No worries, I'm fascinated to see how far we can deviate Where were you living? I had a friend from Zimbabwe that had similar stories...Apologies to Dawsy for this extended hijack . . .
In Pemba, Cabo Delgado. It's up on the northern coast.No worries, I'm fascinated to see how far we can deviate Where were you living? I had a friend from Zimbabwe that had similar stories...
I'm not anti-coach, just anti-certification. If I were to give a recommendation for a would-be coach, I'd recommend in this order:
Keep in mind- this is my opinion of how one could become a pretty well-rounded barefoot coach. I don't like the idea of having any sort of barriers to entering the teaching realm. Your experience is more than enough to get started.
- Read John Wooden's "Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations..."
- Read "Tread Lightly" by Pete Larson and Bill Katovsky
- Read Ken Bob's barefoot book
- Find my book online, download for free
- Start reading every new post here: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/huaraches
- Read the first ChiRunning book
- Read the first Pose book
- Read "The Art of Non-Conformity" by Chris Guillebeau
- Take a Good Form running clinic
- Watch the Evolution Running DVD
- Read Elliot Aronson's "Social Animal"
- Observe your two favorite teachers, one from middle school and one from high school, ask how they manage to reach all their students. Mimic that.
Check out Jason's post today at Barefoot Running University: http://barefootrunninguniversity.com/2012/06/07/so-you-want-to-be-a-barefoot-running-coach/Hi Jason! I'm new to the site and only a year into my BR running (not always consistent either), but now excited and ready to make the transition to BF running more full time! I have only read a couple books so far and just found this site, so thank you for these wonderful resources!
I was invited to be one of the first 10 Vivobarefoot certified coaches trained by Lee Saxby. Glad I went. It's made me a better runner, coach etc but I was invited. I would not pay 3 grand to get the certification. The information is out there if one is clever enough to put it together. Lee Saxby's training is fantastic information and it makes more geeky detailed biomechanical sense than what I have seen out there yet (still reading Tread Lightly) but its still 3 grand.
Check out Jason's post today at Barefoot Running University: http://barefootrunninguniversity.com/2012/06/07/so-you-want-to-be-a-barefoot-running-coach/
I was invited to be one of the first 10 Vivobarefoot certified coaches trained by Lee Saxby. Glad I went. It's made me a better runner, coach etc but I was invited. I would not pay 3 grand to get the certification. The information is out there if one is clever enough to put it together. Lee Saxby's training is fantastic information and it makes more geeky detailed biomechanical sense than what I have seen out there yet (still reading Tread Lightly) but its still 3 grand.
I have an alternate proposal. We create a barefoot coach sub-forum. This will allow coaches to discuss all issues related to coaching. Based on contributions and discussions, members can earn the use of the title "BRS barefoot coach." That exact mechanism can be discussed; I really don't have a good method to make that determination at this point.
The theory behind the idea is simple- the current "how to run correctly" landscape is so varied, discussion among peers is perhaps the single best way to train to become a well-rounded coach. all of us are "experts" in some regard, essentially we would learn from each other.
The idea completely turns the "certification" idea on it's head, but it's the best "open source" approximation I can think of.
I'd volunteer to mod the sub-forum.
I really like this idea but I think the tricky bit would be determining just when someone could be deemed 'coach'. What we could use the forum for instead is to come up with as close to a standardised set of drills, guidelines and tips as we can.
Once a reasonable knowledge base has been created, it becomes easier to judge if someone has what it takes to be a coach.
I'm not saying that everyone would be expected to teach the same way, rather that there are some basic tools that all coaches should have at their disposal before they begin to take on students. This includes understanding POSE, Chi, etc, the common terms, and generally accepted practices such as high cadence, lifting the foot, etc.
The sub forum could then also be used for coaches to ask each other questions, etc.
This brings us back into the realm of classic certification, but I think that a structured set of material and benchmarks is what people are looking/asking for when they want to be an 'official' coach.