Become a coachWelcome, it is great that you are interested in the new coaching qualifications and this is the starting point of your journey.

In early 2020 British Skydiving created a working group to develop a new structure of Coach qualifications. The first qualification to be launch is  – The Foundation Skills Coach. This qualification will initially be in Formation Skydiving, Freefly, Wingsuiting, Tracking and Canopy Formation. Other disciplines will be added after the trial period.

There is a large amount of new terminology being introduced. One of the key elements for these qualifications is for them to be recognised outside our sport, therefore it is important we adopt terminology common across all sports. This will be a big change and will be challenging during the transition, but full support will be available. 

Why Introduce a New Coach Qualifications?

While there are some skilled coaches in British Skydiving, the inhouse rating means the quality and qualification process can be inconsistent. Currently, we only have a single level of coach rating. It has become clear that in order to recognise the range of highly skilled coaches multiple levels of coach ratings are required. This would also help members to understand the depth of knowledge an individual coach has, and also allow the highly experienced coaches to differentiate themselves.

We have developed a new qualification – Foundation Coach, which is accredited by Ofqual, and externally quality assured by 1st4Sport.  This will raise the standard of the coaching skills and knowledge available, create a journey for coaches to develop their knowledge and skills by working their way through the levels. The core aim is to create better coaches, with better quality coaching, giving you the members better skills, which ultimately means more fun.

How does this new qualification work within the current skydiving disciplines?

  • Formation Skydiving

    Foundation FS Coach

    • Coach individuals to achieve FS Grade 1
    • Signpost individuals to Post FS1 progression
    • Understands coaching pathways for other disciplines
    • With relevant CPD
    • Coach Teams
    • Organise Single Aircraft FS Loads
    • Organise hybrid jumps

    Advanced FS Coach

    • Coach teams and individuals for competition at national and international level
    • Organise multi-aircraft FS loads
    • Form part of a Coach Team for national delegations or world record attempts

    What skills do you need to be a great coach?

    In order to be an effective coach, you need to develop and use the following skills:

    • Communicate effectively with participants to ascertain their needs and ambitions, relay information and provide constructive feedback.
    • Plan and organise sessions and programmes to meet participants’ needs and guide their development.
    • Analyse and evaluate performance (your own and that of the participants) to gauge and direct progress.
    • Create a safe environment in which the well-being of the participant is paramount.
    • Be open-minded in developing your coaching skills and knowledge. This is perhaps the most important attribute of good coaches: the ability and willingness to evaluate your own skills and knowledge, and constantly work to develop and improve them.

  • Freeflying and Artistic Skydiving

    Foundation FF Coach

    • Coach individuals to achieve FF Grade 1 & 2.
    • Signpost individuals to Post FF progression
    • Understands coaching pathways for other disciplines
    • With relevant CPD
    • Coach Teams
    • Organise Single Aircraft FF Loads
    • Organise hybrid jumps

    Advanced FF Coach

    • Coach teams and individuals for competition at national and international level
    • Organise multi-aircraft FF loads
    • Form part of a Coach Team for national delegations or world record attempts

    What skills do you need to be a great coach?

    In order to be an effective coach, you need to develop and use the following skills:

    • Communicate effectively with participants to ascertain their needs and ambitions, relay information and provide constructive feedback.
    • Plan and organise sessions and programmes to meet participants’ needs and guide their development.
    • Analyse and evaluate performance (your own and that of the participants) to gauge and direct progress.
    • Create a safe environment in which the well-being of the participant is paramount.
    • Be open-minded in developing your coaching skills and knowledge. This is perhaps the most important attribute of good coaches: the ability and willingness to evaluate your own skills and knowledge, and constantly work to develop and improve them.

