The new Foundation Coach course is the starting point for people who would like to get into coaching badminton and become a coaching assistant.

This course will teach you to:

1. Lead fun games, activities, and tournaments.
2. Understand the badminton landscape and structure in England.
3. Support a ‘coach’ in the delivery of a session through:

• Delivering appropriate warm ups/ cool downs.
• Appropriately feeding.
• Having a basic knowledge of hitting actions, tactics and the rules of the game.

Deliver Badminton England programmes such as:

• No Strings Sessions
• SmashUp!
• Racket Stars
• Understand the badminton landscape
• Effectively support the development of clubs/ sessions
• Maximise the participant experience

Why do this course?

Interested in joining the fulfilling world of helping people to develop new skills in their sport? Coaching can be a hugely satisfying experience, where you can decide how much time you commit. Whether it is helping at your local son or daughter’s club for an hour a week or setting up your own badminton club, coaching can work for you. Watching players develop their skills under your guidance is incredibly rewarding, but don’t overlook the benefits you’ll see personally. You’ll develop your personal and professional skills, get a chance to exercise, meet new people, encourage respectful behaviour and improve your confidence.

What is the course structure?

Before you attend your first day you will be sent through a link to two pre-course e-learning modules, these being:

• Coaching skills for foundation coaches
• Business skills for foundation coaches

These module takes roughly 1 hour to complete and will give you confidence, up to date terminology and knowledge to support you during the course. We recommend you complete these prior to day 1 of the course.

The course itself will follow the structure below:

Day one:

• Arrival and setting the scene
• My coaching philosophy
• My coaching kit bag
• Leading warm-ups and cool downs
• Experiencing Badminton England programmes
• Feeding & Differentiation
• Movement and the stroke cycle

Day two:

• Grips
• Serving
• Underarm hitting
• Forehand overhead hitting
• Backhand overhead hitting
• The badminton landscape
• Fun games

What is the assessment process?

The assessment process for the course is an e-assessment module, required to be completed after the course. This is formed of 30 multiple choice questions, with a pass mark of 75%. You will get three attempts to achieve this mark.

What have coaches thought of the course?

 “I really enjoyed myself – I am not a badminton player, so found some parts more difficult, but the tutors really helped my understanding throughout the duration of the course” – Helena

“I have gone back to my club and recommended the course to so many other potential coaches” – Derek