Coaching Pathway
Breakdown
Starting with the Foundation Level moving through to Master Level. Softball Australia’s coaching pathway includes a series of online courses, face to face assessments, practical sessions and coach education, curating confident and talented coaches on the field.
Formally, Coaching accreditation will walk you through Levels and Level-specific content however it is vital to expand your expertise outside of these courses. Putting yourself in game-like situations and testing yourself will help you in becoming a more well-rounded coach and educator.
Participating in Face to face education/courses is just as if not more important than online content, understanding situational play and coaching instincts is critical. To learn more about provided state-based training, reach out to your relevant State Coaching Director, who can assist you in your coach accreditation process and further development opportunities. State Coaching Director contacts are available here:
Foundation Pathway
The Foundation Coaching pathway includes 4 online courses and an in-person competency assessment conducted by an external assessor.
The foundational level aims to develop coaches at the club level with the focus on teaching and enjoyment over winning.
Coaching context – Junior players, adolescents and senior recreational players
There are four online courses that make up the theory component of the Foundation Level of Coaching:
1. Community Coach (Old Softball Batter Up Coaching Induction): is the first step in the coaching pathway. If you are new to the sport, or ready to make a move to coaching, this course is where to start. The course is a great resource for new coaches but also parents of players and teachers conducting Home Run Heroes programs through Sporting Schools.
2. Fundamental Skills (Old Level 1) course is ideal for someone who wants to learn more about specific softball skills. The course helps to develop greater understanding of core skills that coaches need to understand in order to teach players the basics at club or school level.
3. Training and Practice (Old Level 2) introduces how to run practice sessions to maximise the development of players. This is still in development and will be released soon.
4. Managing Games (Old Level 3) covers everything you need to understand about coaching a softball team on game days. It covers how to prepare for games, game strategies and how to observe players during a game and feed learnings into practice plans for player development.
Practical Competency Assessment takes place after the completion of all theory modules. This will assess the practical competency of the coach in relation to the theory learned in the online modules.
Performance Pathway
After the complication of the Foundation Pathway, you can choose to continue your coaching accreditation into the Performance Pathway, including 3 Levels: Performance, High Performance and Mastery.
Coaching at the elite level including Olympic events, World Games and Softball Australia lead programs will require such a level of accreditation.
Performance Coach provides the coach with the knowledge and skills to manage state teams and programs and to help state-level players develop more advanced individual softball position-specific and strategic skills. Focus is on optimising all aspects of preparation (physical, mental, technical, tactical, nutritional, recovery) through individualized programs maximising performance, peaking for national competition, and managing people and resources.
High Performance Coach is designed to assist coaches to develop the competencies necessary to work with state senior and national junior (U19) level players. Coaches develop expertise in program, resource and people management; advanced skill development and analysis, positional play and game strategies, basic anatomy biomechanics and physiology, and advanced planning and training methods.
Master Coach is designed to assist coaches to develop the competencies necessary to work with national senior team level players in international competition. Coaches complete a tertiary graduate Degree or Diploma of elite sports coaching through either one year full-time (or the equivalent part-time) study with the University of Queensland.
The Master Coach program is designed to assist coaches to augment their proven elite coaching abilities. The program prepares coaches with the most advanced training and planning methods; tactics and sport science are applied specifically to softball coaching. The program aims to produce coaches who are successful at coaching the highest level of softball and who will be competent to act as leaders in the field of high performance coaching.
To register your interest in becoming a Master Performance Coach, please contact Softball Australia directly.