sport programme is divided into four modules and will be delivered online and face-to-face on Tuesday, October 18th, Thursday, October 20th and Saturday, October 22nd. The aim of the coaching children programme is to provide participants with a basic understanding of children’s sport and physical activity, and best ways to optimise children’s enjoyment, participation and positive outcomes.
The concepts of physical literacy and holistic development run throughout the series of workshops and will be covered in detail. Looking ahead to the three-session course, lead officer for Coaching Children, Sheelagh Quinn, said: “Coaching children is a process of guided discovery, putting the child’s needs at the centre of the process and ensuring that every child has a positive experience. It’s also about keeping them engaged in sport and physical activity for life.”
The duration of this workshop is 12 hours that will be split over four sessions. Module one and two will be delivered through online workshops and will cover coaching children successfully in sport – an introduction for coaches, and child-centred coaching – understanding child development and learning its impact on how we coach. Modules three and four will deal with developing physical literacy. These will be delivered in person and participants will get an opportunity to coach each other. The cost of this programme is €40 and the fee will include lunch on Saturday, October 22nd.
The coaching teenage girls in sport workshop will be delivered online on Thursday, November 10th. This workshop has been developed to enable coaches to create a positive coaching experience of sport and physical activity for girls aged 12-17years, and create an environment where girls and young women can develop holistically. Topics covered will include engagement, dropout, communication and maturation. This workshop will cost €10.
Donegal Safety Training Solutions will deliver workshops on sports first aid, while the Irish Heart Foundation will facilitate the heart saver course. Both workshops are three hours in duration and both will be delivered in-person.
The sports first aid will be delivered on Thursday, November 10th and will cover the following – Calling the emergency services, when and how?, the chain of survival and the golden hour, CPR and an introduction to defibrillator, choking, the recovery position, head Injuries, fractures, medical emergencies including asthma, anaphylaxis and epilepsy. Participants will receive a certificate valid for two years and the fee is €25.
The Irish Heart Foundation’s heart saver workshop will take place on Tuesday, November 22nd and will discuss calling the emergency services – how and when?, CPR, defibrillation, heart attack and stroke, administration of aspirin and choking. Participants will receive a certificate from the Irish Heart Foundation valid for two years and the cost is €30.
The Female Leadership Programme is a 10-week personal development programme aimed at providing training and support to women to help them achieve success in leadership roles in their sport. The course will give women and young girls across Donegal the opportunity to enhance personal skills, increase their confidence and create networks with like-minded people across different sports.
Sessions will be delivered using a combination of both online and in-person settings. The sessions will be interactive and will focus on developing confidence, leadership, resilience and effective communication. The programme is specifically designed for female leaders over 16 years old working or volunteering in sport – committee members, officials, coaches and those who want to pursue a future role in club activities.
Places will be offered via an application process. As the course is heavily subsidised through Sport Ireland Dormant Accounts, Donegal Sports Partnership is able to offer a place for €30. The deadline for applications is 12 noon on Friday, October 14th.
The links for the workshops, are as follows:
(1) Physical Literacy https://physical-literacy.eventbrite.co.uk
(2) Coaching Children in Sport https://coaching-children-insport.eventbrite.co.uk
(3) Coaching Teenage in Sport https://coaching-girls-insport.eventbrite.co.uk
(4) Sports First Aid https://sport-first-aid.eventbrite.co.uk
(5) Heart Saver https://Irish-heart-foundation.eventbrite.co.uk
(6) Female Leadership Programme https://female-leadership-programme.eventbrite.co.uk
For more information, log on to https://activedonegal.com/news-events/
