Words by Laura Hampton
Images by José Carlos Pedó Júnior
Think back to the last coach you had.
Maybe they were a skydiving coach. Perhaps they were a coach in another sport or even a business coach.
Now consider what you thought of them. Were they a good coach? Why? Were they not? What makes you say that?
Coaches are a hugely important part of our sport, and I cannot stress enough how incredible it is to have so many wonderful coaches willing to give up their time and skills to help us all progress.
The aim of this, the third in my series about progression in skydiving, is to explore what makes a good coach, and how you could become one, too.
What makes people want to coach?
The ambition to coach could come from anywhere. Having taught dozens of new coaches over the years, I’d say the most common reason is that they want to give back to the sport that has given so much to them.
If you think back to your early days of skydiving, or to any point in your skydiving career for that matter, people are often so willing to share their advice and support anyone who wants it. It really is a great community, where top tier champions jump alongside brand-new skydivers regularly and without ego. Those who know more are willing to help those who want to learn and frankly, I think that’s amazing.
Of course, it’s important that those people who want to help others are safely qualified to do so, and that’s where coach ratings come in. By focusing that desire to help into proper education on how best to do so, we get some fantastic coaches.
The flip side to that is that I’ve also met people who aspire to coach for reasons that don’t make for a good learning experience. Those who think coaching is a route to free jumps, for example, will be sorely disappointed when they realise that the commitment and dedication required to do it well means that there is a huge amount of work that goes into that ‘free’ slot.
If you’re someone who loves what you do, can do what you do very well and are willing to invest time into learning how to teach it. Coaching could be for you.
Being the best you can be while continuing to learn
Imagine you’re a skydiver looking for coaching in a particular discipline. Let’s say that discipline is FS for the purposes of this example (but this applies to any discipline).
Now, let’s imagine now that you, as the skydiver seeking coaching, see an FS coach who has done a lot of FS, who jumps in an FS suit and who has invested in their own FS skills, perhaps through an FS team or bigway camps.
Picture that same scene but the FS coach you’re looking at rarely makes FS jumps, when they do, they don’t wear a jumpsuit and they wouldn’t know a bipole from a phalanx if it was right in front of them. They rarely get involved in bigways and when they do, they sink out or they don’t make it at all.
Which coach do you want?
Hopefully, you’ll agree that the first example is the best. Now consider why you think that. What is it about that first coach that is so much more appealing?
For me, it’s a number of things. Firstly, I’d feel I could trust the first coach to teach me the right things. They do FS themselves; they clearly understand it. Secondly, I’d know that they were going to teach me well, because they themselves have received top coaching. Finally, I’d be confident they would help me toward being the best FS flyer I could be, because their own skills stretch way beyond that needed for the FS1 sticker and into what it takes to be fantastic at FS.
When you think about yourself as a coach, are you more like the first coach or the second? If it’s the second, it might be time for a rethink.
Learning how to teach vs learning how to fly
The first step to becoming a coach is to become good at the discipline you want to coach. It’s essential that your skills surpass those needed to earn the sticker, meaning that even if you have FS1, it doesn’t mean you can coach FS.
Once you’ve learned how to fly it well (and continue to invest in those skills), it’s a whole new thing to learn how to teach it.
There are various instructional frameworks we can use to help refine our coaching, including EDIP (explain, demonstrate, imitate, practice), whole-part-whole and various other coaching characteristics that will make our teaching better.
Deconstructing how you do what you do is also valuable. For example, if you intend to teach someone how to do a side-slide (again, using FS examples because that’s what I know best, but this applies elsewhere too), you’ll need to know not just that you can do it, but also how. In addition to this, you should also be able to explain that ‘how’ in a variety of different ways so your pupil understands clearly and effectively.
Above all else, remember this is about having fun! Whether you’re the coach or the student, enjoy it and enjoy the journey.
Laura Hampton is an AFFI, FS coach and tandem camera flyer at Skydive Langar. She is also the Progression Lead at Langar, meaning she oversees all coaching and supports up and coming coaches in gaining their ratings. Prior to working full time in skydiving, she was part of 4-way national championship winning team Chimera, having travelled the world representing Team GB in 4-way events. In 2023, she was part of the team to set a new British formation skydiving and a world formation skydiving record.
