0
airdrew20012001

How much does the coach coarse cost?

Recommended Posts

I haven't asked here in Atlanta but I did get a quote from Raeford of $35. Thats not including your check dives of course.....I know I'll have to cough up a few bucks because we have to bring an evaluator in from somewhere else.
"I only have a C license, so I don't know shit..right?"-Clay

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Disclaimer - I know nothing about the US coach rating...
BUT
This strikes me as yet another reason why the Canadian rating system is superior.....
I dont know what $35 gets you, or $100 with the jumps, but it cant be much....
The courses for getting the basic coach rating (Coach 1) for CSPA is a (from my not very reliable memory) 2 day sport specific course at the DZ, I think 4 days (2 weekends) theory from the National Coaching Association; this gets you the provisional rating to complete the parctical portion, which is acting as C1 on 50 jumps. To get C2, its another round of specific (4 days I think), theory and practical: C2 is what people think of as a RW coach.
I strongly beleive in "you get what you pay for" and I cant see how the amount of training you get for $35 will make a good coach...
Fellow canadians (Rob: I'm looking at you) correct my figures if I have made a mistake.....
Remster
Muff 914

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Remi,
it is my opinion that the amount of money one pays for training has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the quality of training one receives in a course with a set sylabus. I am talking USPA ratings here, not the fluffery of Skydive U and it's copies.
Here in North Carolina, particularly Raeford, we have a HUGE amount of course directors, designated evaluators, and Instructors in every skydiving discipline. The two military clubs here regularly run courses for their members (future instructors) and anyone else in the area who wants to attend. We keep the cost per student to a bare minimum by maintaining our own course directors who had their ratings paid for by the club. The coach course is a two-day classroom sylabus, plus the dropzone work. Guys like me instruct and assist in those classes; we do not cut corners or hand out ratings. I don't make a penny teaching at the club, but you won't catch anyone saying I teach a chickenshit course. We do things this way here to keep things rolling with fresh blood. Ours is an area with a high turnover in personnel, so if we do not do it that way we run into staffing problems.
We do the same thing as far as riggers go. Nobody pays anything to apprentice rig here. You can learn as fast or slow as you care and have free access to a several very-well equipped lofts. It helps that the local DPRE rigs at Raeford airport and is likewise free with his time.
Chuck
My webpage HERE

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Thanks for the feedback Chuck,
I do know I was talking through my hat since I dont know much about the USPA rating system. Do you have a link or an article explaining what the courses consist of and the different ratings?
PS: I still think the CSPA system is better ;), not because of cost, but because of the stepped approach to it, but then again, I might be proven wrong...
Remster
Muff 914

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
The USPA rating system currently has four categories: AFF, IAD/Static Line, Coach, and Tandem. USPA consolidated the instructional material for all in the new "Instruction Rating Manual." The manual is viewable at uspa.org under both the "Safety and Training" and "Download Docs and Forms" tabs.
As for the cost of the coach course, there are a few things to consider. First, you will have to pay for your eval jumps (which consist of your slot and your evaluators), and you need 2 satisfactory eval jumps. At $20 per slot, assume three eval jumps (one screw up and two satisfactory), that's $120 right there. Second, you have to have the SIM and Rating Manual for ground class. You can download them for free at uspa.org or you can by them for a combined cost of about $50. Third, the class participants usually have to pay for the evaluator's time (2 days) in the ground instruction. Depending on class size, this can range from $25 to $50 per person. Last, you need to pay uspa for the rating fee. Last I checked that was $20.
So for a ballpark guestimate, I'd say that the coach course is going to cost an aspiring rating holder somewhere around $215. Plus beer.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Remster,
I have to agree with you: you get what you pay for.
Unfortunately, I am so old that they "grandfathered" me in as a CSPA Coach 1. I did the Coach 2 Course in 1989 and again in 2000. Since my boss paid for the course, I don't remember the exact rpice, but the Coach 2 Course cost around CAN$125 plus a bunch of jump tickets.
The stepped approach works better for me. I have a small brain and it can only absorb limited amounts of information at one time.
It is difficult for us to compare Canadian and American coaches because USPA has made so many changes recently. The last USPA course I attended was a BIC given in 1989 and it was roughly equivalent to a CSPA Coach 1.
Would an American please post a brief outline of the USPA Coach course?
What are the duties, responsibilities, priveleges of a USPA Coach?
Is there more than one level of coach within USPA?
We cannot have a serious debate if we don't start with facts.
Remster, in the long run the Americans always come around to doing things the Canadian way. Initially they stubbornly resist any new idea. Then it takes them a few years to re-write the history books. Once they "discover" how something is really an American invention, they adopt it with great gusto and enthusiasm. Just look at French links, Para-Commander, ram-air parachutes, AADs, direct bags, relative work, sit-flying, PFF, IAD, etc. The list is long.
For example, IAD was invented in Georgia or Alabama back in the mid-1970s. USPA quashed the idea for many years - like they tried to quash AFF - then Tom MacCarthy toke the idea north to Gananoque, Ontario, Canada. Canadians perfected IAD, then re-introduced it to the USA circa 1990.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Okay, this doesn't have anything to do with the costs of the coach course, but instead of starting a new thread (laziness) I was wondering if anyone out there has taken the course and if they could share their experience with it. I don't know of anyone who has taken it, and my dz seems to still be clueless on what to do. I've been reading up on the "old" coach course syllabus and the suggested readings in the SIM (thanks to Purdue for providing me with all the free paper and toner,) and I'm just trying to get an idea of what to expect if I decide to go through with it.
"Save me Jebus!" Homer Simpson

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Not sure what you mean by clueless. A Coach Course Director runs the course, and that person shouldn't be clueless.
As for what to expect, it's all about learning to teach others. The skills and concepts that you have to teach are simple and almost instinctive to a person with a few hundred jumps. Stable exit, floating, sinking, forward movement, etc. The difficult part is conveying these concepts to another person, a person who has no idea what the hell you're talking about. The coach course is all about you learning how to teach these concepts to someone who has 10 jumps.
That's the theoretical answer of what to expect. The practical answer is this: you brush up on your basic skydiving knowledge by reading the SIM (remember that thing?) and the syllabus; you sit in on and help teach a few FJC's; you sit through a two day lecture/discussion of the syllabus; you practice what you've learned through mock explanations, briefings, and debriefings; you take a written exam; you show your stuff on the eval dives, including briefings and debriefings.
Hope this helps.
-Andy

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Well, I agree with Chuck that it is the director that matters not how much he or she charges, but I would not have paid more than $50 plus jumps for the rating. I think that anyone who is charging more is ripping you off. I only paid $50 for my BIC and thought that was right. There is a guy trying to charge $300 for the coach course. That is insane. An AFFCC cost me $475!
Just my 0.02.
Alex

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

hey chunky munky!

so you teach a coach course? how much would that be in vodka gofasts?:P

seriously. after i get relocated and refinanced i will head out to raeford for some nignog and instruction. maybe right before mardi-gras and then head there from you place. i am now splitting my dives up between vert and flat. what should i specifically be focusing on (besides getting better at it) to prepare for your regimen?

namaste, motherfucker.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

0