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Four New UKCC Level 1 Coaches for DJC

Writer's picture: Ross TaylorRoss Taylor

DJC Level 1 coaching course - Part Two It has been a flurry of activity for Corey, Kate, Mark and I since we attended the first part of our coaching course six weeks ago. Numerous session plans to be written, classes to be taken and reviewed by the Level 2 DJC coaches, First aid courses, Child protection courses, DBS checks… the list went on and before we knew it, the big day was here. Assessment day!

Back up to Taunton, a beautiful sunny morning with plenty of time, in fact time for a pit stop and a coffee on the way, or so we thought… A misunderstanding meant we were half our late, just time to throw on our suits and rush onto the mat! Slightly flustered and just time to say a quick hello to some familiar faces, it was time to settle in for the day ahead. Once again the 20 or so prospective coaches were split across the two mats, this time Kate and I (plus Lewis from SBJC) in one group and Corey and Mark (plus Devi from Quayside JC) in the other. Luckily for my group we had Steve Gawthorpe as our assessor, so it was nice to see a familiar face, and he quickly put the group at ease.

What followed was a conveyor belt of sessions, reflection sheets and assessor feedback chats. Nearly 5 hours of Judo on the mat, either being a coach or one of the coached class, took its toll both on the mind as well as the body. The sun was pouring through the skylights and I got through numerous bottles of water as the Dojo heated up. For some reason I seemed to get picked to be Uke a lot??? Not sure why, I guess people just like throwing me! It all passed in a blur. Overall they were a great bunch of people and some good friendships were made. I got to see Kate's class first hand , which was very good, but could only watch across the mats (in between throws!) the others, but from what I saw the nerves from last time were gone and everyone had grown in to the role so to speak. By the end of it, I think I had been thrown over 200 times!

The 3 BJA assessors gave us all some words of wisdom at the end followed by a round of applause as they congratulated us on our sessions and confirmed we had all passed (although some of the group were still subject to paperwork and portfolios being completed). Overall it has been a fantastic experience, one which I felt at the beginning I had no idea why I was there, but by the end the Coaches (who took the course and thank you all!) had built us up and given us the tools to start our coaching career. I am not sure how far it will go or which direction it might take but it has certainly started off far better than I could have ever imagined or hoped! Dan DJC


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