how do I become a coach

[cazmac1]

Hi to all the coaches on the forum, I'm interested in becoming a coach, I have two questions...
1 How much will it coast me?
2 What would be my potential earnings?

[circle]

hmmmm

If you are any good - then it is not necessary to be affilitated to a particular organisation. Similarly, as your reputation increases so will your earnings

[cazmac1]

If you are any good - then it is not necessary to be affilitated to a particular organisation. Similarly, as your reputation increases so will your earnings

Are you saying that I should just advertise myself as a coach without any formal training or badges

[snookerdad]

Contact Del Hill through his website, delcoachessnooker.com, or World Snooker.

I had the best of both worlds. I did the World Snooker course which was run by Del.

With travelling and hotels included, it was around £1,000. That was four years ago. And it was money well spent.

As regards earnings, that depends on how good you are and whether your lads or lasses achieve national success. Word of mouth is the best advertising. Just ask Del!

Tim Dunkley

[cazmac1]

Contact Del Hill through his website, delcoachessnooker.com, or World Snooker.

I had the best of both worlds. I did the World Snooker course which was run by Del.

With travelling and hotels included, it was around £1,000. That was four years ago. And it was money well spent.

As regards earnings, that depends on how good you are and whether your lads or lasses achieve national success. Word of mouth is the best advertising. Just ask Del!

Tim Dunkley

Would you say that £1000 is typical amount to pay

[cazmac1]

With regards to earnings what I want to know is the potential earnings assuming your very good.

£30 K, £40, £50K or more ??????

[Gerry Armstrong]

Hi to all the coaches on the forum, I'm interested in becoming a coach, I have two questions...
1 How much will it coast me?
2 What would be my potential earnings?

- Get as much formal training as you can, from every source available.
- Talk to / play with as many pro standard players as you can to learn as much as you can from them.
- Study every book/website/DVD you can find.
- Don't try and coach unless you are SERIOUSLY good and have extensive knowledge of the game. You can't teach what you don't know.

And before the David Leadbetter type examples start getting quoted:

- There isn't a shot in the game of golf that David Leadbetter can't play, with the exception of the 400 yard drive, and that has nothing to do with technique or knowledge.
- Would you be happy if your child was being taught arithmetic by someone who was still trying to master long division?
- What would you think if you went to see your GP and he typed your symptons in to Google to see what the internet suggested?

A cue action is a very complex combination of many interdependent factors, a bit like the action of a Piano keyboard. Changes in one element can have far reaching consequences in many other areas and no 2 cue actions are identical.

So be very VERY careful before declaring yourself a Coach and starting to try and change someone's cue action without an imitate knowledge of what effect changes in one area can have on all other aspects of that particular cue action.

Coaching isn't about symptoms but causes and cures.

[jrc750]

With regards to earnings what I want to know is the potential earnings assuming your very good.

£30 K, £40, £50K or more ??????

I wouldn't have thought it would be anywhere near that. You would need a lot of customers on a regular basis which would probably never happen like you hope. Could be very hit and miss, ie maybe only 10 people a week at say £25 per hour - your not going to make a fortune are you.
By the way £25 is what Jim Donnelly charges when he comes to our club every 2nd week, and he has real pedigree. I know your down south with higher wages etc but you can't expect to charge any more than that (or do you ?)

[Gerry Armstrong]

With regards to earnings what I want to know is the potential earnings assuming your very good.

£30 K, £40, £50K or more ??????

I would say less than the lowest figure you quoted unless you become the next Del Hill.

For example, I get ad hoc coaching from one of the very best coaches in Scotland. His rate for a 2hr session is £70 including the cost of the table, which he pays out of the £70. So at approx. £30 an hour after table charges and say 25 hours coaching per week (a VERY optomistic value), you can do the maths yourself.

[thinsy]

Some questions you need to ask yourself:

Do you consider yourself capable of being a teacher?
Do you know enough about the basic techniques without being trained?
Do you wan't to coach for the enjoyment/love for the sport or to make a quick buck?

If you haven't coached anyone before then maybe you can put a few hours in on weekends helping new-comers/children learn the basics at your local club. Of course you wouldn't be able to charge much (if anything) but you would find out if you have some ability to help others. (obviously, if you do coach children you need to have the nessesary police checks carried out!).

[circle]

Are you saying that I should just advertise myself as a coach without any formal training or badges

No! all im saying is be careful what you sign up to.


Furthermore, training and badges are no guarantee that a coach is any good! The training and accreditation of coaches - in any sport - is a money making scheme

[cazmac1]

I hear what your saying and to be honest I do have a lot of knowledge about the game, it's just some people like to see your accreditation before parting with there money, even thou it's just a piece of paper.

[cazmac1]

I wouldn't have thought it would be anywhere near that. You would need a lot of customers on a regular basis which would probably never happen like you hope. Could be very hit and miss, ie maybe only 10 people a week at say £25 per hour - your not going to make a fortune are you.
By the way £25 is what Jim Donnelly charges when he comes to our club every 2nd week, and he has real pedigree. I know your down south with higher wages etc but you can't expect to charge any more than that (or do you ?)

Some excellent replies, I wouldn't expect to charge more than the going rate and to be honest I earn more than the amounts mentioned. I would imagine I would have to do it part time, evening’s maybe. But the problem there is I'm very tired when I come home from work so it would be unfair to expect customers to pay for me in this condition. This only leaves weekends and I'm not prepared to give up my time on the weekends.
So I don't think it's for me at this time. I might put myself up as available to coach in my local club, just as a hobby and see how it goes. I do know the basics very well and could point youngsters in the right direction.

[CoachGavin]

If you want a badge there is the world snooker course, del hill course, terry griffiths course or IBSF course run by Nic Barrow. All are about £1000-£2000 once you include travelling etc.

Like has been said the top coaches only get there by word of mouth and that takes years of coaching. Many of the top coaches have been coaching for 20 years or so and have built up their reputation. To start with i would just coach part time for a few hours a week. I started giving advice and helping people out with their cueing before I even thought of becoming a coach so I knew if I liked it enough to do it for free then getting paid for it would be okay. I also new that I must be okay as people were asking me for advice etc so that was a good indicator. Also get the advice of honest people. Ask them what they think about your communication skills and how well you get on with people as well as knowledge etc. Its no good knowing loads about the game if you cant explain it or you dont bond very well with new people. Good luck and if you want any help please PM me.

[cazmac1]

If you want a badge there is the world snooker course, del hill course, terry griffiths course or IBSF course run by Nic Barrow. All are about £1000-£2000 once you include travelling etc.

Like has been said the top coaches only get there by word of mouth and that takes years of coaching. Many of the top coaches have been coaching for 20 years or so and have built up their reputation. To start with i would just coach part time for a few hours a week. I started giving advice and helping people out with their cueing before I even thought of becoming a coach so I knew if I liked it enough to do it for free then getting paid for it would be okay. I also new that I must be okay as people were asking me for advice etc so that was a good indicator. Also get the advice of honest people. Ask them what they think about your communication skills and how well you get on with people as well as knowledge etc. Its no good knowing loads about the game if you cant explain it or you dont bond very well with new people. Good luck and if you want any help please PM me.

Thanks for the advice and the offer of help, I still might be booking you for some coaching soon. Just need to see how my game pans out, I recently jumped a level and what to see where it takes me.