  • Wingsuit Skydiving

    Foundation WS Coach3

    • Coach individuals to achieve WS Grade 1 & 2
    • Signpost individuals to Post WS2 progression
    • Understands coaching pathways for other disciplines
    • With relevant CPD
    • Coach individuals for WS Performance/Acrobatic competition
    • Organise Single Aircraft WS Loads

    Advanced WS Coach

    • Coach teams and individuals for competition at national and international level
    • Organise multi-aircraft WS loads
    • Form part of a Coach Team for national delegations or world record attempts
    • Coach XRW

    What skills do you need to be a great coach?

    In order to be an effective coach, you need to develop and use the following skills:

    • Communicate effectively with participants to ascertain their needs and ambitions, relay information and provide constructive feedback.
    • Plan and organise sessions and programmes to meet participants’ needs and guide their development.
    • Analyse and evaluate performance (your own and that of the participants) to gauge and direct progress.
    • Create a safe environment in which the well-being of the participant is paramount.
    • Be open-minded in developing your coaching skills and knowledge. This is perhaps the most important attribute of good coaches: the ability and willingness to evaluate your own skills and knowledge, and constantly work to develop and improve them.

  • Canopy Formation

    Foundation CF Coach

    • Coach individuals to achieve CF Grade 1 and Sport Accuracy for competitions
    • Signpost individuals to Post CF2 progression
    • Understands coaching pathways for other disciplines
    • With relevant CPD
    • Coach Teams for competition
    • Organise large formations (greater than eight canopies) and single aircraft CF loads

    Advanced CF Coach

    • Coach teams and individuals for competition at national and international level
    • Organise multi-aircraft CF loads
    • Form part of a Coaching Team for national delegations or world record attempts

    What skills do you need to be a great coach?

    In order to be an effective coach, you need to develop and use the following skills:

    • Communicate effectively with participants to ascertain their needs and ambitions, relay information and provide constructive feedback.
    • Plan and organise sessions and programmes to meet participants’ needs and guide their development.
    • Analyse and evaluate performance (your own and that of the participants) to gauge and direct progress.
    • Create a safe environment in which the well-being of the participant is paramount.
    • Be open-minded in developing your coaching skills and knowledge. This is perhaps the most important attribute of good coaches: the ability and willingness to evaluate your own skills and knowledge, and constantly work to develop and improve them.

  • Canopy Piloting

    Foundation CP Coach

    • Coach individuals to achieve CT Grade 1 and Sport Accuracy for competitions
    • Signpost individuals to Post CT2 progression
    • Understands coaching pathways for other disciplines
    • With relevant CPD
    • Coach individuals for CT Grade 3 & 4
    • Coach individuals for competition

    Advanced CP Coach

    • Coach individuals or teams for CP competition at national and international level
    • Coach high performance landings for display jumpers
    • Form part of a Coaching team for national delegations or world record attempts

    What skills do you need to be a great coach?

    In order to be an effective coach, you need to develop and use the following skills:

    • Communicate effectively with participants to ascertain their needs and ambitions, relay information and provide constructive feedback.
    • Plan and organise sessions and programmes to meet participants’ needs and guide their development.
    • Analyse and evaluate performance (your own and that of the participants) to gauge and direct progress.
    • Create a safe environment in which the well-being of the participant is paramount.
    • Be open-minded in developing your coaching skills and knowledge. This is perhaps the most important attribute of good coaches: the ability and willingness to evaluate your own skills and knowledge, and constantly work to develop and improve them.

Foundation Coach Manual 

This will guide you through all the coaching specific content provided by UKCoaching and the skydiving specific knowledge you will need before embarking on your Training Provider course. You will need a UKCoaching subscription code to access all the content.

Your 1st years subscription will be provided for free by British Skydiving (further subscriptions will be at your own cost, via Membership Services).

We have also introduced a new and more rigorous CPD process, which everyone will need to fulfil annually, to be able to renew their qualification.

We want this qualification to help create the best coaches, not just in skydiving but across all sports.

You can read the new Foundation Coach Manual below, or download it here