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A coaching assistant will improve a participant’s experience of sport and physical activity by supporting a coach to provide specialised support and guidance aligned to their individual needs.
practitioner
Coaching Assistant
The role
Coaching assistants help to improve an individual’s experience of sport and physical activity by providing support to coaches in the delivery of activities. They may also deliver part of a coaching session under supervision. They help with the preparation, delivery and review of activity sessions, and have an inspirational effect on the individuals, groups or communities that they work with.
Coaching assistants help to ensure that the culture and environment they are supporting sessions within is designed to meet the individual or group’s needs and that it allows them to achieve their goals and aspirations. This includes tailoring the experience to the individual and taking an inclusive approach.
They regularly work alongside coaches and other coaching assistants, volunteers and parents to ensure that each individual’s experience is the best that it can be.
What it takes
The following common or transferable skills are most frequently asked for by employers in coaching assistant job adverts across the UK:
| Skills and behaviours | % prevalence in job ads |
|---|---|
| Coaching | 74% |
| Planning | 39% |
| Communication | 26% |
| Interpersonal communications | 18% |
| First aid | 16% |
| Leadership | 16% |
| Teaching | 13% |
| Management | 13% |
| Time management | 13% |
| Motivational skills | 11% |
To find out more about the minimum knowledge, skills and behaviours an individual must understand and demonstrate to become a coaching assistant, you can visit our occupational professional standards library.
Getting in
There are several ways you can become qualified as a coaching assistant. Look at the options below to explore what option works best for you.
You can complete a non-sport-specific qualification such as:
Alternatively, you can complete a sport-specific coaching qualification of your chosen sport such as:
You can browse our Training Directory to see CIMSPA-endorsed non-sport-specific and sport-specific courses and qualifications.
For sport-specific qualifications, you can find out more information on coaching in your chosen sport via that sport\'s national governing body (NGB) website.
Download the full list of the national governing bodies recognised by UK sports councils.
Coaching assistant courses can be delivered in an online, in-person or hybrid (online and in person) format and do not typically have any entry requirements. The total course cost, study time and guided learning hours will vary depending on the delivery format, qualification and training provider/NGB you choose.
Some colleges and universities have embedded coaching qualifications into their sports coaching and development learning programmes.
You can browse our CIMSPA Endorsed Training Directory to check for colleges and universities that are recognised by CIMSPA for providing quality training to students.
In the Training Directory, you can also check what courses our endorsed colleges and universities offer as well as course entry requirements, a summary of course content/material and more information on how to apply.
You can find out more about completing a CIMSPA approved apprenticeship to become a Sports Coach via The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) website.
Training
Typical earnings
Not currently available
Demand
Not currently available
Typical working patterns
Not currently available
As well as exploring new career pathways, as a coaching assistant, you can also choose to progress your career by completing further training or continued professional development (CPD) in your role. This training can be added to enable coaching assistants to show their expertise in additional populations, in different environments and with technical specialisms.
Examples of specialisms that may be added are:
The content of the job posts displayed on the CIMSPA jobs board are pulled in through feeds from websites which are not under the control of CIMSPA.
CIMSPA will not be liable for any false, inaccurate, inappropriate or incomplete information presented on the jobs board.