Entry Requirements: 

 Coaches should be able to demonstrate the following in their application:

• Active Triathlon Coach/Member of Triathlon Ireland, already be an active coach with  some experience of coaching Triathletes

• Be at least 18 years of age at the start of the course programme.

• Successful completion of TI Level 1 course, with positive recommendation from Level 1 course facilitators; 

• Ideally the Level 1 course should have been completed at least two years prior to starting the level 2 course. 

• Attend 100% of the course; 

• Ability to complete all online tasks, will require access to a computer with internet access, in order to use the World Triathlon Education Hub before, during and after the face to face element of the course; 

Duration: 5 days. The course is run over 3 weekends.

Cost: €675pp 

Level 2 Coach Remit:
World Triathlon Level 2 coaches will have a broad knowledge and can independently plan, deliver, review more complex and specific sessions. They may work with any participation group, Paratriathlon, children through to adults, participation through to performance. Coaches at this level may work independently or within a team structure or under supervision depending upon their own role and the context within which they coach. 

Course Schedule:
This is a sample schedule and may vary course to course.

The World Triathlon Level 2 Coaching Course requires candidates to undergo informal and formal assessment to fully meet the qualification requirements. The coach will be assessed by qualified Triathlon Ireland Coach Developers. As the aim of the course is to develop coaches who can actively coach and interact with participants in their own context, the primary element of assessment is a practical coaching exercise, which takes place after the contact days of the course. There are several other elements of assessment that enable the Coach Developers to build a more complete picture of the coaches’ strengths and development areas: 

• Attend all days of the course

• Pre-Course Quizzes- these quizzes are aimed at re-confirming learning at Level 1 and Level 2 pre-course reading, and may require candidates to refresh reading of material.

* Role of the coach (Level 1 Quiz); 

* Population Groups; 

* Safety and Welfare (Level 1 Quiz);

* Coaching Process and Skills; 

* Sports Science;

* Swimming; 

* Cycling; 

* Running;

• On-course 15-minute practical micro-coaching sessions

• Completion of online Reflection tasks

• Group Case Study presentation

• Training Design workshops

• Post Course Assessments

World Triathlon Level 2 Post Course Assessment Tasks

Post Course Assignment A – Session Video (L2c)

During the course, you will have delivered two coaching sessions which have been observed by the facilitators. As part of the feedback for those tasks the Facilitators will have provided you with feedback and may have indicated some areas that they wish to see you focus on. This feedback will be visible further down this page (below the ‘Submission status’ section), once you have added a Submission.

This task requires you to deliver a session in your home environment and film the session.

The facilitator will have identified and agreed with you the discipline that should be coached, either swimbikerun. They will also have informed you of any specific points that they wish to see you deliver, for example, incorporating questioning and listening into your coaching.

These points should be listed below as feedback soon after the final day of the course.

As part of this task you need to submit:

• A session plan – that follows best practice.

• A link to the video of the session (see below for guidance).

• A session reflection – using standard templates.

Video Link – due to size of video files, it is unlikely that you will be able to upload the video to the Education Hub. As such we recommend that you use online file sharing software, or consider services such as YouTube. When uploading video of athletes, please ensure you have their permission, and take appropriate steps to protect their privacy, i.e. set limits on who can see the file, or hide it from public view. Take special care if you have young athletes.

Post Course Assignment B – Linked plan or High level plan (L2c)

This task focuses on your planning skills as a coach. You are required to choose ONLY ONE of the following two tasks:

• Create a high level 4-week plan for a group of athletes and outline why you adopted this plan, also include a written reflection document on what happened and whether the plan worked. 

OR

• A detailed set of session plans for 4 consecutive sessions working on a specific area of skill development with a small group of athletes. Also, outline why you chose the topic, approach and athletes that you did. Did the sessions work, what was the outcome?

You will have a six-week period to complete the task, after which time you will not be able to complete the Level 2 course. The final date will be confirmed by the facilitators on the course before you leave the venue.

Guidance – Post Course Assignment B – Linked plan or High-level plan 

This document provides some guidance on common issues and mistakes made regarding these tasks:

• High level 4-week plan

• Too much low-level detail, every drill is listed but there is no common theme.

• Main sets, write in format:

Number of repetitions x time/distance of each rep at a specific intensity with specific rest and what the session is targeting e.g. threshold.

• Ensure the ratio of work:rest is appropriate for the desired intensity to achieve your session goal. If you apply the right one you will make sure that the desired energy system is being developed and not something else.  If you allow too much, or too little rest then its likely the session won’t be carried out at the intensity that was desired.

• Carefully describe the intensity you are using, e.g. A ‘medium’ session, this can imply different things to different people, be more specific.  Also consider having a few ways of explaining intensity.

• Include a short description of the group, covering their age, ability, motivations in general and why your plan is appropriate to this group.  A session that is great for one group, may be inappropriate for another, e.g. 10x100m swim may be too monotonous for under 10-year olds?  Is using paddles for young swimmers necessary or appropriate?

• Always write down the volume of the training session (total kilometres/meters), considering warmup and cooldown as they also make part of the training session and count altogether. This is also a good way to control the total amount of training your athletes are performing

• Include the content of each session, the warm up, the main set, the cool down, intensities as well as recovery times.  

• If writing Strength and conditioning sessions, what kind of exercises are you doing? for how long? What’s the intensity?

• Common issue, inappropriate balance of disciplines, e.g. not enough of one sport, or too much or another. 

• If you have used test sessions, or time trials, include the test results. 

• Have an approach to measuring training load.  Common issues – only used volume to measure training load, what else could/are measuring training load using, intensity, TRIMP, HRV etc  do different athletes need different recovery, have you measured this in any way for the different athletes?

• Make sure the weeks are balanced out, common issues are – all/too much high intensity, or high intensity sessions next to each other.  Another issue, all low intensity, no higher intensity.

• When you plan a Fartlek Session of 1h15 RPE 6/10 it is not enough to know about the session.

• Detailed set of session plans for 4 consecutive sessions.

• High level plan assessment guidance – Some simple tips on what I’ve seen so far, its high level so no need to list every drill etc, just what drills would focus on (if relevant).  Also, remember to, does that help?

COURSE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

WORLD TRIATHLON LEARNING HUB

For queries contact Mackenzie: mackenzie@triathlonireland.com