Coach development is an area we are passionate about and have put in a lot of work to build our education framework and content. Singapore Gymnastics aims to build up a network of trained facilitators leading to the delivery of a greater number of high-quality courses and workshops. It is our aim to provide further ongoing professional development for our network of facilitators. 

Lectures have always been widely used in many course runs and while it holds its own value, it is still a form of passive learning. As with trends, the language and focus is slowly but surely shifting from an one-way method of communication to something that is more interactive and engaging. We put together a Learning Facilitator (LF) training workshop that took place both online (21 April) and in person (25 April) where the LFs have opportunities to experience firsthand what active learning might be under the guidance of expert trainers from Singapore and CoachSG. We have 14 Learning Facilitators from all 5 gymnastics disciplines coming together to share ideas, solve problems with peers and to practise facilitating the learning of others. Joining us at different intervals during this training workshop, we had Azhar Yusof - Head of CoachSG as well as Gene Schembri from Kaiwa Consulting who has been a key developer in this project since day 1.

With the upcoming Intermediate coaching courses, candidate coaches will have the chance to work with our Learning Facilitators in their various disciplines to tap into their wealth of knowledge and skills. From the National Office and the LF team, we are excited to be supporting the learning of future generations of coaches.

And while coaching courses are fantastic avenues for coaches to learn about new knowledge, a lot of learning also do take place outside of the coaching courses. It is just as important to have yourself a mentor, as shared by American surgeon Atul Gawande in his Ted Talk. He has studied this question "How do we improve in the face of complexity?" with a surgeon's precision and shares what he's found to be the key: having a good coach to provide a more accurate picture of our reality, to instil positive habits of thinking, and to break our actions down and then help us build them back up again. "It's not how good you are now; it's how good you're going to be that really matters," Gawande says.

Singapore Gymnastics will putting out a couple more coach mentoring programmes within the year to grow the community of mentors on the ground where novice and seasoned coaches alike can reach out to and work together, be it bouncing ideas or getting that external point of view and help each other grow. The next coach mentoring course is on Wednesday, 30th Jun @ 9:30am-12:30pm. There are requirements to be a coach mentor, for more information please visit https://www.singaporegymnastics.org.sg/events/97462/

From the National Office and the LF team, we are excited for what is to come and will keep on pushing ahead in the space of coach development to ensure we are well equipped to facilitate and support the learning of future generations of our Fundamental and Intermediate coaches.