First Asian Coaching Conductors Course a success

 
The first archery coaches conductors’ programme to be held in Asia was a unique experience. The nine-day course was conducted at the Archery Training Centre in Bangkok by the World Archery Development and Education Director Pascal COLMAIRE and Urte PAULUS from Austria from 26 February to 6 March.

The programme was designed to provide the participants with the necessary skills to train coaches Level 1 wherever it is needed and to develop coach education systems in their native countries.

In an enjoyable environment, nineteen coaches from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand were encouraged to share their own methods and views on the subject of coach education.

All coaches who attended the programme were experienced in training archers but not in training archery coaches. Changing the mind set to train coaches was a key focus area of the programme.

The course focussed primarily on communicating the archery knowledge to new coaches in the best and most effective way. The teaching method adopted by Pascal COLMAIRE was unique, involving interactive discussions, role play sessions and actual coaching simulations.

It was encouraging to see that no particular method was being brought forward as the only method to use, but a brain storming of the various methods and techniques used in the various countries were each discussed and evaluated. The key archery shooting steps practiced in the various countries were openly discussed and shared by the participants.

The participation of Coach KIM Sun Bin from Korea and Coach Urte PAULUS from Austria along with Mr Pascal COLMAIRE enabled an open and healthy discussion on the coaching methods adopted by the Western and Eastern archery worlds. The conclusion was that there is no one perfect method.

In addition to technical aspects of archery, Pascal COLMAIRE and Urte PAULUS focused a lot on class preparation, course planning as well as instruction methods. All coaches attending the programme were fully involved in the sessions and gained much knowledge required to train future coaches.

The interaction between the instructors and coaches together with the frank exchange of information and knowledge from many countries will be of enormous benefit to the development of archery in the future. Everyone walked away from the course with enhanced knowledge, lot of new friends and ready to train the next generation of archery coaches.

Urte PAULUS / Sam RAJAPAKSA (Head Coach, Colombo Archery Centre)
Edited by World Archery Communication