Coach and Support staff form the volunteer backbone of the South West Sydney Academy of Sport in providing the on-field, technical coaching of the Academy's sporting programs.
On average, close to 50 coach and support staff take up the opportunity to form a part of the Academy's Coach program each year.
The greater majority of Academy coaches are sourced from within the Academy's catchment area, with the bulk of coaches spending multiple years within the program.
As with our Academy athletes, our coaches are active participants within their own sporting communities; with many taking up multiple coach and support roles within their Club and Association organisations, undertaking their local club and representative coaching commitments whilst also coaching within the Academy programs.
Our coaches have a passion for the development of junior athletes within the South West Sydney community, and it is for this reason that we strongly encourage coach and support staff to participate within the Academy's programs, allowing them access to program development and training opportunities with athletes in high-performance pathways, alongside their own club and representative teams training and competition.
Coach and Support staff are required to complete online short course work in the following subjects (available through the Sport Integrity Australia e-learning hub) as a part of their ongoing professional development.
- Anti-Doping Fundamentals
- Child Safeguarding in Sport Induction
- Introduction to Illicit Drugs in Sport
- PBTR - Child Protection and Safeguarding
- PBTR - Inclusive Coaching
- Competition Manipulation and Sports Betting
- Clean Sport 101
- Coaches Course (Anti Doping Module)
The Coach and Support staff time commitment required for each sport program will vary based on a number of factors including, the coaches availability and commitment to their own representative club and sporting programs, as well as the expectations and requirements of the sport program MoU with the sports Governing body.
Programs are however designed to compliment the athlete's representative commitments and competition schedules.
Whilst at the discretion of the program Head Coach, most programs require 3-4 hours each session, with these sessions scheduled on a fortnightly to monthly basis of on-court/field training.
Additional time outside of that training may be required for programming such as preparing training plans, individual athlete performance plans/feedback and attendance at any education or strength and conditioning program requirements outside of the regular training timetable.
The Academy actively encourages and promotes coaches to be involved within a representative club and team environment alongside that of serving the athletes within the Academy Sport Programs.