What skills to develop for coach rating?

[nazgul 0]

Hello,

I am thinking to have a coach course in April and I would just like to know what skills I should be working on in order to prepare myself for it.

I am interested to know what exactly the in air evaluation jumps consist of and what one should be working on to get up to those standards.

Any and all help is appreciated!

[JustChuteMeNow 0]

If you do a search on this site, I'm sure you can get more information; however, here is something to get you started.

As far as skills go, study the IRM and the SIMS and learn that material. Half the class is showing that you know how to teach. The evaluation forms for the coach course are in the back of this manual. Obviously work on your belly skills so that you can concentrate on your student and not your own flying.

Last but not least do some jumps with people and try and practice your ability to remember what they did and didn't do on the jump ie timing, count, body position, etc

Good luck on your course.

Think of how stupid the average person is and realize that statistically half of them are stupider than that.

[wildfan75 1]

I just went through (and completed) the coach rating course. For eval dives we did cat. G2 and cat. H. I concur with belly flying skills for this. If you worry and concentrate less on what you're doing, you'll find it easier to watch the student and remember what they did.

There is an open book coach test in the IRM. I'm sure the director will have you complete that before taking the course (or have it done when you arrive to go over as a group).

Look at the mini lessons that you will have to do (different exits, forward & dock, tracking with awareness, two (I think its labeled) general portions of the FJC, etc) and begin to write lesson plans. Don't put too much work into this as part of the course is learning the whole, part, whole and preparation, presentation, application and evaluation teaching/learning method, which you'll apply to doing the mini lessons. If you have an opportunity to talk to some of the instructors at your dz before you do it, ask them how they teach forward & dock, tracking with awareness, etc.

Good luck.

[Gary73 8]

All of the above, and if you can, do a practice eval ground prep, dive, and debrief with a Coach CD or an Instructor who has acted as a Coach Course Evaluator recently. Be especially careful about your pull altitude. Evaluators have no leeway on that one! Some items can be done before, during, or after the course. Do them before the course and it'll make it easier on both you and the CD. Good luck!

Here's the standard announcement that I put out when I plan to hold a course:

Before attending the course, candidates must have:
at least a B License and at least 100 freefalls,
observed and assisted with one complete First-Jump Course,
a Skydiver’s Information Manual* that's less than 2 years old,
an Instructional Rating Manual* that's less than 2 years old,
become familiar with the relevant SIM and IRM sections,
Become familiar with all A-license (yellow) card items, and
completed the Coach Written Exam (in the IRM).

At the course, candidates will:
Attend a day or so of class and
conduct training sessions to teach several basic skydiving skills.

At or after the course, candidates will:
perform two or three simulated ground preps and coached jumps with Evaluators.

Before or after the course, candidates must:
teach the general portions of two First-Jump Courses under the direct supervision of an Instructor. (Not a bad idea to wait ‘til after – hopefully you will have learned a few things during the course that will come in handy during the FJC!)

Upon receiving the rating, Coaches can:
teach the general portion of the First-Jump Course,
make regular or coached jumps with students who have completed AFF,
verify (but not sign!?) A-license card qualifications, and
work toward qualifying for AFF and/or Tandem Instructor ratings.

Don’t delay your preparations. This is the easiest USPA Instructional Rating to get, but it’s not something you can just walk into and expect to pass!

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

[GreatGigInThSky 0]

FYI, Skydive Sebastian is hosting a Coach's Course with Rob Laidlaw of Skydive University from
April 4 - 6. You can go to their website www.skydivesebastian.com or call manifest 772-388-5672.

Failure is not falling down, but refusing to get up.
- A Chinese Proverb

[nazgul 0]

Thank you all guys..You've realy help me..!

[tdog 0]

The best coaches I have worked with (and I am not talking about some rating, but people who have taught me at various points in my skydiving life) have:

1) Made me EXTATIC about the experience. Even if I sucked, I knew what I improved upon and left wanting to spend more money on the experience.

2) Communicated to me in freefall/tunnel, with sign language, mouth, or even eye contact expressions, better than 1,000 spoken words.

3) Knew how to teach me, not some checklist of how to teach.

4) Made the jump fun.

So when you get or work on your coach rating - you will be inundated with a bunch of stuff from the USPA and checklists and forms and evaluations. But, remember a good coach is more than that.

Pretty much I look to a few guys (Craig from Airspeed, Pat from Perris, etc) as my role models.

So how do you prepare now? Go practice your in-freefall-communication skills. You don't have to say, "Can you order me a pepperoni pizza?", but you should be able to say, "arch more" with a wink of the eye to say "I am having fun, you are too, right?"

You know, I learned by accident that, playing Rock-Paper-Scissors is a good coach dive. If you can stay on level, three feet away, with the range of motion required to play the game - you have neutral freefall figured out. And, if you don't say the point of the game is to "stay neutral", the "student" does not over think it... They will spend so much time on the next "throw" they will forget they are learning how to compensate for wild movements of the arms.

Oh, a good way to do a disorienting exit followed by proof of stability and a swoop and dock... Do a tube exit with a planned break at a certain altitude. When the "student" lets you go, tumble intentionally longer then them. Watch them swoop down to you, seeing if they check their altimeter while diving down. If they make it in time, sign language "hold on." Spin them around, let go when you know they have checked their altimeter at breakoff, and see if they track off/breakoff at pull time or pull in place. (The spin will throw them around a bit so they will have to check their heading before they track, something that will be a key skill for their group skydives post student status when they funnel at breakoff, and it will be unexpected, just like their first funnel on their 26th jump as a newly minted skydiver.)

You won't find that "syllabus" in the SIM or IRM... But it teaches/tests many TLOs (Target Learning Objectives) in ways the student will land thinking "that was the most fun I ever have had", and as a coach, if done well, it is challenging too, thus worth spending a bit of time doing. This is how I can justify to myself giving away coach jumps to "students" because I can make them so much fun for myself that I would feel guilty getting paid. (not to say those who are in this industry professionally should not get paid.)

[popsjumper 2]

Wow, Tdog!
I'm always up for making coach jumps more fun instead of just work and you've given me some good stuff...and a lead-in to other similar good stuff.
You be 'da MAN!

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[Waldschrat 0]

Only 100 Freefall jumps? Holy shit.....

[timuuu 0]

Observation. Over the next few jumps you have, try to notice what is REALLY going on around you. Most new jumpers are so focused on what they need to do (at least goal oriented ones) that they don't focus on everyone else around them nearly enough.

Coach jumps should be student centered. The student is paying for at least their slot (if not more in most cases), and has asked you to teach them. Teach happens on the ground. Evaluate them in the air - watch what they are doing and how they can improve.

I like the "have fun" comment as well.

Tim