Paula Croasdale from Fantastic Gymnastics was one of the 110 coaches who attended GymSchool. Here is what she had to say about her experience doing the WAG Junior Coach Course…
“Annie Prout and I attended the WAG Junior Coach Course at GymSchool and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The courses and the workshops were well organised and the presenters were great and very knowledgeable. It was also great to have the workshops and the courses combined because with every practical we had, people who attended the workshop came in with new fresh questions. The overall atmosphere was so open and friendly and everyone exchanged their experiences and knowledge with other coaches.
One of the presenters for the WAG Junior Coach course was Alexandra Koudinova and I learned so much from her teaching style in those two days. It was great to have gymnasts of all different levels help the presenters demonstrate and clearly see the difference between a very well executed exercise and less well executed next to each other.
I have experienced the importance of doing the Post-Course assignment, as you use what you have learned during the course putting it into practice and re-evaluating this. If I hadn’t done the post-course assignment for the Elementary Course I would not have learned the essential lesson planning and skill breakdowns, and personally would not have been ready for this next course. It is really important to note what you want to achieve and plan accordingly for this. I have a very busy life (as we all do nowadays) so I struggle to find time to do the post-course assignments but feel that they are a crucial and worthwhile process for the whole learning development.
Everything was so well organised, it made it easier to focus on what was being taught.
This is a new world for me and I am loving the opportunities to develop my coaching skills and meet other gymsports people.”