Table Tennis England has today launched its updated Level 1 Session Coach course.

The Level 1 Session Coach course is the first step on the coaching pathway, giving attendees the skills they need to plan and deliver basic table tennis coaching sessions.

It has been revamped to make it more modern and accessible, to encourage more people to become coaches.

Aled Howell, Coaching and Education Manager at Table Tennis England, said:

The modern-day coach is always evolving and this new course aims to reflect that to help us develop the quality of grassroots coaching.

We spent 12 months developing this course, which included talking to current coaches and analysing insight from our own research and research from UK Coaching.

We believe this new course is enhanced, more personalised and in-tune with modern needs.

Among the key changes is a more streamlined and blended approach to learning and development, including a reduction from three days to two days of practical and the introduction of online learning to allow a more flexible approach to suit individual needs.

Aled added:

The Level 1 course focus on both the ‘How to Coach’ and the ‘What to Coach’ elements of coaching.

The course can be completed over a four to eight-week period, and is split into three parts: practical, eLearning and the workbook.

As well as attending two separate days of practical, learners are expected to complete home study and practical coaching tasks between each day of the course.

They will also need to complete a Child Protection & Safeguarding workshop to gain the full qualification.

The course is being launched during the inaugural Coaching Week. Taking place from 4th to 10th June, the week-long celebration created by UK Coaching, the lead agency for coaching in the UK, aims to highlight great coaching and the benefits coaching can bring.

A number of courses have already been set up around the country between now and March 2019, giving dozens of coaches the opportunity to take their first steps on the pathway.

Upcoming Level 1 Session Coach courses:

London – 24 June

Wednesbury – 30 June

Leicester – 1 July

Harlow – 1 July

Kidlington – 21 July, 2018

St Austell – 23 September, 2018

Preston – 30 September, 2018

Pontefract – 14 October, 2018

Widnes – 12 January, 2019

Christchurch – 27 January, 2019

Whitstable – 17 March, 2019

To find out more about how to book onto one these new courses, please click here.